Technology has liberated so many frontiers. We used to work at work; now we work anywhere and on any device. We used to watch television; now we stream video on-demand. And the examples go on and on.

Marketers used to tell stories (mostly) via a handful of dominant print and video channels; now the channels are many and diverse. These fundamental changes have inspired innovation and invention in ways that should elevate the brand and customer experience. But, have they?

Ana Andjelic explored the current state of luxury brands and asked “Why aren’t their brand stories better?” Ana came to a profound conclusion. She observed, “Instead of a brand spirit speaking the language of a modern audience, we got content strategy. Instead of a brand point of view expressed through enduring aesthetics, we got temporary campaigns shot by the latest photographer du jour. Instead of being inspired to tell their own stories, we got influencer marketing programs.” And while the history and legend of luxury brands gives them an abundant source-well from which to build story, her observation can apply to nearly any brand.

In a September article, Tom Goodwin opined that “We’re at peak complexity. And it sucks.” He was talking about digital transformation specifically, but he might as well be talking about the modern world. Enter marketing technology — especially marketing automation. Like any new technology, there is a rush to implement quickly as there is great promise marketers will “be able to do more with less.” Sadly, many marketers are just doing more, and this is the problem.

“More” Is A Strategy

It’s easy to be seduced. The possibilities for pushing content to more touchpoints increase daily. Platforms in the cloud, social media channels, and other innovations allow marketers to automate processes, and scale programs – usually with a few simple clicks. These programs need content in order to thrive. Their appetites are voracious, insatiable really.

A couple of times per year, Loggerhead Sea Turtles lay many thousands of eggs on the beaches along the Southeast shores of the U.S. Only one out of every one thousand of the hatchlings will live to adulthood, so “more” can be a “successful” strategy. For sea turtles. According to Sirius Decisions, 70-80% of B2B content is never used. So why does it get made in the first place?

Usually the misstep lies in not understanding the correct approach. Too great an emphasis is placed on what the content is and what it says; too little emphasis is placed on the vehicle used for reaching the customer and the specific business outcome the content is supposed to achieve. The idea of nurturing a relationship and what it means in the customer experience is obscured by the speed of execution.

Less Requires More

When the time has been taken to understand customers’ pain points, triggers, and content preferences, marketing technology can both help propel the brand story and purpose in ways that can be automated and scalable. As long as the brand is mindful that the technology needs to be used in the best interest of the customer (and not in terms of what it can do for marketing), it is a win-win situation. Keep this in mind:

• What content do your customers like? Different stages of the customer journey are met with different content form-factors.
• Where do they consume the information? Content types need to be positioned in channel-appropriate ways. The flipbook you promote on Magazine may not work as well when offered in a Facebook feed.
• What does their journey look like? Describe the goals, objectives, and triggers that make sense to move customers towards a purchase decision.

It’s all too easy to be a brand of “more”. Instead, be a consistent brand. In an era dominated by fake news and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to be true to your purpose.

Don’t let the future leave you behind. Join us in Hollywood, California for Brand Leadership in the Age of Disruption, our 5th annual competitive-learning event designed around brand strategy.

The Blake Project Can Help: The Strategic Brand Storytelling Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

A critical question for leaders is, “When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose?”

The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if you just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious this will be very hard to do. So, I always advise my friends and colleagues, “Don’t tell me what you’re doing. Tell me what you stopped doing.”

The first step for a leader fighting to earn a place in the future is to free up resources that are committed to maintaining things that no longer contribute to brand performance and no longer produce results. Maintaining yesterday is always difficult, extremely time-consuming and risky.

Maintaining yesterday always commits the brands’ scarcest and most valuable resources–and above all, its ablest people–to nonresults. Yet doing anything differently–let alone innovating–always creates unexpected difficulties. It demands leadership by people of high and proven ability. And if those people are committed to maintaining yesterday, they are simply not available to create tomorrow.

The first change policy, therefore, has to be organized abandonment. The leader puts every product, every service, every process, every market, every distribution channel, every customer, and every end use on trial for its life. And does so on a regular schedule. ~ Peter Drucker

Abandoning Yesterday
Change is hard. That’s why the future can look so much like the past. And why brands and the marketers who manage them often lose their edge. For those marketers who see comfort zones as a dangerous place and are ready to become the change leader your organization needs, we have designed a unique experience around brand strategy for you. One that challenges today’s thinking about brands and brand management. One that helps prepare you for tomorrow. One that breaks you free from yesterday’s marketing conference format.

The Blake Project and Branding Strategy Insider have designed a uniquely powerful experience for brand leadership in the age of disruption. We call it The Un-Conference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World.

Reserved for 50, it’s unlike any other marketing conference you’ve attended before:

• Everyone in the room is an expert and gains from the sum of the expertise in the room.
• Our competitive learning format is fun, energized and impactful.
• The walls are down, there are no podiums or stages, there is no hierarchy – your uniform is jeans.
• The focus is on learning outcomes, not ticket sales.
• Small is powerful, with only 50 marketers participating in hands on learning.
• As in your marketplace, some will win, some will lose, all will learn.

No Attendees. Only Participants.
The best pathway for learning is through participation, not observation. The Un-Conference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World will challenge your thinking about brands and brand management. To do that, we’ll put you on a team of 10 and offer you opportunities to compete, lead and learn alongside other marketers in a unique environment. The challenges you’ll tackle are based on and influenced by the actual issues that you and other participants are facing.

In May of 2017 we are focused on: Disruptive Marketing Trends, Building Emotional Connections, Encoding Brands In The Mind, Brand Storytelling, Brand Leadership, Digital Strategy, Customer Experience, B2B Brand Strategy and more.

It all takes place at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, California May 1 – 3, 2017.

Our schedule…

Monday, May 1st – Kickoff Mixer: 7- 9pm at The London Hotel Rooftop Pool

Tuesday, May 2nd – Day 1: 8am – 5pm, at The London Hotel / 6:30pm – ? Team building event and dinner

Wednesday, May 3rd – Day 2: 8am – 5pm, at The London Hotel

Who Should Participate?
We have reserved these two days (and a kickoff mixer on the evening of the 1st) for 50 senior B2C and B2B marketers who see professional growth as a mandate for success and who seek a learning experience superior to last century’s format of marketing conferences:

-Marketing oriented leaders
-Marketing professionals (brand managers, product managers, directors, vice presidents, CMO’s, brand strategists etc.)
-Advertising agency professionals (account executives, planners, creatives, agency heads)
-Marketers facing brand strategy issues
-Marketers seeking a competitive advantage
-Professionals in charge of brand building, brand management, human resources
-Professional brand consultants, digital consultants and researchers
-Marketers who prefer participation over observation
-Marketers who don’t believe that last century’s format of marketing conferences advances them as leaders.

Every year a wide range of brands from around the world join us. Past participants include AAA, Bayer, Bloomberg, Humana, Land O’ Lakes, Liberty Mutual, Pilot/Flying J, RJ Reynolds, TD Ameritrade, GlaxoSmithKlein, Wounded Warrior Project, Monsanto, Ogilvy, Kawasaki, GE and many more.

Only 50 marketers can participate. To secure a spot for you or your group at The Un-Conference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World call me directly in Los Angeles at 813-842-2260. Or simply email me.

Special pricing for Non-profits, MENG/Marketing Executives Group and American Marketing Association Members.

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” ~ Peter Drucker

I do hope you can join us.

Sincerely,

Derrick Daye for The Un-Conference, Branding Strategy Insider and The Blake Project

Apple’s latest ad from the “Practically Magic” campaign features charming youngsters performing Romeo and Juliet in a school play as a proud father records it all with his iPhone 7.

