[Research Round-Up] Three Recent Takes on Purpose Marketing, Brand Purpose, and ESG

(This month's Research Round-Up discusses three recent studies that focus on the effectiveness of purpose marketing, the importance potential buyers really place on brand purpose, and the attitudes of consumers and business executives about corporate ESG initiatives.)

Source:  GfK

When Purpose Turned Beige by GfK

• Based on GfK's Purpose Impact Monitor study

• 2,024 interviews conducted among a US online population (ages 18-64)

• Interviews conducted October 25 - November 3, 2022

The survey findings described in this paper won't sit well with advocates of purpose marketing. In the GfK survey, over half of the respondents could not name (unaided) a single brand that is "taking care of the environment and fighting climate change" (57%), "promoting diversity and inclusion" (57%), or "giving back to the community" (24%).

When GfK took a close look at the survey responses, it found some interesting patterns

• Respondents who earned more than $125k/yr were more likely to remember at least one purposeful brand than respondents earning $30k/yr - $60k/yr.

• Millennial female respondents were less likely to be able to name a purposeful brand than millennial male respondents.

• Democratic respondents were more likely to remember at least one purposeful brand than respondents who classified themselves as Republicans, Independents, or members of "other" political parties.

The paper's authors drew this conclusion:  "Despite all the billions of dollars spent on purpose-driven campaigns, brands have not achieved top-of-mind awareness for this crucial work. In some cases, purpose marketing has become a kind of 'green noise' - a constant hum about virtuous brand behavior in which few messages or actions stand out . . . "

Source:  Ipsos

What the Future:  Purpose by Ipsos

• Based on a survey of 1,096 US adults (ages 21+)

• Survey conducted February 8-9, 2023

This research focuses primarily on attitudes regarding brand purpose. The findings of the underlying survey revealed that those attitudes are more nuanced than the recent hype would suggest.

For example, 85% of the survey respondents said that global or national brands should play a role in solving global problems, but 51% of the respondents said companies should remain neutral on social issues.

Two-thirds of the survey respondents agreed that purchasing sustainable products made a difference for the environment, but only 53% said they were willing to pay more for products that are manufactured sustainably.

One of the most striking findings in this research relates to the importance of brand purpose in purchase decisions. Ipsos asked survey participants which of 12 factors were most important when they were deciding which brands or products to purchase. The following table shows that the factors relating to brand purpose (shown in red) were near the bottom of the list in terms of importance.

Matt Carmichael, the head of the Ipsos Trends & Foresight lab, summarized the current situation nicely when he wrote:  "The choices that people as consumers make with their wallets will dictate how much brands can or cannot help, no matter how much those same consumers say they want brands to be part of the solutions."

Source:  IBM Institute for Business Value

The ESG ultimatum:  Profit or perish by the IBM Institute for Business Value

• Based on two surveys. The report doesn't state when the surveys were conducted.

• Survey 1 - A survey of 20,000 consumers across 34 countries

• Survey 2 - A survey of 2,500 executives across 22 industries

This study focuses primarily on the business implications of ESG (environmental, social, governance) goals and programs adopted by business enterprises.

The central argument of this paper is that robust ESG capabilities and programs can drive higher revenue, improved profitability, and deeper customer engagement. However, the research also found that most companies aren't realizing these benefits from their ESG initiatives for a variety of reasons.

The authors of the paper point to several survey findings to support their conclusions.

From the consumer survey:

• About two-thirds of the surveyed consumers said environmental sustainability and social responsibility are very or extremely important to them.

• But . . . 51% said cost of living increases had made environmentally sustainable and socially responsible decisions more difficult in the past 12 months.

• Only 20% of the surveyed consumers said they trust companies' statements about environmental sustainability.

• But . . . nearly half said they had paid a premium for environmentally sustainable or socially responsible products in the last year.

From the survey of executives:

• About three in four (76%) of the surveyed executives said ESG initiatives are central to their business strategy.

• ESG "leaders" - organizations with more mature ESG capabilities - had an annual rate of revenue growth that was more than 10% higher than ESG laggards and generated 5% higher shareholder return.

• Almost all (95%) of the surveyed executives said their organization had developed ESG initiatives, but only 41% said they had made progress on those initiatives. And, only about 10% said their progress had been significant.