On the latest episode of Campaign Middle East’s On The Record podcast, Mr Goodvertising: Thomas Kolster, Member on the International Advertising Association’s Sustainability Council, Author of The Hero Trap, and the Founder and Creative Director of the Goodvertising Agency, discusses whether purpose has finally moved from riding shotgun to the calling the shots in the driver’s seat – and why that conversation is important.
In conversation with Campaign Middle East, Kolster answers some tough questions on whether companies should go beyond mere narratives and virtue signalling to better focus on executing their goals. This discussion has found renewed impetus, especially given the fact that the world is moving from a generation of ‘talkers’ to a generation of ‘doers’ who are not afraid to boycott or call out brands that don’t fulfill their promises.
Kolster said, “Brands need to realise that they don’t own the brand, people and consumers own the brand. So, the brands who dare to open up will win. This is where purpose very much comes into the driver’s seat because suddenly your brand is driven by something that people care about. For example, Volvo’s about safety, Apple’s about creativity, and Nike’s about athletic performance – and those are the things that truly matter to people instead of just plugging products.”
When asked about marketers struggling to balance business outcomes, performance metrics, and conversation with their CFOs with ESG, consumers’ needs, and society-building campaigns, Kolster said that purpose is not dead yet.
Midway through the video podcast, Kolster said, “I asked myself: ‘With all these brands talking about purpose, who have actually created change in my life?’ And that’s a really good BS test for any brand out there who go down the trendy way of crafting purpose. If you don’t have your consumers and people saying that, have you actually created change?”
In addition to creating change in people’s lives, he also says that for purpose to find fruition it needs to be consistently executed.
“When people criticise purpose, it’s just badly executed purpose. Brands and agencies have been zig-zagging. Everything that they do is for a year, or a year and a half. Purpose demands consistency.”
“Ultimately, it’s about transformation. The companies that understand that this is about customer transformation are the ones that do ‘purpose’ really well. Take a company such as The Lego Group out of Denmark – we feel pretty good when we give the toys to our kids because it develops them in a better way, and the kids feel pretty good playing with these toys. So this is the real test and, hopefully, a better way forward for marketing,” Kolster concluded.
For more such insights from a very intriguing conversation, watch the full video above or click the link here.
CREDITS:
Guest: Thomas Kolster, Member on the International Advertising Association’s Sustainability Council, Author of The Hero Trap, and the Founder and Creative Director of the Goodvertising Agency
Host: Anup Oommen, Editor, Campaign Middle East
Videography: Mark Mathew, Creative Content Producer, Motivate Create
Studio and production: Ahmed Abdelwahab, Studio Manager, Motivate Media Group