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When it comes to equality across race, class and gender: “None of us has time to sleep — we need to be woke as hell,” says Mia Birdsong, host of Session 3 of TEDWomen 2016. In an emotional, pointed session, seven speakers and one performer explored the painful realities of the present and offered hopeful views of the future.

Founders of the Black Lives Matter movement — from left, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, interviewed onstage by TEDWomen cohost Mia Birdsong at TEDWomen 2016 in San Francisco. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED

“I’m not passing a torch; I’m helping you light the fire.” Kicking off session 3, Mia Birdsong sat down with the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, for an in-depth conversation about the movement, how it’s rocked public consciousness across the world and where the future lies for Black lives. Sharing personal experiences of being Black in America and statistics about the abhorrent state of racism worldwide, Garza, Cullors and Tometi made it clear that this systemic problem must be addressed at the root for the progress of all. “Our work is not just about our own visibility, but how we make the whole visible,” they say. Their advice on how to participate? Lead, join something and “sharpen each other so we can rise.”

Attacking discrimination through prenatal care. When activists discuss the effects of racism on marginalized populations, they tend to focus on the challenges that occur during one’s lifetime. But what about before you’re even born? According to stats shared by birthing rights activist and doula Miriam Zoila Pérez, pregnant women of color experience far poorer health outcomes than their white counterparts. Though poverty and access-to-care are partially responsible for this statistic, Pérez identifies discrimination as the root cause of this disparity. Pregnant women of color who receive the recommended prenatal care still suffer from higher rates of illness and death during pregnancy and childbirth, and immigrants of color actually have worse health outcomes the longer that they stay in the United States. “Racism is actually making us sick,” Pérez says. She illustrates a new way to counteract these effects, known as “the JJ Way.” This model of unconditional support from healthcare providers emphasizes a compassionate rather than punitive environment for all women. “While we can’t eradicate racism and the stress that results from it overnight, we might be able to create environments that provide a buffer to what people of color experience on a daily basis. And during pregnancy, that buffer can be an incredible tool towards shifting the impact of racism on generations to come.”

The urgency of intersectionality. As a law student, professor Kimberlé Crenshaw came across the case of Emma DeGraffenreid, an African-American woman who had sued a manufacturing company for not hiring her on the basis of her race and gender. The judge dismissed her claim, noting that the company had hired people of her color, and hired people of her gender. It just didn’t happen to hire people who were both. Crenshaw saw an overwhelming lack of language to describe this injustice at the intersection of race and gender, and developed a theory she called “intersectionality” to describe how our overlapping social identities can relate to structures of racism and oppression. “When there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see a problem,” the law professor and activist says. “When you can’t see a problem, you can’t solve it.” Intersectionality theory also helps explain the current misrepresentation of violence against African-American women in politics and media, spurring Crenshaw to launch the #SayHerName campaign to bring awareness to the forgotten female victims of police brutality. Joined by singer Abby Dobson, Crenshaw encourages us to bring these women to light and finally say their names.

“Being difficult means to disrupt the expectations of others,” says C. Nicole Mason onstage at TEDWomen 2016. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED

The gift of being difficult. “Have you ever felt like you were being a pain in the ass, or have you ever been called ‘difficult’?” asks C. Nicole Mason. The author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America, Mason says she has been “difficult” her whole life, but only after writing her memoir did she start to wonder if that was really such a bad thing. “I decided that being difficult means to disrupt the expectations of others,” she says, “to ask for more than what was being offered and to take the road said to be closed to me.” Born a brown-skinned girl to a teenaged mother in Los Angeles, the expectations for Mason’s life were carved out before she could begin to imagine what she might want for herself. But she had a different vision for herself — one that would require the disruption of stereotypes and the stigma placed upon poor people, girls and blacks in our society. Mason outlines three kinds of disruption that shaped who she is: (1) disrupt dominant narratives; (2) disrupt the rules of how things are supposed to be done and who should be doing them; and (3) disrupt the expectations and limitations that are put upon you by society and others. “Let’s all go out and be difficult,” she says.

