Purpose Driven Marketing

Now more than ever before, businesses and marketers are recognising the value of purpose-driven marketing by developing initiatives based on a related interest and supporting a deserving cause.

Successful purpose-driven content marketing requires a clear strategic and authentic plan of execution whereby it benefits everyone involved and ties in with the brand’s overall business strategy. In recent years, there has been an influx of brands engaging with purpose-driven marketing and using influencers to carry their message, to reach their target audiences and develop their organic, purpose-driven content.

A successful strategy is built with long term goals where it doesn’t revolve around profits for the business. The purpose needs to have real meaning to the brand and impact both the employees and customers. The key steps in deciding to move forward with purpose-driven marketing are:

1. To ensure the purpose empowers your brand – is it meaningful, unique, true and relevant to your business.
2. To look at the societal impact and whether the cause is logical to your brand and whether it aligns with a company-wide strategy.
3. To review and anticipate the outputs and how they will inspire others.

With this in mind, let’s look at some examples of brands driving their purpose-related campaigns and how they’ve engaged with influencers to tap into new audiences.

Luxury skincare and makeup brand La Mer has always relied on the active ingredients from algae to create their products. The specific algae used is only found in certain oceans around the world and since 2013, La Mer has worked with ocean explorers and National Geographic to protect the underwater habitat.

But with an increasing spotlight on ocean conservation, La Mer decided to launch the La Mer Blue Heart Oceans Fund in 2017 to help support ocean conservation projects around the world and further showcase their accomplishments in this area.

To share their efforts with their target market and beyond, La Mer engaged with a number of influencers to showcase the great lengths they have taken to help preserve the ocean’s delicate ecosystem. Instead of targeting environmentally conscious advocates, they worked with makeup artists, dermatology experts, and models who were naturally educated within this market and had real credibility. Their purpose is clear and as a result of working with influencers, the brand was better able to engage with its target market and beyond, and the influencers have now become an extension of La Mer’s own identity, keeping their content relevant and in the minds of their consumers.

In 2019, Carlsberg launched a bold strategy to reposition their brand and appeal to a younger more environmentally conscious audience by introducing a purpose to minimise their environmental impact in producing their beer and reducing their carbon footprint by 30% by 2030.

To do this, they rolled out sustainable packaging for products using less plastic and a ‘greener ink’ to improve the recyclability of their packaging. On top of that, they also pledged to generate zero carbon emissions at their breweries, alongside a 30% reduction in their carbon footprint by 2030.

Their key targets are clearly identified in their reports and across their website and similarly to La Mer, Carlsberg engaged with a number of influencers to educate these new audiences of the new company changes.

In an effort to further engage with their new audiences, Carlsberg introduced a number of sustainable measures for festivals including reusable cups that can be used up to 25 times each and a solar insulation to provide renewable energy to run their festival activations. Carlsberg has clearly used its purpose to extend its audience reach and engage with an entirely new audience for the brand.

Since 2004, KIND has been on a mission to make the world a little kinder, the idea born out of its founder’s desire to have kindness at the core of its business and this sentiment is used to generate a number of purpose related campaigns.

KIND was founded with a social mission, the KIND Movement, which celebrates and inspires kindness. The Movement is brought to life through the brand and The KIND Foundation, where they invest in a number of movements and programmes that make a difference in society.

Last year, KIND launched the be kind to yourself initiative to remind people that kindness starts with you. Concentrating the importance of self-care and demonstrating choices people can make when life inevitably gets in the way of healthy. They also run a KIND Schools campaign, KIND people campaign and more, all of which sit perfectly with the brand’s purpose and strategy.

In line with their overarching strategy of kindness and inclusion, KIND uses a number of influencers as brand advocates for their purpose-led campaigns, from Mummy bloggers to yoga teachers, TV presenters to chefs, CEO’s and singers, bringing their purpose to life and engaging with their audience.

These examples of purpose-driven marketing strategies have clearly showcased how engaging with influencers enabled the brands to reach new audiences, re-engage with their current customer base and develop remarkable brand awareness through their brand’s purpose. In each case, the brands had clear objectives that have resulted in tangible results that have inspired other brands and new audiences.

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