A brand’s purpose will – quite literally – define its future. Australians are actively seeking out brands that are socially and environmentally responsible, and brand purpose is playing an increasing role in purchasing decisions.

But that doesn’t mean purpose has to be perfect. Genuine attempts to ‘do better’ will not go unrewarded. Growth and customer retention relies on having a clear purpose, taking action and making incremental improvements: nobody is perfect, but every brand can be purposeful. According to new research from The Guardian and Ipsos, that is what most consumers want – and increasingly expect.

The global brand purpose study set out to determine two things: how purpose affects consumers’ buying decisions, and how media placement influences perceptions of purpose.

We found 90 per cent of Australians* agree corporations will be expected to be more socially and environmentally responsible in the future. Consumers also want businesses to behave more responsibly – and that impacts how you should position your brand.

Don’t just take our word for it. Purpose is increasingly underpinning the growth strategy for brands locally. Telstra, for example, has made purpose the central aspect of its first brand campaign in five years (and Telstra expects its supply chain, including media, to align with its values).

Product plus purpose equals growth

Dairy Australia, an organisation with significant environmental challenges, is another example of a brand taking steps to improve what it can.

“The greater risk for us is not doing anything and staying quiet, because it risks these issues and things that are bubbling under the surface really having an impact for us as an industry,” says Dairy Australia Strategy Advisor, Amber Beaumont.

Beaumont was speaking on a Mi3-Guardian podcast alongside Scott Dare, Head of Purpose and Customer Advocate at ME Bank.

While Dare’s job title underlines how seriously the bank takes purpose – and it has seen huge employee and customer advantages as a result – there’s a caveat.

“The key is you've got to provide a quality product,” says Dare. If the product is poor, “you can be as purposeful as you like. No-one will be interested”.

But by aligning product and purpose, both organisations have seen substantial success with purpose-driven campaigns. Dairy Australia found a recent environmental campaign with The Guardian resonated particularly with 18-24-year-old women, a demographic that has been turning away from dairy in recent years.

Your brand does not have to save the world

But what is purpose? The Guardian’s audience says the attributes of purpose boil down to these five pillars: progressive, trustworthy, impactful, authentic, and empowering. This is what consumers define as a purposeful brand.

Consumers want brands to behave more responsibly – but the research revealed that brands live on a purpose continuum. It can start out by simply fulfilling a genuine consumer need, can progress to developing an authentic or unique mission, and can ultimately deliver meaningful action.

We’ve seen truly purposeful brands such as Lush providing vegan products with minimal waste. We’ve also seen brands who weren't born purposeful now making purpose the forefront of their brand story – such as Volvo, pledging that all of its cars will be fully electric by 2030 (and locally driving huge sales inquiry spikes with purposeful ads).

Our research shows consumers want authenticity, not perfection.

Purpose applies to the supply chain, including media

Being purposeful means accounting for the entire supply chain, and consumers are increasingly viewing the media with which advertisers partner to be part of this. In fact, 61 per cent* of Australians believe media plays an important role as a delivery mechanism for brand purpose.

What was clear in our research is that the credibility and authenticity of online and print news have a strong role to play in delivering that message. As a regulated platform, news media has a baked-in layer of credibility and authenticity to promote any purposeful brand. This is in stark contrast to social media, where consumers are wary of profit-driven endorsements and the distribution of fake news and misinformation.

Hence the medium is a large part of the message. As consumers seek purpose from the products and services they use, audiences seek purpose from the media they absorb. This should challenge marketers: does the media my brand partners with have a progressive audience which will actively adopt my brand?

As marketers we may fear implementing a purpose message when we are not perfect may result in "blow back". But what we learnt from the research is that consumers want to be engaged early and often on your brand’s journey, even if its baby steps.

Demonstrating your actions will naturally build authenticity and brand credibility. At the end of the day, it’s about reaching consumers, taking them on your journey, and making it easy for them to do good.

Source:

• Guardian Australia Corporate Responsibility Survey, June 2021, n=490.
• 2021 Guardian Purpose Study conducted by Ipsos Source: Conjoint Analysis on All Statements Base: AU n=1,030, UK n=1000, US n=1000
• https://www.volvocars.com/au/why-volvo/human-innovation/electrification