“This month I become the first woman on British television to host a primetime comedy game show,” says Sandi Toksvig. “I’m thrilled, but the first? It’s 2016; television has been around for 80 years.” Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED

Getting equality on the ballot. The night before Sandi Toksvig‘s talk at TEDWomen 2016, the World Economic Forum updated its estimate of when women around the world can expect equal pay as men. It had been originally estimated as the year 2133. Now …. it’s 2186. “We can’t wait that long!” says Toksvig. Earlier this year, Toksvig — Britain’s first openly gay female media personality — decided to bring the issue of equality to the here-and-now by founding a new political party, The Women’s Equality Party. Their platform is simple: let’s create equality in every aspect of our lives. (“And then close down, go home and get the rest of the chores done.”) Toskvig hopes other women in other countries will copy her party’s model and mobilize for equality around the world.

Born to sing. “My voice — my greatest gift, my greatest salvation,” says Taylor Dayne, as she reflects on the role of music in giving her purpose and helping her counter the chaos of her childhood home. “If my parents couldn’t protect me, my voice would,” she says in a talk laced with musical quotations from the perfect song, as she explores why a woman who loves love (“All of my singles, did you ever notice?, have the word ‘Love’ or ‘Heart’ in the title) is still searching for connection. She closes with a soulful rendition of her new song “Born to Sing.”

We all know the power of a story. Stories evoke feelings, and as Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Even now, as an adult, your most cherished…

It seems like it was just yesterday when I published my last list of Brands To Watch, but alas 2017 is fast approaching, so I’ll continue the format I introduced in last year’s post and provide a list of Brands To Watch in 2017, one for each letter of the alphabet.  Consider the following an almanac of sorts for brands in the coming year:

A. America.  The United States of, that is.  With Trump’s assumption of the highest office in the land, it’s unclear what the coming year holds for our country.  We could see significant and surprising changes from Cuba to China and immigration to infrastructure, plus health care, regulation, and more,

B. Barnes & Noble. The venerable bookstore chain has let its CEO go, lowered sales expectations, and shrunk its footprint by dozens of stores.  Meanwhile Amazon Books is opening stores.  Is 2017 the year B&N’s death will become imminent?!

C. Chipotle.  No one thought it would take this long for Chipotle Mexican Grill to recover from its food borne illness crisis.  Recovery plans for the coming year include a new store design, desserts, and digital ordering.

D. Donald Trump.  The future of the Trump brand is in question.  Will the Donald’s presidency help or hurt it?  The election might indicate that the brand has more fans than most imagine, but Trump’s strong campaign rhetoric combined with conflict of interest issues might detract from the brand’s power.

E. Echo and Echo Dot.  Sales of Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot voice-controlled speakers have topped five million in two short years.  The company is now rumored to be working on a high-end Echo-style device that would feature a 7-inch touchscreen.  Yes, it’s like a tablet-and-speaker in one, and yes, Amazon is continuing to land grab in its fight against tech giants like Apple.

F. Ford.  Bill Ford recently made the bold announcement that autonomous ridesharing is coming in 2021.  It’s a big bet with a potentially huge payoff — but what happens to the brand in the meantime?

G. Google.  The PIxel smartphone that Google introduced in 2016 has gotten off to a great start, with positive reviews and three million units in sales.  Let’s see if it continues to grow and support the company’s strategy of drawing more people to the Android platform.

H. Home Depot — Competition between The Home Depot and Lowe’s has been one of the quintessential retail rivalries.  Currently The Home Depot is growing sales faster and enjoys higher profitability, and at the time I’m posting this, it was popping up as an analyst choice for holiday season sales.  Let the game continue.

I. IPhone.  Apple is expected to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone launch by introducing a brand new edition.  Radical changes expected include a super-high-resolution OLED screen that stretches from edge to edge of the device, a virtual on-screen home button, and wireless charging capability.

