The Power of Purpose: A Conversation with Dan Shannon

Phil McKenzie The use of purpose has become more prevalent in branding and marketing in recent years but the agency Purpose predates that Tell me more about the origins of the agencyDan Shannon The origin story of Purpose lives with our CEO and founder Jeremy Heimans Jeremy was engaged in progressive advocacy and had started and cofounded organizations such as Get Up and Avaaz The vision of Purpose grew out of those success stories with a call to action to take the lessons learned from technology and storytelling and transfer it to brand work Purpose was created to help organizations both social sector and private sector figure out how to do the valuesdriven work of taking a stand on social issues and scaling itMcKenzie With purpose being more quotin voguequot has it made your work easier or more challengingShannon amp160Brands are seeking to answer important questions What do we stand for What issues do we care about How are we making a difference Increasingly having the right answers to those questions is part of having a license to operate Our work is more challenging because our perspective is that our role is not to give clients an easy answer but rather the hard answer on whether it39s the right thing for them to doMcKenzie It sounds like purposedriven work has to incorporate specific messaging to resonate in a meaningful wayShannon Quality purpose marketing campaigns are by definition not easy to pull off It39s the difference between a feelgood marketing campaign where everybody tweets a hashtag to show their support for an issue but that39s the end of it What does that accomplish from an impact perspective Maybe you get brand lift perhaps you get some engagement but does that make a difference in the worldOn the impactside if you have the resources maybe you write a big check to a nonprofit organization However does that deliver against your brand and marketing objectives Are you getting lift and engagementFor our clients it39s crucial to think about how you do both in a way that is mutually reinforcing We want you running meaningful campaigns and programs that are delivering real impact in peoples39 lives and engaging customers in a way that deepens your relationship with them and shows that your brand is a vehicle for them to create a meaningful impact on an issue that they care deeply about The best way to have consumers feel like your brand matters and makes a difference in the world is for your brand to matter and make a difference in the worldMcKenzie Most organizations are riskaverse and asking them to take a stand on social issues can feel difficult How does Purpose manage that processShannon Brands have a reason to be riskaverse because there is real risk involved At Purpose we ask clients to start with the core business If you39re going to take a stand on an issue if you39re going to be active on a particular purpose it needs to be relevant to the work that you do the product that you make the service you provide It has to be more than just mitigating negative externalities that you39re creating in your business model For example if you39re a CPG company and you39re reducing singleuse plastic in your supply chain that39s an excellent and essential thing to do However it39s not in and of itself purposedriven because all you39re doing is solving a problem that you created in the first placeI think the risks come when you39re taking a stand on an issue where you haven39t made any of those kinds of improvements internally I believe another risk is speaking out on a subject that amp8230 doesn39t feel like your brand or your company has any credibility speaking onMcKenzie How do you deal with purposewashing and the coopting of purposedriven workShannon I think it39s the difference between saying that you care about something and demonstrating that you care by having made some commitments sacrifices and investments to deliver impact against that claim We don39t take on projects that are about saying and not about doingMcKenzie Do you think purpose is being driven by what people want or what brands are drivingShannon In my view it39s a flywheel effect People are demanding it brands are trying to provide it and then more people are seeing brands offering and saying quotOh that seems cool I want thatquot It39s a virtuous cycle led by real changes in the world amp8212 greater access to information greater transparency greater ability for people to communicate with each otherIn short the public is more engaged People don39t expect to be a passive audience instead they want to be a participant Even traditional marketing is moving in this direction with a lot more experiential work and strategy focused on social engagementMcKenzie I say that in today39s brand world there are quotno sidelinesquot Is silence on social issues possibleShannon Silence is no longer an option I think the challenge associated with that is in an increasingly polarized society we39ve retreated into camps We39ve talked to our clients about shifting from prioritizing favorability to prioritizing depth of sentiment Meaning traditionally brands have thought about how they can be broadly favorable to as many people as possible which leads you to a riskaverse approach The way to be broadly favorable to as many people as possible is to avoid alienating anybody In a world where there are no sidelines amp8230 you have to pick a side So to our brand clients we prioritize enthusiasmMcKenzie Is there a specific campaign that illustrates these ideasShannon We did a big campaign for UNICEF around the refugee Olympic team In 2016 for the firstever time there was an Olympic team that was comprised of all refugee athletes amp8212 meaning they had fled their origin countries due to violence and other reasons UNICEF is not considered controversial and primarily focuses on children39s issues Given that more than half of global refugees are children we thought this was an excellent opportunity to align them with an essential issue in a slightly different way amp8212 which could alienate some traditional donors but raise awareness among audiences that wanted them to be more vocalSo we created a fan club for the refugee Olympic team that would tell stories of resilience talent and contribution rather than as victims It was an opportunity to take a bolder stance and a more controversial stance than UNICEF had historically takenMcKenzie Finally do you consider yourself to be optimistic in the light of the increased focus on purposedriven marketingShannon I think there is more momentum building around the notion that if you want to be seen creating an impact on issues that people care about you have to be doing amp8230 it credibly I am moderately optimistic that trend will continueI think the question is how quickly does it continue and how much does it accelerate the trend that finds more brands being a success with this strategy More case studies amp8230 will provide evidence that there is support for purpose being part of the ongoing brand strategy So I think brands are going to continue to try to figure out how to get it right I think they see the value in doing thatClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Power of Purpose: A Conversation with Dan Shannon

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Philip McKenzie

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