Omar Rodríguez-Vilá

Sundar Bharadwaj

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">In Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Expectation</h5>
  <p>Consumers increasingly expect brands to have a social purpose, so many companies are taking social stands in very visible ways. Think TOMS’s one-for-one program, which donates shoes and other goods for every product sold.</p>
  <h5>The Challenge</h5>
  <p>These programs can benefit society and the brand but may fizzle or actually harm the company if they’re not carefully managed.</p>
  <p>The Strategy</p>
  <p>An effective strategy creates value by strengthening a brand’s key attributes or building new adjacencies. At the same time, it mitigates the risk of negative associations and threats to stakeholder acceptance.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p>Consumers increasingly expect brands to have not just functional benefits but a social purpose. As a result, companies are taking social stands in very visible ways. Airbnb used a Super Bowl ad to publicly cement its commitment to diversity. Tecate, based in Mexico, is investing heavily in programs to reduce violence against women, and Vicks, a P&amp;G brand in India, supports child-adoption rights for transgender people. Brands increasingly use social purpose to guide marketing communications, inform product innovation, and steer investments toward social cause programs. And that’s all well and good when it works. But missteps are common, and they can have real consequences.</p>

sgjzEZFTgQq/t81j9q+Wya+A+trw1Wb6Avu93ICTVXLMgpO3me7OZAaFS063qR5Iv998UU9OyC3rogmq9+WyjeluMnqk2nXo2SUZHIn1ADxQ51TZu9j4I6qh99AetO0c

<p>Consumers increasingly expect brands to have a social purpose beyond mere functional benefits. As a result, companies are taking social stands in very visible ways. For example, TOMS&#8217;s one-for-one program donates shoes and other goods for every product the company sells. Such programs can benefit society and the brand, but they may fizzle or actually harm the company if they&#8217;re not carefully managed. (Recall Starbucks&#8217;s widely mocked Race Together campaign.)</p>
<p>Marketing professors Vil&#225; and Bharadwaj have developed an approach they call &#8220;competing on social purpose,&#8221; which ties a brand&#8217;s most ambitious social aspirations to its most pressing growth needs. An effective strategy creates value by strengthening a brand&#8217;s key attributes or building new adjacencies. At the same time, it mitigates the risk of negative associations and threats to stakeholder acceptance. In order to create value for all stakeholders&#8212;customers, the company, shareholders, and society at large&#8212;managers must integrate considered acts of generosity with the strategic pursuit of brand goals.</p>

Competing on Social Purpose

Consumers increasingly expect brands to have a social purpose beyond mere functional benefits. As a result, companies are taking social stands in very visible ways. For example, TOMS’s one-for-one program donates shoes and other goods for every product the company sells. Such programs can benefit society and the brand, but they may fizzle or actually harm the company if they’re not carefully managed. (Recall Starbucks’s widely mocked Race Together campaign.) Marketing professors Vilá and Bharadwaj have developed an approach they call “competing on social purpose,” which ties a brand’s most ambitious social aspirations to its most pressing growth needs. An effective strategy creates value by strengthening a brand’s key attributes or building new adjacencies. At the same time, it mitigates the risk of negative associations and threats to stakeholder acceptance. In order to create value for all stakeholders—customers, the company, shareholders, and society at large—managers must integrate considered acts of generosity with the strategic pursuit of brand goals.

Competing on Social Purpose

Summary.

Partner Center