Welcome to Issue #10 of Thought Shot - a newsletter with '3-minute reads on becoming Purpose-Driven Leaders’. You can expect to read about my experiments, learnings, and stories sprinkled with helpful tools and frameworks.
Make sure to not miss the next essay -
I came across a consumer study recently and I was completed fascinated by it.
The study looked at 400+ brands across 30 categories to rank the most ‘purposeful’ Indian brands.
One key finding was that - the perception of the brand’s purpose played the most critical role in consumer decisions. The brands that focused on ‘making people’s lives better’ were the ones that ranked at the top and played a big factor in growth.
In some ways, this was inevitable.
The new-age consumer is smart and getting smarter by the day.
We like brands that tell us whether the foods we consume are nutritious and healthy. We like brands that tell us what chemicals we are avoiding in our makeup and shampoo. We like products with refill options and recyclable packaging over plastic. We applaud brands with progressive mindsets on gender and poverty issues.
So purpose cannot be shown by brands as vague promises and/or one-off public events. It needs to go deeper than that.
Thinking about ‘Impact’ as a Brand
Many years ago, I was part of a design thinking workshop for an iconic handwash product of a leading Indian brand. They wanted to increase their market reach to low-income households.
I still distinctly remember their insistence and focus on environment and gender throughout the process.
And I remember hoping that other organizations are also able to build in such lenses in the way they make decisions.
For some time now, I have been thinking about this question -
How can more organizations and brands become impact driven? And can they actually use impact as their brand identity?
One great example is Unilever. Their CEO shared that its purpose-led, Sustainable Living Brands are growing 69% faster than the rest of the business and delivering 75% of the company’s growth.
Notice how they talk about what their products helped achieve -
Unilever’s Sustainable Living Brands include Dove, which has helped over 35 million young people around the world with self-esteem education since 2005; Lifebuoy, which has reached one billion people with its handwashing campaigns; Vaseline, which has reached 3 million people living on the frontline of poverty and disaster with skin healing programmes.
I found it quite interesting how they quantified their growth in terms of the impact their product had versus just talking about the number of products they sold.
So what does being impact-driven as a brand mean?
To keep it simple, it means rethinking how the products and services of a business help solve social and environmental challenges. And then using this to realign the internal purpose as well as external brand identity.
For example - Technology Companies can enable women and low-income communities for better education and employment opportunities. FMCG companies can focus on ensuring access to quality products for better health. Manufacturing companies can focus on creating better livelihoods.
An impact lens can be taken to realign and rethink the larger purpose of an organization and its brand. And then using that purpose as the core DNA for decision-making as well as branding and communications.
True purpose-driven brands are the ones that are able to walk the talk. And they can start by asking three questions -
What impact are we creating through our products and services? This would mean stepping back to identify what impact challenges the products and services help solve and then orienting the organization’s mission compass towards it.
How can we use impact-thinking as a guiding north star for decisions related to new products and services? This might need change management and deep communications across all teams to ensure they are involved and committed.
How can we ensure purpose-based thinking in our existing products and practices? This is the hardest and involves letting go of certain value chain practices, discontinuing partnerships, changing internal policies, etc.
In case you are wondering how this will help businesses, here are 3 reasons -
Better investor engagement: There is an increasing global trend of considering the brand performance on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria. While companies scramble to hire ESG experts, that in itself will not be enough.
Better consumer engagement: Consumer preferences are evolving. They have access to information at their fingertips. Both positive and negative stories can go viral in a heartbeat. Brands that move fast are the ones that will last.
Better employee engagement: Research clearly shows that teams are motivated to work better when they know what they are working for. Laying down a mission to work towards gives personal purpose and performance drive to teams.
Being an impact-focused organization and brand is not an overnight exercise. It is a long and difficult journey that needs leaders to play an equally difficult role.
It needs leaders who are open to change. It needs leaders who can step up and push for different ways of thinking. It needs leaders who can question the status quo.
But as the saying goes -
The best time to start was 5 years back. The next best time is NOW.
P.S. What are some impact-focused brands that come to mind? Tell me in the comments.
Make sure to not miss my next essay -
Totally Unrelated!
This is a new section I am experimenting with. In every issue, I will share a tidbit/ recommendation that I think you might enjoy. (Do write back and tell me what you think)
Today, I wanted to share a book recommendation: Nine Rupees an Hour by Aparna Karthikeyan.
I had the honor of serving on the Jury and hosting a chat with the author at the Green Literature Festival last year (where this book made the Honour List). Aparna is an Indian journalist who shares 12 stories to talk about how climate change is impacting very distinct (and unconventional) rural livelihoods in Tamil Nadu. My favorite story was that of the only female bull rearer. Let me know yours if you end up reading it!
Nice essay Roselin! ESG has surely become a 'buzzword' today with a lot of brands, but like anything worth doing, it is hard to implement. The companies that can pull off the true intention will come out ahead over time.