Purpose Creates Value For All Stakeholders
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies were compelled to re-think their marketing strategies. The idea of responsible business expansion with key focus on employee welfare and skill enhancement was the fulcrum of the year gone.
Defining what purpose-led marketing means to individuals, the Vice President and Head of Marketing of Voltas, Deba Ghoshal, said, “Purpose should be defined by ‘3Cs’ -- the company, consumer and competition.”
Adding to this, Shiva Krishnamurthy, Vice President Food and Beverages, Hindustan Unilever noted, “I think it is about picking up an issue that matters to people and then addressing it credibly.” Citing the example of Brooke Bond, Krishnamurthy reminded that the brand has been on the journey of making India more inclusive with the several initiatives that it has undertaken in the last many years, some of which also won global accolades.
The idea of resonating with the consumer is imperative in today’s day and age, where trust and relatability with the brand is at a premium.
“Some brands have seen upstream demand, and so have we,” reflected Sunil Narula, Vice President – Marketing, Panasonic Life Solutions India. He explained that what has worked for the company was the employee base of electricians, plumbers and the likes, who were provided avenues of upskilling home, an investment made by the company on them.
Building further on the idea of company responsibility, Ghoshal reminded that in the peak of the lockdown, companies such as Voltas had to help the customers self-service their appliances as visitation was not possible. The consumers are expecting more from businesses in this new reality, and brands must market themselves factoring this.
Company and social well-being are not mutually exclusive, and hence it is difficult to separate CSR from company profits. Krishnamurthy commented, “If we see these separately, we will not have societal goals. Ideally all campaigns should be business-led, and they should deliver results.”
A humanitarian appeal is the basis of perhaps all ad campaigns in recent times, irrespective the sector. The business leaders do however caution the need to walk the talk.
Another piece of caution is using CSR for ulterior motive such as tax saving. “If the greater purpose for which a programme is created is to save on corporate taxes, then the approach itself is wrong,” said Narula. Krishnamurthy added, “If you are doing something purposeful for the sake of compliance, it is not purposeful.” Purpose should be raison d'etre.
The future of purpose-led marketing will continue to factor in data and digital, because without these, “purpose might get blurred”. The marketing leaders do hope that in 2021, marketing and messaging would see more action and less debate, more empathy and less judgement, and business will do more, and not just speak more.
The marketing leaders were speaking at a session in the BW Top 50 Marketers 2021.
