Is purpose-driven marketing becoming the tail that wags the dog? [#17]

I don't think consumers differentiate between 85, 95 and 90. People only differentiate between 0 and 100. At the top, there's only room for one, right? I believe in India, 80% of celebrity usage and advertising that I see is not thought to be. Creating is easy. What to create is a million-dollar question. Hi. You're listening to Marketing with Bani, in which I speak to marketing gurus. Together, we decode how marketing works in the real world to grow your business. Purpose-driven marketing has become the new buzz, especially after the big men at Unilever made public announcements that all of their brands will be marketed with some benefit to society. Now, that's a tricky one. Does Mionis need to serve a higher purpose than to make salads and sandwiches tastier? Or does ice cream have to serve a higher purpose than to just be a really good, deliciously satisfying ice cream? This episode captures my views on this subject, which I have shared in several forums, including the Hindustan Times' Brandmaster Studio, the iMedia Summit, and the Marketing Trends 2021 conference by Shri The People. In this episode, apart from me, Akhila Chandrasekhar of Organic India, Chanpreet Arora, Business Head Boot, and Vivek Pargab of Profit Wheel also share their views. Listen on. Purpose-driven marketing is quite the trend these days. How do brands gain from it? So, you're absolutely right. I think purpose-driven marketing today has become the new buzz all brands are talking about. But when it's done credibly, when it's tied to the brand's own purpose, it's the brand's own stated communication idea, then it's authentic. So, for example, when Life Boy says that it's chasing the agenda of making Indian villages disease-free, it's credible because Life Boy is about washing hands and we know that, you know, bulk of the diseases are transferred from the germs on our hands to our mouth. But when brands try and chase that agenda, only because they're trying to make a point, only because they want to be a part of this new wave, exactly, and be a part of the conversation, then it feels unauthentic or inauthentic. About this, there's been so much spoken on purpose-led marketing. And we're all just so carried away by this big buzzword. And you've made this big announcement on how all of our brands are going to move to purpose-led marketing. I want to say that, yes, it's true. Of course, it's true that for Gen Z, like, you know, Akhila of Organic India also said, it may not be weight loss or detoxifying. It might actually just be about being seen as being seen as cool because I've adopted this brand and it's a cool brand. You know, it's not really a functional feature. Yes, but at the same time, you know, when brands try very, very hard and latch on to a purpose, only because it's the right thing to do because, you know, as a marketer, it makes me look good. And I might be able to stand on some stage and win some award, you know, because I've latched on to gender equality or I've latched on to, I don't know, the Zillion other jaded causes. Then it starts to feel very inauthentic. Because I find absolutely nothing wrong in a chewing gum wanting to simply, you know, entertain. If a brand can just make me laugh and have no heavy-duty purpose-led marketing to it, no heavy-duty, you know, cause advertising to it, it can just make me laugh. And I remember the brand for just that. I think they've done a stellar job because today it's so difficult to stand out, you know. So if it's not about purpose-led or it's not about being seen as something only, it's just about being able to find a place in the consumer's mind with something that's appropriate, something that's believable. And if it's not linked to my functional delivery, what I deliver as a brand functionally, then it doesn't matter what high heavy-handed purpose you might pick up, it's going to fall flat. You know, so I'm really going to take from there because it's something so close to my heart and my brand that consciously, organic India does not have a CSR division. Because to us, it's the biggest scam possible. You know, you sell in plastic bottles and then you invest to clean the rivers. I mean, what? Because your CSR then decides, okay, let's clean rivers of plastic. Stop selling in plastic. You know, so we don't believe in CSR. Our whole concept in organic India is that CSR, you are actually a socially-invested brand. You cannot have a separate division which says, let's put some money into corporate social responsibilities. It has to be a corporate social initiative. It cannot be a responsibility. Nobody's holding a gun to your head. You know, so for me, I feel so strongly about this and therefore organic India does glass bottles. It does not do plastic bottles. It does recycle paper cartons. It chooses to be organic and not spoil the soil or use fertilizers. So this is not brand sell, but this is something where I'm saying, you know, marry purpose with profit is the only way businesses can, you know, solve for this. Marry purpose with profit and marry purpose with what your product functionally delivers. If it doesn't functionally deliver that, then there is no purpose in what you do. Correct. Yeah, I just want to share my experience here. You know, as somebody who's launched media brands, right? It's more of an experience, a community. I remember my editor-in-chief came up to me and said, I cannot compete with the largest publishers. Their budgets are just like 100X or more. I said, but you're not competing with XYZ.com. You're actually serving a community. I want to see a budget, which tells me who's the community that we're serving. What need are we serving for them? What role are we playing in their life? And then tell me what are the most important cultural moments in their life and what are we doing at that point? And I remember she was just staring at me. She was like, I'm really sorry. I don't get this. I said, here I can help you. I can help you by explaining to you what this is. And in the process, we landed up finding our own niche. And then brands started associating with us because we stood for something for a community that believed in us because we were authentic to their community. And I truly believe that, like Vani, what you were saying, or Akhila, you've been resonating with it, be clear about your purpose as a brand, whether you're selling a product, a service, or an experience, or just entertaining people, which is most of the time where I am. Entertaining people with true honesty. And it just works out. Good journalism is good business. Good entertainment is good business. But if everything starts from business, nothing really filters. Purpose is a good thing to have, but purpose has also been very badly used as a word. So what does purpose mean? Purpose means, why do I exist? Now, as a company, as a brand, my number one lookout is business. If all of us were entrepreneurs, what is the first thing we'd want? We'd want business. We'd want to make money. We want new consumers. How do you get new consumers? To get new consumers, you have to get people to get to know about you. You have to create awareness. People must know you exist, right? They must know what you sell. You must be available. Now, in all of that, when brands talk about purpose, or the way purpose is bandied around, to have some sort of a higher purpose, where purpose is equated to domestic violence, or transgender rights, or gay rights, or doing something for children differently abled, etc., etc. The point is, does it help sell? Yes, it's good to have purpose. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have purpose, but does it help sell? So, the point I'm driving at is that, yes, purpose is good to have, but have purpose when it is linked to the brand's offering. When it is linked to your functional delivery, then it makes sense both for the brand, as well as the consumer. Then I know that you're not telling me a lie. You're not doing something only because it's a nice to do thing. You're actually offering me something that works. So, if Lifebuoy says that my purpose is to eradicate disease, by giving you better hygiene, I get that. You're making me wash hands, and in washing hands, I'm getting rid of germs, and hence you're preventing disease. That is a good purpose to have. So, I'll let it rest at this, and more on this later. Thank you. So, I think, I was talking to somebody. I said, one of the purpose that organization must have is actually to make profit. I hope you liked my show. And if you did, please do consider subscribing. I also have a YouTube channel by the same name, Marketing by Vani. Please do check that out too. Thank you. How badly can you screw up one dime? Okay. So, I did screw up. My YouTube channel is called Marketing with Vani. The same name as this podcast.