For some, the morality of advertising can be a dubious subject – after all, its end goal and ultimate purpose is to sell goods.
Reconciling this uncomfortable truth with making a positive impact on the wider world has driven brands to increasingly prioritise a very different sort of purpose in recent years. It also doesn’t hurt that doing ‘good things’ helps paint brands in a positive light in the eyes of the consumer – ultimately helping them sell more…
But moving past this cynical assessment, there are many advertisers out there who are genuinely concerned about the causes that they take up – and their investment has driven tangible positive change.
This where companies like Good-Loop come in. Working with a range of big-name advertisers such as Unilever, Coca-Cola and Nike, the British agency uses media money to give to good causes.
Speaking at the IAB’s Engage event, founder and CEO Amy Williams spoke about the importance of “reclaiming good”, especially in an election year when brands might feel pressure to pull away from purpose out of fear of getting “too political”.
“At Good-Loop, we believe in a thing called good media. Now, first and foremost, it’s media that delivers on your business goals, it’s media that performs, but simultaneously, it’s media that’s good for the planet, and the people who live on it,” Williams explained.
“We do this through ad formats, where we help brands actively support social causes, making ads more attentive and therefore memorable,” she continued.
“This is done through good measures, which is a technology platform that helps brands understand and reduce the emissions of their campaigns, and we’ve done this for over 80% of the world’s top 100 brands.”
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Purpose – or ESG (environmental, social and governance) – has become a key cog in the brand machine, and for good reason; it sells.
Brands whose purpose is aligned with a customer’s value set are much more likely to drive purchases than one who isn’t.
As increasing numbers of people pay more attention to the environment and the climate crisis, brand investment in green initiatives and social purpose has risen accordingly. People have become more and more concerned with a brand’s social policies and the good its does at the heart to local communities.
This is especially true among Gen Z, of which 75% said that they would be more likely to buy a product when a portion of the purchase goes to charity.
“Kantar just this year did a global study and they found that 84% of consumers buy based on their values,” William adds.
“According to a study done by Nielsen and McKinsey last year, there is concrete evidence to suggest that if a brand has ESG values on its packaging, it will sell more stuff.”
The evidence is clear then. Brands that care, and back up their purpose with tangible initiative, will sell more than their counterparts who don’t invest in ESG policies.
Customers care about a brand’s values, who knew? So if advertisers want to make sure they have an impact on the public’s purse-strings, aligning with their values on environmental and social policies has now become paramount.
Brands simply can’t keep their heads in the sand anymore. The days of hiding behind a wall of neutrality are simply gone.
