If you follow the ad industry at all, you’ve almost certainly seen article after article championing those who’ve leaned into their brand purpose amidst the pandemic. Some go as far to encourage brands to find purpose–and while purpose is certainly important, many brands that claim to be purpose-driven still miss the mark, failing to drive real, visible impact. This can easily backfire, leading to criticism of exploiting societal challenges for their own gain, like accusations of greenwashing.

“During this time, this idea of whether brands helped, how they turned up and whether they’ve done the right thing has taken hold,” says MediaMonks Founder Wesley ter Haar. “That’s about responsibility: can you take on a role that is more meaningful than a nebulous idea of brand purpose?” That notion of responsibility is key. Brands that have made headlines in their response to COVID-19 didn’t always center their role around their purpose; instead, they’ve shown up in other ways by innovating to fill the societal cracks that the pandemic had exposed.

David Rotman, Editor-at-Large of MIT Technology Review, writes in his assessment of the overall COVID-19 response that, “We’re great at devising shiny, mainly software-driven bling that makes our lives more convenient in many ways. But we’re far less accomplished at reinventing health care, rethinking education, making food production and distribution more efficient, and, in general, turning our technical know-how loose on the largest sectors of the economy.”

His point highlights a real problem in brands’ ability to pivot resources and rapidly innovate when new problems arise. While purpose may be important for a brand to have, it’s this ability to step up and support consumers—and broader audiences—when and where it matters most that has become so critical today.

The fundamental disconnect rests between the purpose exhibited in some brands’ everyday messaging versus the way they do business, exposing a difference between brands that have only recently begun to consider a higher purpose versus those that were born from a need to change the world for the better. Ter Haar explains this pitfall succinctly: “Those brands chase after purpose but don’t have it as a real driver of the organization.”

Turning Words into Action

To identify how your brand can identify and fulfill its role, look beyond a vague or broad sense of purpose and instead focus on specific actions that make sense for the brand given its value prop or resources. We saw many brands show up this way, like AB InBev and Ford, who shifted factory production and supply chains to bottle hand sanitizer and make ventilators, respectively.

But brands don’t have to always make such heavy lifting to make impact. Headspace is a smaller brand that has done well by offering a free collection of meditations to everyone: “weathering the storm,” which is tailored specifically for the reality we’re in right now. Even more importantly, it’s offering free access to its entire library for the unemployed and for healthcare professionals. While these are simple maneuvers, they do well to deliver on Headspace’s promise to make guided meditation accessible for everyone.

Ensuring that purpose permeates every part of the organization is critical—not just messaging, but also in the purchase experience (like the “buy one, give one” model popularized by Toms Shoes) and how it treats its employees. As arbiter of the brand-customer relationship, this means CMOs must have a seat at the table to collaborate with other leaders of the organization more closely. But ter Haar notes that founder-led organizations like Airbnb, who had to lay off workers earlier this year in response to the travel industry being brought to its knees, made the best of a difficult situation by connecting laid off employees with new job opportunities.

“It was a great reflection of their marketing purpose. They managed to do it in a way that strengthened the brand,” says ter Haar. “Marketing is such a reflective part of how they position as a brand—and that’s where marking should be. If you have a strong brand perception, it’s in everything you do.”

Lay a Foundation to Build the Brand Role

For many brands, the ability to execute its role is also directly related to its digital maturity and agile capabilities. Having a strong foundation in both allows them to identify opportunities to support consumers in new ways and reallocate resources to execute those initiatives quickly.

A great example of this is the Boost with Facebook content series. Facebook has long hosted events for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and had reached out to our team in Sao Paulo to create the experiential portion of their upcoming events local to the region. When COVID-19 struck, the team had to quickly pivot the programming to a digital setting. “As their partner, we considered how we could quickly pivot to meet their audience where they were online and tailor the content for that new format,” says Carolina Brandao, Senior Film Producer at MediaMonks.

While the original purpose of the event was to train attendees in using Facebook’s marketing tools, the digital version switched gears to also include resources that could help SMBs survive and thrive through the pandemic. Programming takes the form of live panels as well as live-to-tape spots—all directed remotely—that bring together local politicians and leadership from bigger brands, offering broad insights and support to SMBs. Our team in Sao Paulo handled content for all of South America, including programming in both Spanish and Portuguese.

“This project is a perfect example of how MediaMonks was able to change, adapt and help our client create completely new solutions,” says Brandao. “One week before, we weren’t doing remote shoots or livestreams yet, but we were able to pull that off successfully.” Brandao is also proud of the tangible effect that the content has for the SMBs that rely on Facebook for marketing and connecting to consumers. “In the end, this is actually helping someone who is going through a really tough moment to get their feet on the ground and get the right resources.”

For brands that are more siloed, it can be difficult to make such a quick transition. But just like with any initiative to become more agile, a simple solution is to experiment with organizing small, multi-talented teams. By refreshing the existing structure and building urgency around fast solutions—privileging speed over perfection—your teams can rapidly prototype and build new solutions as they arise.

