Earlier this year, a brand partner of ours who heads marketing for a large fintech company, called me to share news that she was very delighted about a campaign we had just launched for the brand. I already knew that the business results had been amazing, and the campaign had led to a whopping 7 per cent increase in the female user base for the app, generating a sizeable increase in revenue – all tied directly to the campaign; but business results wasn’t what she was calling about.
She instead mentioned how women across the country had been calling in and giving feedback on how much their lives had been positively affected by the campaign. We had created a social empowerment campaign for women which had resulted in more women being able to subscribe to the business. Social good generating commerce.
There has been a lot of buzz lately around what this communications industry is supposed to deliver, with a split being seen between those who advocate for an ‘advertising isn’t supposed to save the world’ approach, and those who feel that creativity can go beyond just selling products successfully and can be utilised as a power tool to change society for the better.
If you like to listen to data, it’s all been there for a while: several studies have shown beyond any argument that a vast majority of the younger generation prefer brands that demonstrate values. Not just ethical, but moral. Personal values. That’s the future right there. One of the most remarkable ones is a study in which Gen Z is willing to pay more for a product that have a positive impact on society. This is an old discussion though, proven time and time again, and one would think it would’ve been applied everywhere by now.
Last October, I visited a small town in the rural part of the province of Sindh, Southern Pakistan. The location had been devastated by massive flooding and millions of people had lost their homes. The town was being reconstructed, as part of the largest rehabilitation program in the world. I approached a small shack of a store that was selling snacks and soft drinks, and started talking to the owner about how the floods had impacted the economy.
“Everything was gone, all of it, nothing remained except water everywhere. I lost everything. What use is being a store owner when a flood hits? Nobody buys a soft drink while drowning.” Simple reasoning indeed, but profound.
The campaign we ended up creating for the town led the government to present it at COP28, resulting in aid donations in excess of $250mn. This has helped build more flood-proof towns which can now withstand climate disasters, and of course maintain a healthy economy in which plenty of soft drinks can be sold.
Being purposeful, of course, presents the rather difficult challenge of having skin in the game. Acts instead of ads. Actions instead of words. Which is why a campaign like ‘Elections Edition’ for AnNahar Newspaper was its most popular: the newspaper, instead of printing its daily edition, donated the saved paper and ink to the country’s election organisers who had previously complained of a shortage of both. A common adage says that if you save one person, you save all of humanity. We like to think that even if we made one vote happen,
we saved democracy.
Of course, not all of it must be that drastic. Social purpose can be generated through authenticity built by being relatable to a current environment. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, helping the youth navigate societal changes and becoming a trusted friend can go a long way. If you want the consumer to care about the brand, your brand must care about something.
I was recently invited by the Earth Public Information Collaborative at the United Nations amongst several leading figures from the world of science, creativity and culture to be briefed on ‘The Most Important Brief’, designed to unify planetary science communications in the media to function as a true, trusted and relevant voice. What I learnt there from climate experts was shocking: it’s not looking good for our children on this planet. Which means it’s not looking good for commerce in the future either.
There was a great cartoon by Tom Toro in the New Yorker in which a father in tattered clothing sits around a campfire speaking to his kids. In the background lay the ruins of civilisation. He says, “Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time, we created a lot of value for shareholders.”
I want to create a lot of value for shareholders, but doing the kind of work that enables that value to keep being generated, not threaten its future.
Because nobody buys a soft drink while drowning.
By Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO
