“Learn how to find your brand purpose during a pandemic from marketing and communication experts,” said an Instagram ad. I also received an SMS from a brand to join a webinar on a similar topic. The message left me smiling for obvious reasons.
Brand Purpose is the most abused word after the birth of the new marketing phase “We are in it together” (I haven’t come across a bigger marketing BS)
Everyone is trying to find a brand purpose because suddenly it is important. To rephrase it: Nature has forced you to consider the brand purpose.
The buzz around brand purpose started growing from last year when brands finally realised that the consumer can’t be ignored. The consumer was no more an idiot and it was miles ahead in terms of adopting technologies and making choices. The consumer is selfish and only concerned about what is in there for the individual. This led to the bigger question of finding the WHY or Brand Purpose.
2020 was a new decade. While marketers and thought leaders were busy predicting the future of automation, AI, machine learning, and all that BS for the last few years but hardly have made progress; nature came out with its own set of predictions in the form of COVID-19.
All those press releases on how a brand has transformed into the COVID-19 world is complete BS. You didn’t transform, you were left with no choice.
Where can I find the brand purpose
Obviously, the brand purpose won’t emerge from your communication campaign. “Dear brands - Get the fuck on with it rather than spending time on labels, press releases, and comms,” shared Mark Ritson in his recent post where he said that the consumer dosen’t care much about the communication campaign, just get on with your job. He further said, “To develop products and services that reflect the strange new challenges of the COVID summer ahead. To distribute them in a way that enables everyone in the market to benefit from them. And to price them in a manner that maximises availability and profitability at the same time.”
Accenture’s brand purpose finding says that the pandemic is testing our humanity and values. COVID-19 has given us all a common purpose and thereby elevated the very idea of "purpose”. “Companies can only compete on purpose when purpose permeates the entire organization, both in what they sell and how they operate. It must be present and identifiable in every product, service, action, and word.”
60% of consumers find it critical that a brand demonstrates its values with authenticity in everything it does. Those companies that demonstrated this was already outperforming the market by five to seven percent.
Your brand purpose isn’t about the activation of a communications campaign on how to wash your hands while you increase the prices of hand sanitizers. While it is a commendable job to do a TikTok campaign around dancing and washing hands; the consumer is already watching what you're doing in other aspects of marketing. Experience Commerce did an interesting study recently observing comments from consumers on social media. Google published a report on how 72 brands are responding to COVID-19. The agency took a deeper look at the chatter and found out that the consumer on social media was disappointed with Dettol.
User comments were mostly negative on Instagram and Facebook since customers were frustrated with availability and supply chain issues. Besides, an entertaining take on a serious issue by a hygiene brand of such stature was not taken well by discerning and loyal consumers.
Consumers are not looking for humour in brand communications during the ongoing COVID-19, said the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer special report on brand trust and the coronavirus. Looks like the people at Dettol forgot to understand the consumer and were sold more to the platform TikTok.
Your brand purpose lies with your employees and consumers. As a brand, you are going to be judged on how you are responding to the ongoing crisis. Will you stand as a mute spectator or be part of the consumer’s pain and provide support when it is required.
Employees expect to be heard and CEOs to take the lead
Trust is the only behaviour that employees and customers are expecting from brands. If “Trust at work” was the key for 2019, then “Trust: Competence and Ethics” will define 2020 and the coming years say the 20th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer - an online survey done in 28 markets with 34,000+ respondents.
At a time when the global economy has already hit rock bottom and jobs are either gone or salaries have been cut down, employees are looking forward to their employers in these challenging times. With job fear and technology taking the driver seat, 92% of employees want their CEO to speak on issues like “Training for jobs of the future, “Automation’s impact on jobs” and “Ethical use of tech.”
At the same time, 74% want CEOs to take the lead on change rather than waiting for the government to impose it.
90% also want brands to protect their employees at all costs. Brands must do everything they can to protect the well-being and financial security of their employees and their suppliers, even if it means suffering big financial losses until the pandemic ends.
But the reality is different. Indian gym and wellness startup cure.fit is right now battling a PR crisis on how it handled the laying of 800 employees across the country and permanently closed a number of fitness centers to cut costs amid the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown.
This is the second round lay off at the startup. But the recent layoff became a talk on social media because of the way it was handled. “At the beginning of the lockdown, we regularly got mails from the company assuring us that everything will be fine. They left no stone unturned to assure us that they will be there to help us out,” a yoga trainer in Bengaluru said, adding that her termination, hence, came as a rude shock.
The company said that its business is going through significant changes in the light of the pandemic. The company confirmed that they downsized their employee base across markets where they shut operations and have initiated pay cuts. “The founders have taken a 100% pay cut, the management team 50% and the rest of the staff depending on seniority have a reduction of 20 to 30%.”
But at the same time, the company has been spending money on celebrities, online programs, and donations to the PM relief fund. This is a brilliant case of misplaced business objectives while coming across as an empathetic brand before the media.
What more, the layoff was happening on Labour Day. Meanwhile, the brand is ruining a campaign on digital - “As a community, we WILL rise, Because We ARE CULT & CULT is now LIVE.” Why do you need capital words in a copy, the consumer is not blind.
Airbnb has also laid off 25% of the workforce. The entire process was carried out with empathy and respect. A strong message for brands and startups on how to handle layoffs.
Consumers expect brands to act
Consumers want to hear from their brands what they are doing to respond to the pandemic in a manner that is comforting and reassuring. It shouldn’t be adding to consumer anxiety and concern.
Empathy and support are playing a big role but at the same time, the consumer wants brands to focus on advertising on how products and services can help people cope with pandemic-related life challenges.
And what more brands' response to a pandemic is already influencing purchase.
Yesterday to satisfy my parent’s craving for seafood I ordered freshwater fish from Licious.
The order was delayed for hours with the ongoing lockdown. Obviously it was understood but I was surprised to receive a call from Licious to find out if I have received the order. On a normal day, I wouldn’t have bothered but during lockdowns, the startup is delivering and making sure that the consumer is happy. I follow a plant-based diet but Licious you have made an impression. Besides, my mother was super happy with the quality of fish.
At a time when brands are sending SMS to join webinars on how to battle the post-COVID-19 world, Westside recently sent me an SMS with a survey request. On an ideal day, I would have deleted but I just clicked on to see what the survey has in store. The survey wanted to know how I am battling the lockdown, what does family time mean, online screen time, what activities I have been doing, etc. But the question that hooked me was the brand trying to find out the habits/activities that I have imbibed during the lockdown.
Is your brand asking you? I haven’t shopped much from Westside and I don’t see shopping on fancy items till 2021. The brand is also aware but it is trying to find how consumer behavior (first-party data) is changing and how it can adapt to the new behavior patterns. I haven’t received any such communication from Amazon India - my go-to e-commerce brand for all my needs. Maybe at some point, they will or trust third party behavior reports. But by then I will be hunting for options.
The consumer basic needs have changed drastically and the health of friends and family is the top priority. Brands that understand this will adopt it in their business routines for their employees and customers.
Finding the brand purpose is possible if you stop hiding behind the logo. There isn’t a better time to find it if you haven’t done it before. Obviously, it won’t be easy but you can start with your employees and take it forward to your customers.
“Brands with a purpose have products that actually perform; they treat culturally important subjects with sensitivity and they align all of their brand’s actions. The result is a brand that is credible, considerate, and committed. The result is a brand like Patagonia,” writes Alex Murrell is an excellent post “The pitfalls of a purpose.”
If you are still clueless then Tom Fish Burne has a cartoon for you: