SHARPEN YOUR OUTLOOK: BE BOLD, BE DISTINCTIVE
Good B2B marketing depends as much on emotional impact as it does on rational arguments, and sustainability-driven marketing campaigns can be an excellent vehicle for both approaches.
One of the criticisms often levied at brand purpose and sustainability marketing is that it is bland and lacks distinctiveness. Speaking at the Festival of Marketing in 2021, Professor Byron Sharp of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science was scathing in his assessment of brand purpose marketing.
“As a marketer, I worry that it leads to the sort of advertising a 12-year-old kid would come up with in a high school assignment,” he said. “‘Buy this brand because it will help children in Africa’. If all brands do that it’s very boring and not creative. It’s not branding.” 10
B2B MUST CONTINUE TO BLEND EMOTIONAL AND RATIONAL ELEMENTS
“Brand purpose advertising has the potential to move people massively,” says Peter Field, an independent marketing and advertising professional. “And as we know from decades of research in neuroscience, that is what makes for great advertising. Not just because we notice it or because it influences our decision-making more powerfully, but because it is very durable. We don’t forget these powerful, emotional stimuli in a hurry.”
As the market matures, Field expects to see greater distinctiveness and better quality. “There is no excuse for purpose advertising to be bland,” he says. “I suspect those who have run that kind of advertising probably weren’t wholeheartedly behind it, or knew they were hiding something and perhaps didn’t have full confidence in it.”
“Companies that are fully confident should produce, and do produce in many instances, some really moving and profoundly emotionally marketing.”
Peter Field Independent marketing and advertising professional
PURPOSE GIVES MARKETERS THE CHANCE TO BE BOLD
Paul Twivy, founding partner of Purpose Done Right, points out that if a company makes refinements to its technology or introduces a new product variation, the changes are very often similar to those of competitors.
“If you think about Dove, they decided to tackle self-esteem in teenagers which was related to the core characteristics of their product - gentle cleansing and thoughtful personal care - but not restricted to those characteristics. That is immediately a much more compelling proposition," he says. "And as long as you follow it through and customers see you take action on it, the impact of that communication is going to be much greater. Commercial and societal benefits should go hand-in-glove.”
BUT A LOT OF BRAND PURPOSE AND SUSTAINABILITY MARKETING CAN BE TOKENISTIC
“There’s a temptation in marketing and advertising to almost suggest, by implication, that these are somewhat trivial challenges — that if you buy the right detergent, then these things will be resolved,” says John Elkington, founder and chief pollinator at Volans. “What I would like to see in marketing and branding is a better reflection of the true scale of the challenges that we face, and where this particular solution fits in.”
“One of the reasons why purpose might be an effective marketing tool is that it’s more interesting.”
Paul Twivy Founding partner, Purpose Done Right
Footnotes: 10. https://www.marketingweek.com/byron-sharp-purpose-death/