While purpose is important for offering a waypoint or a path for the brand to move toward, it’s this agile response that becomes critical to fulfilling its role. Once a brand is properly prepared, it is better positioned to show up and tangibly build value at speed—and directly support audiences, no matter what form that takes.

From brand role to transforming digital experiences, it’s time to (re)activate customer obsession.

A trend that’s become increasingly important to today’s consumers is the expectation that brands take a stand, exhibiting a sense of purpose not only in their messaging, but also in the way that they conduct their business. An infographic found on the  Forrester blog, “The Power Of The Values-Based Consumer – And Of Authentic Brand Values,” by Jim Nail, offers data on the impact that purpose has on brands: “37% of values-driven firms report double-digit year-on-year revenue growth, vs. 32% of companies overall,” according to the data, showing that purpose is more than goodwill—it drives bottom-line impact. 

Exhibiting values and brand purpose are often discussed in the context of the shifting expectations of younger generations, though Forrester’s data notes that consumers ages 60 and over value social responsibility and purpose, too: 52% of them. To us, it’s clear that being more consumer-based is increasingly important to both brands and consumers of all types. 

But brands must be careful in their approach to promoting or showcasing their sense of purpose, ensuring their efforts read as authentic rather than hollow. Below are three principles that organizations can follow to infuse a sense of purpose in marketing and product development, which we have identified in the work we’ve done alongside purpose-driven brands.

Keep Your Work Consistent with Your Values

Savvy consumers are able to gauge whether a brand message is genuine or simply a marketing tactic. When a brand aims to authentically exemplify its purpose and values, it must keep a coherent message consistent to those values rather than make a one-time gambit. These values must be incorporated at all levels within a business.

A great example of a brand that consistently sticks to its values through its marketing is feminine hygiene brand Libresse, which continuously stays true to the values behind the brand—an important, yet difficult task for FMCG brands. Take, for example, its high-profile “Blood Normal” campaign, made created a stir by depicting period blood to destigmatize the shame that many young women feel about their periods. 

As the first of such advertisements to feature period blood, the campaign won a Glass Lion for Change Grand Prix award at Cannes in 2018. Saba, Libresse’s brand for the Mexican market, isn’t very shy itself in its depiction of femininity. Working with Circus, one of the latest additions to the MediaMonks fold, Saba aimed to challenge convention. 

“Our client is trying to build a global platform that is breaking the rules,” says Dauquen Chabeldin, Head Creative at Circus. The campaign, titled “We Are Ready,” features women in active lifestyles—ranging from athletes to everyday women working out—who don’t feel held back from societal judgments and perceived value based on looks. “They only see how we look, and not what we do,” says a jogger at the end of the hero video, opening up a dialogue on behalf of women everywhere who feel their ambitions and accomplishments aren’t recognized under the male gaze.

Build Impact by Committing to Your Message

To keep authentic, brands must extend purpose and value beyond just marketing and incite real action. According to data from ANA and the Ad Council, “While 78% of marketers said their company has a clearly defined purpose, only 18% strongly agree that it’s part of a companywide business strategy with specific goals.” 

This commitment is critical to building trust with consumers, notes MediaMonks Founder Wesley ter Haar. Speaking from his experience serving on the Cannes Titanium Lions jury, he advises that the big idea must be conceived at a scale that makes a real impression. “Good ideas are great, but the scale of those ideas—the way you commit to them and have them have a real impact—defines a lot of what wins.”

Saba has taken its insight of combatting sexism by offering products that support women with active lifestyles, making good on the promise that women shouldn’t be held back by outdated notions of femininity—including the idea that women can’t exercise and remain active during their period.

Learn what separates the best from the rest among award-winning trends at Cannes.

Strike a Chord and Start a Dialogue with Relatability

No matter your brand purpose or value, relatability is key to opening space for dialogue and ensuring it has impact. “Saba’s campaign was made for Mexico, but once we went digital, we knew it could ultimately live anywhere,” says Pablo Miranda, Creative at Circus. “Sadly, the insight behind the campaign—that women viewed by their looks rather than their achievements—applies globally.” This became clear in the response that the campaign received on social: “Many women commented that they had had similar experiences in their own lives,” says Miranda.

Calvin Klein’s digital #ForAllEternity campaign similarly resolved to get people thinking about and reflecting on transformed gender roles. The integrated campaign defies the typical cologne messaging with storytelling that takes a multifaceted exploration of masculinity and what it means to a series of influencers. Just like Saba’s campaign features women who break convention in their hobbies and professions, the Eternity campaign portrays a range of roles that masculinity plays in the profiled men’s lives: as husbands, fathers and in their careers.

Based around a series of interviews, these stories are told in the men’s own words, making the message ring as true and authentic as possible. As a digital-first campaign that extends the reach of an original TVC, the influencers open up and invite a dialogue with viewers who engage with them each day on social media.

Purpose is more important to brands now than ever before—and it’s never been easier for consumers to scrutinize their actions under a microscope. These truths prompt brands to better exhibit and validate their values through consistent messaging and impactful action, ensuring brand purpose resonates authentically with their audience.