Where's your head at? Does brand purpose matter to you?

Brand purpose in marketing is a constant topic of conversation.

Recently Campaign headlined with Well-executed purposeful ads are ‘incredibly effective’, citing research from the?reputable?sources of?the IPA and Peter Field.?

However, other industry leaders such as Richard Shotton and JP?Castlin?have counterclaimed, suggesting that the data tells a different story about what really matters to individual people.?

Mark Ritson gave the example of Facebook where trust in the brand keeps diminishing while use of the platform itself keeps growing.

The above Twitter thread

This debate on the efficacy of purpose-led campaigns leads me to consider the industry’s desire to do something for the ‘greater good'.

I wonder what the?marketing industry's purpose is and where are we going??

Tom Roach summed this up brilliantly?in his piece?Brand purpose. The biggest lie the ad industry ever told? ?in which he posits (and I’m?paraphrasing) the reason for marketing's eagerness to prove our value to society stems from a subconscious response to the ad industry being the least trusted profession in the UK [Ipsos-Mori poll 2018].?

The industry has a responsibility to respond to that and start collectively challenging its own reputation.

A 2020 Marketing Week?survey ?revealed that we work in a space?dominated by white upper/middle-class?professionals?and with that comes inherent bias and lack of access. Facial recognition technology has at times been biased too, towards white men. Both of these are more than an oops.

They contribute to the?marketing industry’s ongoing struggle?to understand who they are talking to whilst at the same time trying to talk to everyone (something I wrote about previousl y), yet always with human bias.

Moreover, removing the shame and the stigma that we exist to help?sell?more products and?services would go a long way - because there's nothing wrong with that.

I read a piece on 'The Future of Marketing' claiming?that for?the past two?years,?we’ve all?been ordering Deliveroo, watching movies and attending online pubs.?And my first thought to that was?‘have we?’

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to spend some time living with my brother, his fiancée and their two children – both under five. In between bath times, repeated episodes of?The Wiggles?and numerous unsuccessful occasions of trying to use logic to convince?a toddler to go to bed, there wasn't time to watch a movie or go to the online pub. That's not a unique experience for families across the nation, marketeers included. Plus, it romanticises lockdown, which for many was very difficult.?

Industry press articles and marketing ‘leader’ social media accounts seem to be littered with concepts that only we are talking about – brand purpose, blockchain, NFTs. None of this is plugged into the nerves of a nation where for a lot of people things are hard.

When national newspapers are talking of massive energy bill hikes, food shortages and fuel crises whilst there have been widespread benefit cuts, how much does a customer realistically care about a brand's purpose or goals.

In the?real world, there is a discrepancy between what marketers believe people want from brands, and what individual people?actually want or have the headspace for.

Data tells us many fascinating stories, that drive creativity and performance.?But there's a lot of indications that marketers might benefit from?stepping back, to attune themselves to the sentiment of the nation and not bring their bias out to play, because the professional reputation of the industry depends on building that trust.