Day: February 14, 2023

When a company says they’re committed to brand purpose or corporate social responsibility, what comes to mind? Do you associate these terms with concrete actions, or are they just marketing buzzwords like “green” or “clean?” Are you more willing to support a company if they claim to care about corporate social responsibility? Modern consumers are constantly defining and redefining themselves based on cultural and societal factors, changing perceptions of identity, and demographic shifts. In the past few years, as we have all grappled with unavoidable macro forces including a global pandemic, the accelerating effects of climate change, and systemic inequality, many brands have decided to participate in the conversation with their own declarations of and commitments to social responsibility and positive action. Today’s consumers have more choice than ever before, and more access to information to inform their purchasing decisions. Whereas a mere 25 years ago consumers received all of their information about brands via one-way channels — aka, direct advertising — any person can now proactively track everything from a company’s supply chain to their charitable donations to their PR missteps. As we discovered via previous research building audience trust is equally important as doing the “right thing,” brands can only achieve authentic connection by meeting consumers exactly where they are in terms of mindset, emotional state, and identity. To help marketers find expressions of corporate social responsibility and brand purpose that are authentic to their brands and most likely to resonate with today’s consumers, Vox Media partnered with the Axis Agency and BRANDthrō to answer three questions: A NEW WAY TO DO RESEARCH.  BRANDthrō’s ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS Before jumping to the results, it’s important to understand why we elected to work with BRANDthrō.   Part of this analysis is based on the OCEAN personality model (see appendix) that has been written about extensively by leading psychologists to help explain how we feel and why we behave in certain ways. Essentially, the OCEAN model assigns categories to people based on behavioral and personality traits, which results in a more nuanced view of their actions. We can see the benefit of the OCEAN model in the analysis of a basic survey question: The OCEAN model and BRANDthrō look beyond the face value of this response, examining and categorizing the underlying emotions and personality traits that cause a person to say that brand purpose is very important to them. By using what BRANDthro calls emotional lookalikes, brands can reach new customers by targeting people who are likely to be interested in their business because they share similar emotional characteristics to existing customers. So, how is the consumer changing? Dramatic demographic changes — by race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and more — are altering the way in which people connect with brands, and also changing companies from within. The role of brand purpose will only become more important as the population changes. There is a definitive and emotionally engaging way of understanding concepts like multicultural, purpose, and inclusion that resonate for diverse populations. While consumers clearly understand a company’s need to make money, there is an expected social contract to address social issues and add social value. CONSUMERS’ DEMOGRAPHICS ARE CHANGING, AND WITH THAT COMES CHANGES IN OVERALL CONSUMER MINDSET, SENTIMENT, AND EXPECTATIONS Earlier this year at the ANA Masters conference, Mark Pritchard declared: “It’s high time to retire the archaic term general market. ‘General’ is only two letters different from ‘generic.’ And our job is to be distinctive. Not generic, not average, not homogenous.”   Shifting mindsets, even about what constitutes a “general market,” are evident in the way that consumers define their own identities. According to the 2020 US Census, more Americans than ever before self-identified as multiracial, an increase of 129% over the last decade. Yet many companies still target consumers by specific races and ethnicities leaving out cultural relevance or nuance. Savvier consumers with a more evolved view of their own identities expect more than gratuitous and simplistic campaigns without true representation and equity as the driving force. Demographically speaking, the US will become a minority-majority in less than a decade. What are the implications of that new reality? Are we to start creating ads that “speak” to every unique demographic group?  Do we create segmentations based on what you look like? What is the role of DEI+ in marketing now? Next-gen marketing strategies require much more nuance around cultural relevance. For example, inclusion does not guarantee that we deliver cultural relevance, and the aim is not to have one or the other, but both. If you believe the minority-majority is becoming a greater proportion of your audience, it’s not just the sheer size and numbers, but contextualizing the emotional mindset and delivering on the specific expectations of multicultural and diverse consumers that require cultural relevance, representation, and positive social impact on their communities. PURPOSE DRIVEN & OVERLY STRESSED  We compared those who self-selected as culturally diverse versus the general market (non-Hispanic white) population, and the results demonstrated that a more diverse audience exhibited a different emotional profile. When compared to those who self-defined as Caucasian, those who indicated they were culturally diverse had corresponding increases in the following OCEAN characteristics: conscientiousness, agreeableness, and anxiety. Generally speaking, culturally diverse respondents expressed a greater sense of purpose/discipline coupled with anger/anxiety/depression. This finding is hardly surprising given the tumultuous backdrop of the last several years, with an uptick in race-motivated crimes straining Asian, Black, Latinx, and other communities. It is reasonable to think that contemporary social issues have a great impact on multicultural and diverse communities. Thus, for brands to genuinely serve diverse audiences, they must recognize the different mindsets, priorities, and emotional states that these consumers bring to the table. HOW THESE CONSUMERS SEE THE DEFINITION TO COMPLICATED CONCEPTS We also looked into clearly and descriptively understanding three specific concepts: Understanding how a consumer emotionally engages with and defines these specific concepts is important to the way we construct communications, programs, and marketing efforts when we use