J. JCPenney.  JCPenney’s ability to execute a turnaround has been a crapshoot and its performance in 2017 will probably as unpredictable.  The company is making all the right moves but consumers are spending less on apparel.

K. Kred, Klear, and Klout.  Influencer marketing is fast becoming a common strategy for marketers, particularly for B2B companies where the salesperson’s role has diminished in importance to many customers.  And tools like Kred, Klear, and Klout, which help companies identify and monitor top influencers in their markets, are fast becoming the brands of choice for data-hungry marketers.

L. Lady Gaga.  Lady Gaga made a comeback last year, with a stunning performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, a creative tribute to David Bowie at the Grammys, and a new album that has been well-received by critics and fans. This year, she’s headlining the half-time show at the big game.  Paws up!

M. McDonald’s.  The fast food chain will finally leverage its core brand equities in speed and convenience by launching a mobile order-and-pay app and digital kiosks in 2016.  But who knows if it’s enough to produce sustained growth for the struggling chain?!

N. NFL.  Thanks to cannibalization from digital media, continued concerns over concussions, and (some would say) players’ protests during the national anthem, the NFL has been suffering from declining ratings this past year.  I guess Mark Cuban’s 2014 prediction that the league would experience an implosion in 10 years might come true.

O. Oil of Olay.  As one of P&G’s flagship brands, Oil of Olay is a good brand to watch in 2017 to see if reducing the number of brands (to 65 from 200 at its peak) will be effective at turning the packaged good giant around.

P. Prime.  Amazon has been aggressively signing up new members to its Prime service and, according to some speculation, has been losing money just as fast.  In the company’s latest earnings report, the company missed estimates by a wide margin.  Will Amazon raise the membership fee above the $99 rate it’s offered for the last 3 years?  Probably not, but it’s always interesting to see CEO Jeff Bezos convince investors to be patient.

Q. Quest Diagnostics.  As consumers take more control over their health care, companies that once were only B2B plays will become consumer brands.  Quest Diagnostics is one that just announced that it is expanding a test of patient-initiated testing services, including tests for HIV and panels for heart health.

R. Ralph Lauren.  2016 brought signs that Ralph Lauren’s new CEO, Stefan Larsson, is successfully returning the company to financial health.  Let’s see if the momentum continues in 2017.

S. Samsung.  The Galaxy Note7 recall has hit the company hard.  And the timing couldn’t be worse, with Google’s smartphone entrant picking up steam (see G above) and Apple’s new iPhone just around the corner (see I above).  Samsung better pull itself out of its hole in the coming year or it might lose more ground than it can recover.

T. Twitter.  It’s do or die time for Twitter.  Either it figures out how to attract more users or it shuts down.  If Trump continues to use the channel the way he did during the campaign, it just might have a chance.

U. Uber.  It’s unclear if Uber will finally do an IPO this coming year.  If it does, it would undoubtedly be the biggest of the year. What is certain is that the company will refocus its efforts on the U.S. domestic market after ceding China to Didi and the development of the self-driving car technology that it sees as key to its long-term profitability.

V. Volkswagen.  The new CEO of Volkswagen recently told reporters “We want to write a comeback story” and announced a 10-year plan that includes a combination of more America-friendly products, better utilization of its plant in Chattanooga, TN, and a commitment to electric vehicles.  Given how profitable of a market the U.S. is for the beleaguered company, it will likely start implementing the plan aggressively.

W. We Chat.  WeChat, the Chinese messaging app owned by Tencent, is rapidly closing in on 1 billion users and seems poised to give Facebook Messenger a run for its money…and lead the ascendance of Chinese brands in the world.

X. Xiaomi.  Another Chinese brand, Xiaomi, is the smartphone maker that most U.S. consumers have never heard of…yet.  It has been teasing a launch during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) of the Mi7 which some critics say may be one of the best smartphones of the year.

