The first day of Paine Publishing’s 2020 Summit on the Future of Communications Measurement, October 6th, was devoted to purpose-driven campaigns. It featured presentations by Carol Cone and Dustin Supa. See this article for an introduction to the 2020 Summit. Visit this page to view a recording of Day 1 of the Summit.
Carol Cone of On Purpose:
Purpose is critical to surviving and thriving
We kicked off Day One with the person who practically invented cause marketing, Carol Cone, founder of Cone Communications (sold to Porter Novelli) and now CEO of On Purpose. It was her idea to initiate the Porter Novelli/Cone research that so many of us rely on to persuade our clients and bosses to invest in CSR and purpose-driven campaigns. Like me, Carol embraced measurement decades ago. As we like to say, “You’re never wrong, you’re just early.”
Carol began her presentation with the award-winning story of My Special Aflac Duck, a purpose-designed animatronic duck that has helped hundreds of child cancer patients navigate the disease — and has bolstered the reputation and sales of Aflac, Inc.
Next she told the story of Unilever, the gigantic global company that has adopted purpose-driven communications for its brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Persil, Dove, and many more. She also told us how her efforts transformed Vaseline from something in the back of everyone’s medicine cabinet to a beloved product that brought healing to war-torn regions and refugee camps. Her work not only increased awareness and preference for the brand, but also increased market share.
Even more timely, her clients are using purpose-driven marketing during the pandemic to keep employees engaged. Like Google’s campaign in support of health care workers and Lineage Logistics work with partners and employees to provide 100 million meals to help feed Americans that did not have sufficient food because of the pandemic.
Her excellent advice is that purpose is critical to surviving and thriving in “The Next Normal.” Whatever CSR/CSA program you adopt, it must be grounded in the purpose of the organization, whether it is a B2B or B2C.
Dustin Supa of Boston University:
What does the research say about purpose-driven campaigns?
Next up was another authority in the CSR/CSA/purpose-driven field: Dustin Supa, Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor, Public Relations, at Boston University. He filled us in on the academic research around CSA and CSR.
Most interesting was that academic research proves that there is a positive relationship between doing good and doing well financially. He pointed out that being socially responsible today is a requirement not an option:
“What we’ve seen is that it isn’t enough to just engage audiences, internal as well as external, we need to energize them. People have a lot of channels and options to choose from, so in order to cut through it all, organizations are taking stands on issues. Corporate social advocacy (CSA) isn’t just being socially responsible, it’s really talking about how we energize the consumer base. We defined CSA as advocating for an issue not related to the core business purpose or the business’ bottom line. When organizations are able to present messaging to consumers and those consumers agree with their stand on those issues, they get a 20-40% increase in likelihood to purchase.”
Controversy is more important than the channel
He added, “If an organization is purpose-driven, it can’t be afraid of controversy.” Supa’s research found that it doesn’t matter how messages are communicated — paid, owned or earned — the level of controversy is more important than the channel. (In reality, consumers don’t know the difference.) The more controversial the issue, the more people pay attention, so CSA becomes an effective way to break through the noise.
Supa also reinforced Cone’s message that no form of purpose-driven campaign or advocacy works without buy-in at the very highest levels and alignment with the purpose of the organization. If those two factors are present, it doesn’t matter how controversial or what the opposition might say, the campaign works for the organization.
Yes, you can measure purpose-driven campaigns
Supa also explained how initial research focused on whether CSA increased purchase intent. But they quickly realized that attribution was so complicated that any given purchase couldn’t be attributed to a specific campaign. So they shifted to measuring attitudes and likelihood to purchase. Their metrics were very specific to an organization. “We found that if a company makes a statement that the consumer agrees with, they are more likely to purchase,” Supa reported.
The impact is both internal and external
Supa also urged attendees to look at both internal and external impacts. His research shows that people are willing to take less money to work for an organization they believe in. Advocacy helps in recruiting talent, in that a controversial stand will attract people that are in line with the values expressed by that stand, and thus presumably more likely to be a good fit in the organization. ∞
