Early in January 2022, Terry Smith, founder of Fundsmith, caused a stir by claiming that Unilever had “lost the plot” in its focus on brand purpose. Of the Unilever brand Hellman’s Mayonnaise, Smith issued the following rebuke: “The Hellmann’s brand has existed since 1913 so we would guess that by now consumers have figured out its purpose (spoiler alert — salads and sandwiches).”
“There were some great lines in Terry Smith’s critique of Unilever,” acknowledges Andy Last, CEO of MullenLowe Salt, an agency specialising in brand purpose. Smith is the founder and chief executive of Fundsmith, a UK investment fund which manages £26 billion worth of assets.
But Last has a rejoinder of his own. “Instead of just listening to Terry Smith’s words, watch what he’s doing with the money he manages. He’s keeping it in Unilever. OK, so he’s firing a shot across the management’s bows, which is every investor’s prerogative. But he’s keeping his money there because he says the business fundamentals are right. These are strong brands. And Unilever will turn around. Now, he’s talking about sustainability and purpose being a distraction. But the fact is that those brands understand why two and a half billion people in the world use Unilever brands every day. Those people are “society”. So, Unilever has to understand, and have something positive to say about, its impact on society.”
Last is speaking to Campaign deputy editor Gemma Charles and to Anthony Lamy, VP EMEA client partnerships at VidMob, the ad-tech platform known for arming the advertising industry with Intelligent Creative. The trio had come together for a session at the recent Campaign Brand Purpose Summit. The topic under discussion was ‘what does brand purpose mean for brand strategy in 2022 and beyond?’
“Having a brand purpose is mandatory,” says VidMob’s Lamy. “That’s why VidMob created its foundation, VidMob Gives the same day as it created the company itself. Our philosophy is that any platform or product we create, we make available to non-profits for free. Our staff even work with them to make sure they understand how the product works. So far, we’ve worked with 84 non-profit organizations in 63 countries, creating over four hundred videos to help promote thirteen of the UN’s seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs). As creative communications specialists our purpose is to help clients, but also those doing social good, to communicate their message.”
In our experience at MullenLowe Salt, Last says “there are four main benefits companies derive from engaging in brand purpose. It can make their marketing more effective. It can help them sell more and improve customer relations. It can improve their licence to operate. And it can help drive employee engagement. Identifying which of these is most important to your company is the first step in defining your brand purpose and embedding it in everything you do.”
Lamy raises the issue of how brand purpose can be used to bind employees to each other and to the company. “In this new environment of remote and hybrid working,” he explains, “you need to find ways for people to bond. Often, many of these people will only meet via a screen. That can be a pretty dry experience. When you rally people behind a topic which matters to them, that is a tremendous help to building a common bond and culture.”
“Purpose has to have a positive impact on the world and also deliver shareholder value,” says Last. “It has to. If you’re just doing it on the side, at some point people will look at that and see it as a tax on the business. If shareholders want to give their money to charity, they can do that. They don’t need to have it siphoned off by a company.”
Charles asked both participants to take a risk and give their forecasts of the future of brand purpose. “I think we’ll see more integrated reporting,” says Last, “businesses reporting their sustainability performance alongside their commercial performance. As generation Z comes through, we’ll see increasing demand for a clear sense of purpose in the companies its members work for.”
Lamy agrees: “Brand purpose is extremely effective at creating a common purpose among people working for a company.” He says it also helps massively if you’re hiring socially conscious workers. The fact that they are able to make a difference through their work on a topic which matters to them resonates really strongly. And in a competitive talent market, that matters.
“If brands are going to stay strong and are going to remain elevated from commodity products, they’re going to need a purpose,” says Last. “The message we must all take from this, is that purpose isn’t an excuse for poor performance.”
Check out the session in full here and watch other content from the Campaign Purpose summit here.