Y. YouTube.  It looks like YouTube is almost ready to launch its new live TV streaming service dubbed YouTube Unplugged.   It’s just signed CBS and in talks with FOX, Disney, and NBCUniversal.  Let the mass cord cutting begin.

Z. Zenefits.  Zenefits was once considered a darling of the start-up world for introducing software with the potential to disrupt the entire HR industry and raising nearly $600 million from high profile investors including Andreesen Horowitz.  But it imploded due to uncontrolled growth and regulatory violations.  Now it seems the company is trying to reboot — and if it succeeds, it will show that it is possible to resurrect a unicorn.

P.S.  This list of Brands to Watch in 2017 is highly dominated by U.S. brands and consumer brands, since these are the markets I know the best.  I’d love to hear about foreign and B2B brands to watch in 2017 — please share in the Comments section below.

related:

Brands to Watch in 2016

Brands to Watch in 2015

Brands to Watch in 2014

The post brands to watch in 2017 appeared first on Denise Lee Yohn.

We’ve all been in those meetings. The subject of the company’s brand purpose comes up and the C-level executives around the table roll their eyes or become fidgety.

For them, the P-word is a soft thing, nice words, lofty and aspirational, and notoriously difficult to measure. Purpose may remind them of a plaque in the boardroom which makes employees cynical about hollow leadership initiatives and mantras. Or it may sound like a branding, public relations or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tactic, not worthy of a board-level discussion.

But they would be wise not to dismiss the P-word. In fact, today many leading CEOs and companies are finding that embracing a core purpose is not only a ‘good’ thing to do but also drives top corporate performance. Bottom line? Purpose means growth, and growth means profit.

What Is Brand Purpose?

Purpose is the reason the company exists not only materially and economically but also emotionally and spiritually. It is the enterprise’s unifying statement of commitment to customers, employees and the larger world it operates in.

A higher purpose connects the business and peoples’ work to societal goals such as reducing hunger in the developing world or improving public health in the US.

Purpose, more than money, motivates the best employees to come to work every day and make a difference. A strong, values-based direction helps a company attract and retain the highest performers.

If a company’s brand positioning statement appeals to customers’ functional and emotional needs, then its purpose statement expresses the company’s soul, defining how it serves Customers, the Organization and the Rest of the World (its COR stakeholders).

Procter & Gamble’s Purpose: We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper.

Most companies have visions, missions and values; but having a purpose goes deeper: it establishes a reason for being (beyond economic) and defines individual employee and collective meaning and direction.

The Case For Brand Purpose

Harvard Business School professors John Kotter and Rosabeth Moss Kanter helped put the purpose concept on the corporate strategy map (along with Jim Collins prior). They published works asserting a causal relationship between a company being a good global citizen and making good profits.

Kotter referenced a multi-year study with 200 companies to argue that ideals-based businesses outperform the others in revenues by 400 percent. Babson professor and Whole Foods advisor, Raj Sisojdia, studied 28 companies from 1996-2011 and concluded: purpose-driven enterprises (“firms of endearment”) grew by 1647 percent compared to the S&P 500 average of 157 percent.

Competitive strategy legend, Michael Porter, a colleague of Kotter and Kanter, broadened the argument and began a revolution with his “Shared Value” paper. In it, he called for a remaking of the corporation, and of capitalism itself, to serve rather than compete against societal aims such as decreasing obesity or carbon emissions. According to Porter’s thesis, the company’s own economic interests would ultimately be better served by structuring and operating the business to achieve these greater goals.

Still, scholars and case studies divide over the relationship between corporate purpose and profits. One camp led by Porter argues that profits should not be the primary corporate goal but rather the byproduct of an effective implementation of a purpose-based system. Another school holds that profit-focus and achievement is a precursor and the most effective way to fulfill a great purpose. Some strategists say purpose and profits should be twin objectives and reinforce each other.

Can a company become great, in every sense of the word, by operating with social purpose at the core of its business model? Or does a company become great only

After it has built the capabilities to make a better world? Give forward or give back? For Porter, the ‘give back’ corporate philanthropy and more recent CSR movements have failed in tackling social problems and often end up hurting the economic and social interests of the company.

