The world is changing at a rapid pace and the importance of corporate and consumer responsibility is more critical than ever before. With everything happening around us and our impact on the environment, some brands are making a difference and satisfying their customers at the same time. According to an Accenture survey of 30,000 consumers across 35 countries, 62 percent of customers want companies to take a stand on current and broadly relevant issues such as sustainability and fair-employment practices.
Throughout our cooperation with several brands on notably purposeful campaigns, we’ve learned a few strategic takeaways worth sharing:
- Consumers are drawn to social responsibility with brands that have a purpose-driven cause.
- Sustainability in consumer packaged goods can have a loyalty and rewards mechanic.
- Awareness campaigns can have a big impact on a brand's bottom line.
- A purpose-driven company can increase growth by simply sharing their story and inspiring others to make a difference.
For example, in a recent partnership with Nespresso, Brandmovers designed a consumer awareness programme for Nespresso that asked for a small gesture of social awareness for the chance to win highly scarce specialty designed products made from infinitely recyclable aluminum coffee pods.
The purpose of the programme was to inform consumers that Nespresso offers special recycling for their coffee pods in an effort to increase participation. The programme asked consumers to share a photo recycling anything (not limited to Nespresso coffee pods) to create inclusion and awareness of the important part we all play in environmental responsibility.
Rather than ask consumers to purchase something or to promote the brand in some way, all that Nespresso asked was to share something inspirational about recycling on social media to promote the importance of recycling at the individual level and provided an extremely inclusive entry mechanism.
The promotion exceeded performance expectations, seeing over 34,000 consumer entries, high levels of family participation, the long-lasting social buzz around recycling and of course brought great focus to Nespresso’s product infinite recyclability. Plus, the high level of entries delivered amazing long-tail content for Nespresso’s repurposing.
Even when sustainable products aren’t part of the promotion, there is room to look for the larger, more important cause that consumers can rally around. For example, it may be educational (like State Farm’s past work teaching teen drivers about the proper driving position in a fun, engaging manner), directly charitable (by involving a partner such as SquareMeal did with the charity StreetSmart) or reference a larger cause, like some of SunTrust’s recent wellbeing campaigns.
We challenge other brands to share their purpose and weave that into a marketing campaign or digital programme. In today’s market with highly critical consumers that expect more out of brands, doing the right thing for a larger cause can also equate to the most strategic, engaging marketing move. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you build and execute your own purpose-driven consumer campaigns.
