Upheavals

The new social status? Or - what difference does soup make?

If your senior managers are struggling to see the connection between what you support and what you earn, direct them to this great article on the influence of cause on shopping decisions.

According to a survey of 6,000 people in 10 countries, 83% of consumers say they are willing to change their consumption habits if it helps make the world a better place to live, and 68% feel it's becoming unacceptable not to make efforts to show concern for the environment or live a healthy lifestyle. 64% said they expect companies to support causes.

In some ways, there’s no news here. The better you make people feel, the more likely they are to buy from you. The news is in how much cause has become a key feel-good factor.

I really liked this point: "Social purpose is the new social status," according to Mitch Markson, Edelman's chief creative officer. "[Marketers] have to figure out how to build a bridge between corporate social responsibility and the brand."

I would suggest though that you can’t do that by just bragging about your sponsorships. Because if it’s all about purpose, then you need to be able to align your brand with the intent. It’s not enough that you care - why do you care? And what difference are you as a brand committed to seeing through caring?

Here’s the difference. “I bought a can of soup today” versus “I bought a can of X soup and fed a child in Y a meal”.

In other words, by linking their product not just to meal-times at home but to the wider cause of hunger worldwide, a soup company could correlate each action a consumer takes in the shopping aisle to an action they’d like to see happen in the world.

When someone buys a can of your soup, what happens? … Anything?

POSTED: Thursday, 22 October 2009

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