Notwithstanding chicken-and-egg arguments, the large body of data supports the case that purpose-driven companies are high performing ones.

Companies should embrace a higher purpose by serving and creating distinct value for its COR ‘shareholders’—Customers, Organization, and Rest of the World. Only when they do this authentically, operationally and comprehensively, will their long-term financial objectives be realized.

A company’s higher purpose should speak to the needs of the three COR audiences: Customers, Organization and Rest of the world.

Serving, Creating Value For CUSTOMERS And Improving The Category

Many companies’ marketing efforts have taken on an almost religious tone in their emphasis on serving customers’ needs (e.g. ‘voice of the customer’ research, ‘customer intimacy’ strategies); these strategies though often don’t consider the other two COR stakeholders. Customer-centricity should acknowledge that customers today want to identify and align with the company’s purpose and values, as an expression and extension of their own. A McKinsey study with business-to-business customers found they value the following attributes most in a company:

• Cares about open, honest dialogue with its customers and society
• Acts responsibility across its supply chain
• Fits in well with my values and beliefs

Millennial customers — who now drive the majority of marketplace transactions — care more about whom they buy from and do business with than other generations do. They value brand authenticity and want purpose to be intrinsic to the company and operation, not merely part of a ‘giving back’ campaign. For them, actions speak louder than words; Purpose needs to be more than just the copy in an ‘About Us’ section on the corporate web site.

Serving, Creating Value For The ORGANIZATION And Employees

Taking care of employees is good business. Porter cites the example of Johnson & Johnson saving $250 million by investing in employee wellness programs. Some companies take it a step further: they operate as employee-centric with a purpose that taps into workers’ spiritual needs. Southwest Airlines (“Spirit” is a corporate Value) has carried the employees-first mantle for decades. It boldly asserts that colleagues come before customers. Founder Herb Kelleher once said, “If the employee comes first, then they’re happy…A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy so they keep coming back, which pleases the shareholders.”

The airline company just reported its 43rd consecutive year of profitability. Companies like Southwest that actively engage their employees through a shared purpose are the ones that perform the best.

Millennial workers, to a greater degree than other cohorts, seek to participate in a purpose-driven enterprise. Purpose is also a powerful recruiting and retention tool and provides a company with a strong competitive advantage.

Serving, Creating Value For REST OF THE WORLD And Communities

Porter’s model challenges all companies, business-to-consumer and business-to-business, to carefully consider and act on their role in the wider world. Shared value means the company should integrate external social needs into its core offering. It also means employees are incented to make a difference in their communities and beyond — through their ‘personal brand’ initiatives or corporate means (e.g. Citizen IBM or its Peace Corps-like Corporate Service Corps). “Smarter Planet” is more than a campaign. It continues to be operationalized in many ways.

GE’s ecomagination business ($12 billion invested, $160 billion in revenues s by 2013) is an example of social offerings borne from core purpose. No longer can companies afford to be on the sidelines leaving government and non-profits to tackle the world’s social ills. Companies should exist to solve these problems, argues Porter.

Best Practices

Purpose-driven, high performing enterprises have been adept at building their system in four phases:

1. Customers. The company’s leadership should work in an inclusive way across the organization to craft a purpose statement that is credible, authentic and compelling for COR stakeholders. The statement can be a simple few words, like Disney’s “to make people happy” or a paragraph like Procter & Gamble’s. Successful statements are rarely earth-shattering — but they need to be clear, genuine and motivating.

2. Communication. Once the purpose is established, leaders should communicate it first to the organization, then to customers and the wider world. Great purpose-based companies (e.g. Whole Foods, Zappos, Tata Group) tend to have charismatic CEOs or founders who evangelize the purpose.

3. Operationalization. The hardest part is organizing, acculturating and operating the business around the purpose while staying focused on market and financial imperatives. All employees need to understand and execute against the purpose, individually and collectively.

