Trends in Branding and Marketing for 2021 — Purpose-driven Brands
4/8 — Brands need to be more Human, Authentic, and Purpose-driven to Succeed, Thrive and Add Value in 2021 and Beyond
This is the fourth of a series of articles in which we discuss three macro trends impacting the world of business, viewed from the lens of branding and marketing, interpreting desk research specifically for marketing & branding in 2020, and adjusted by a post-2020 point of view. In this article we discuss the need for Purpose-driven Brands and Marketing in 2021.
In this series of articles, we offer advice for anyone with a strategic responsibility for marketing, branding, design or marketing technology — to navigate the playing field and have an impact on the world around you after 2020.
- In the second article, we discussed the first two macro trends we consider for this series: uncertainty and current prevailing philosophies or ‘the ideas lying around’. Read article 2 here.
- Article three, about the third category of macro trends; the most important technology impacting marketing and branding in 2020 and beyond, can be found here.
What do these three macro trends mean for branding and marketing strategy in 2021?
Purpose-Driven Brands
The macro changes we’re all facing; the rapid development of impactful technology, the thoughts we share as a global society and the ramifications of the global lockdown and social/economic crisis of 2020 — all of these will effect each other continuously and will have an impact on your marketing and branding efforts and results, whether you like it or not.
The world is in a state of high uncertainty at almost every level; the individual, group/organizational, and the national and even global level.
We are in dire need of a story and a purpose — to help us see the bigger picture and to help make sense of it all.
What is the role — however small and humble — that business, marketing, brand and design have to play?
What might this all mean for the future of branding and marketing?
What it must mean is that we need to become more human, more authentic and purpose-driven — both in what we do and in the way we tell our story.
This also means that being more and more personal and human in the way we use our marketing tech, will be even more important than ever before. This in line with the need to be fundamentally more human- and purpose-driven in the way we conduct business and work on branding and marketing to begin with.
There’s never been a better time to ask fundamental questions
Was there ever a better time to ask fundamental questions? After 2020, all bets are off, all predictions need readjustment, and all plans and strategies need to be thrown into the recycle bin and be redesigned from scratch.
That’s a stressor, of course, but it’s also a challenge and an opportunity to ask fundamental questions about what matters to you as an organization; to your people and your customers.
This will inform you on what parts to keep, which to dispose of and what to change.
Brands and organizations will need to reevaluate, reimagine, consolidate and reinvigorate their brand — and hence their purpose.
And above all, they need to take branding and marketing beyond design, social media and advertising into the core of the company.
Purpose Alignment: Marketing and Branding connecting to HR and beyond
That means working with HR, recruitment, and really everyone in strategic leadership positions to ensure that the purpose of the brand works from the inside out.
A great example of this is “Adobe’s HR disruptor”:
“Adobe combined the role of chief human resource officer (CHRO) with the role of executive VP of customer and employee experience (CEXO). Following a rallying cry to “disrupt or be disrupted,” Adobe’s CHRO/CEXO wears multiple hats, hyper-focuses on the customer and employee relationship and concentrates on the overlap.”
Why would a company do this?
Because regardless the current circumstances, or even more so because of them, organizations will need to keep their workers, partners and customers engaged. Connected. To the company and to each other.
And all of these stakeholders; these workers, partners, and customers are now often more remote than ever before, more digitally connected than ever, but also likely more than ever uncertain, angry or afraid and overwhelmed with impulses.
Being very clear about your purpose, and being able to personally, authentically and clearly communicate to your stakeholders how your purpose might align with their own, is what’s going to make the difference in these times. For your company as well as the people dependent on what it produces.
Brands need to be more Human, Authentic, and Purpose-Driven
So, it’s all about humans. A human purpose, a human connection, a story and a human experience. Something bigger than ourselves.
But if that’s the case, do we have any proof that this all will help businesses and brands grow? In a fairly recent and very well-documented marketing and branding report, Deloitte Consultancy advocates “Bringing Authenticity to our digital age”:
“Purpose-driven companies witness higher market share gains and grow on average three times faster than their competitors, all the while achieving higher employee and customer satisfaction.”
Make no mistake, the fact that these companies are achieving high employee and customer satisfaction, and growing fast in terms of turnover and profit, is not a coincidence. Employee and customer satisfaction, and in turn profitability inevitably impact each other with employee satisfaction as the starting point for long-term customer- and financial value.
From the same report by Deloitte:
“In a recent consumer poll, Deloitte asked respondents to share what they cared most about while making decisions about brands […] Our findings revealed that many consumers today make decisions based on how brands treat their people, how they treat the environment and how they support the communities in which they operate.”
Now ask yourself, after 2020, what might “how brands treat their people, how they treat the environment and how they support the communities in which they operate” look like for your organization?
In the last of the articles in this series, that’s exactly what we’re going to focus on.
In the following articles of this series, we’ll dive into the analysis of what being “Purpose-driven” will mean specifically for brand and marketing strategy, use of tech, and design in 2021.
This is the fourth of a series of articles in which we discuss three macro trends impacting the world of business, viewed from the lens of branding and marketing, interpreting desk research specifically for marketing & branding in 2020, and adjusted by a post-2020 point of view:
Businesses, Marketing and Brands will need to be much more human-centered and Purpose-driven to connect with stakeholders and have a significant positive impact in 2021 and beyond.
Apart from using technology as a multiplier for humanity and an authenthic, human connection, we view the alignment of Corporate Brand with Personal Brand — and thus the alignment of Organization’s missions with indivivual stakeholders’ personal ‘Why’s’ and Values — in other words; Brand Advocacy or Brand Ambassadorship — as paramount to your brand’s success in 2021 and beyond.
SparQle: Shine, Connect, and Grow
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