From the marketing world…

No 1.

Patagonia: Living its ‘why’

For 50 years, outdoor clothing and gear retailer, Patagonia, has experimented in responsible business. Already seen as one of the most purposeful brands in the apparel industry, it has built its brand tackling issues around global warming. Even as a small brand in its infancy, it devoted time and money to the environmental crisis.

No 1.

In 1986, Patagonia committed to donating 10% of profits each year to groups working to save or restore habitats, later upping it to 1% of sales, whether they made a profit or not. This commitment has been kept since.

“Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’”

Yvon Chouinard

With a respect and appreciation for the outdoors running through the heart of the business, its move in 2022 to make Earth its only shareholder is a true representation of a brand living its ‘why’.

No 1.

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, gifted the company (£2.6bn plus any future profit) to a collective that fights climate change. While an extreme example, this is proof that purpose takes real investment.

Next time Patagonia talks about its environmental purpose, we’ll trust its marketing to be authentic.

No 2.

Currys: Staying true to its audience

Concerns around environmental sustainability and the cost-of-living crisis are two of largest issues we face today. Currys showed its audience that it was listening to these concerns – particularly around growing electrical waste – and launched a ‘Cash for Trash’ scheme.

Currys prides itself on being the largest UK tech recycler and diverts 65,000 tonnes of e-waste from landfill each year. Despite rising costs, people are keeping hold of items that they could be exchanging for cash – something Currys wanted to alert its customers about.

No 3.

Dove: Keeping it real

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty remains one of the top commercial case studies for purpose-driven marketing. Driven by beauty trends, and the lack of body positivity or diversity in the media and advertising at the time, this campaign become the very essence of the Dove brand. And it’s still going today.

No 3.

The message of self-acceptance and self-love is still front and centre. By picking a cause that resonated with its audience, Dove has become synonymous with self-esteem.

In having a distinct voice and an authentic sentiment – one that evolved with time yet maintaining its core message – the brand has bloomed organically in a highly distinctive way. Even exclusively product-focused campaigns retain the brand’s purpose.

No 4.

Dell: Using its voice

Dell wanted to show the world who it is and what it does. In the modern era of marketing, Dell believed that B2B and B2C customer bases should be aligned. So, instead of looking for differences between the groups, it looked for similarities to drive scale in its messaging.

This has led to Dell’s purpose and storytelling becoming a major part of its content and marketing strategy, sharing the message that Dell is a technology optimist and that it believes technology can be used for good.

No 5.

SAP: Resonating with audiences through its own story

Being authentic means always practicing what you preach. By focusing more on messages that truly resonate with people – software giant SAP crafted a story that reflects what consumers want today: truth, authenticity and courage.

No 5.

The CMO at SAP decided that the brand needed to develop a unified brand narrative that articulated SAP’s real purpose and the value that it offers its customers. This brand narrative would then be the foundation for all strategies going forward.