4. Measurement. Another challenge is establishing metrics that focus accountability and push progress. Some purpose-driven companies have used the Net Promoter Score or Brand Equity Measurement to measure customer and employee value and impact. Procter & Gamble West Africa asks its employees in their performance reviews to account for how they have bettered the world and saved lives.

Building on his corporate shared value work, Porter has expanded his view and metrics to national social advancement and well-being with his Social Progress Index.

How Are You Determining Progress At The Corporate Level?

The next time you are in a meeting with the leadership of a company lacking core direction, you should make a business case for the P-word. It would be highly profitable for them to listen and act.

Build A More Valuable Future For Your Brand. Join us in Hollywood, California for Brand Leadership in the Age of Disruption, our 5th annual competitive-learning event designed around brand strategy.

The Blake Project can help you identify and develop your brand purpose.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

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“When there’s no name for a problem, you can’t solve it,” says Kimberlé Crenshaw. She spoke at TEDWomen 2016 on October 27 in San Francisco. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Michelle Cusseaux. Aura Rosser. Tanisha Anderson. Mya Hall. Natasha McKenna. These are the names of but a few African-American women who were victims of police brutality in the past two years. Why are most people unfamiliar with these names? Activist and law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw urges us to ask this question. Through her theory of intersectionality, she explains the overwhelming underrepresentation of violence against African-American women in activism, politics and media.

“The problem is, in part, a framing problem,” Crenshaw says. “Without frames that are capacious enough to address all the ways that disadvantages and burdens play out for all members of a particular group, the efforts to mobilize resources to address a social problem will be  partial and exclusionary.”

For Crenshaw, this meant developing a language as a method of understanding this problem, she says: “When there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see a problem. When you can’t see a problem, you can’t solve it.”

Inspiration struck as a law student, when she came across the case of Emma DeGraffenreid, an African-American woman who sued a manufacturing company for not hiring her on the basis of race and gender. The judge dismissed her claim, noting that the company had hired people of her color, and hired people of her gender. It just didn’t happen to hire people who were both. Crenshaw seeing this obvious injustice (or “injustice squared,” as she puts it) imagined DeGraffenreid standing at the intersection of being both a woman and an African-American. This intersection is at the heart of the theory of intersectionality, a theory Crenshaw has developed to describe how our overlapping social identities relate to structures of racism and oppression.

The reality is that African-American women face discrimination through both their race and gender. Spheres of social identities — from race to gender to sexuality to disability — operate on multiple levels, creating multidimensional experiences. This casts a shadow on the African-American women who have lost their lives to systemic racism in the past few years.

“Why don’t we know these stories? Why is it that their lost lives don’t generate the same amount of media attention and communal outcry of the lost lives of their fallen brothers?” she demands. Frustrated by this situation, Crenshaw launched the #SayHerName campaign, a social media movement that seeks to shed light on forgotten women.

“Let’s create a cacophony of sound to represent our intention. To hold these women up. To bring them into the light,” Crenshaw proclaims. Accompanied onstage by singer Abby Dobson to close out this powerful talk, she encourages us to bring these women to light and finally say their names: Michelle Cusseaux. Aura Rosser. Tanisha Anderson. Mya Hall. Natasha McKenna.

I never thought about what my “ONE Word” was until I met Evan Carmichael. Evan, who runs EvanCarmichael.com, a popular website for entrepreneurs, breathes and bleeds entrepreneurship. His goal? To help 1 billion entrepreneurs. To change the world. And he’s made progress! His YouTube Channel is nearing half a million…

By Alex Parkinson I was recently tasked with uncovering strong examples of internal storytelling—no easy task given that most examples are rarely public. However, at the recent Engagement Institute Summit in Detroit, I was fortunate to hear about GM’s What’s Your GM Story? podcast. Following the summit, I had a conversation with Kerry Christopher, GM’s […]