Meaningful Brands

Note: To see Umair Haque's video on Rethinking the Idea of the Brand, click here

Today, I came across this video by Umair Haque. I enjoy his work because, like me, he believes organizations need to have a point to what they're doing. This 'point' isn't a bottom line figure, rather it's something that matters to people, society, nature and the future.

What I enjoyed about this video, was hearing that his research findings indicated a dramatic shift in what consumers demand in brands - meaningful, tangible and beneficial value that helps them get more out of life. Consumers, effectively, want to buy good brands - organizations that are choosing to add to society, nature, the future, etc. rather than do harm for short-term gain!

Additionally, I was equally pleased to hear this value shift is happening on a global scale, and is, in fact, happening more rapidly in developing markets like China, India and Brazil. To me, this indicates that for today's brands to remain relevant and be tomorrow's brands, having purpose and consistently acting on that purpose is essential. And lets not forget the ability to fake having purpose is becoming virtually impossible with the extensive access consumers have to information and their willingness to share their findings.

This desire for meaningful brands is not only relevant to the business to consumer relationship, but also for the business to employee/talent relationship. It seems like the majority of my friends, family and colleagues these days are looking for a sense of greater purpose in their work - whether it be improving health & wellness services, making an experience more beautiful, or ensuring what a brand communicates isn't smoke and mirrors.  When these people no longer feel they are living with purpose and contributing to a meaningful brand, they will seek employment elsewhere. Knowing this makes it much more important to have a meaningful purpose when trying to attract and retain tomorrow's limited top talent (read more on this in my previous post Meaning Will Attract & Retain Future Talent).

I think it's worth noting that at the beginning of this video, Umair talks about functional brands and how they were established to provide cues indicating a trusted provider of specific goods and/or services. I believe this remains a fundamental element of brands, if not more so as there is a greater need to maintain trust since they experience considerable scrutiny.

So at a basic level, brands are still here to establish trust, which turns into long-term demand. But now, the global population is becoming more socially aware rather than being solely focused on themselves, and brands need to adapt to remain relevant to this change.  This, then, begins to peak my interest in the realm of luxury goods, which for so long have been built around egocentric/aspirational demand, rather than a more inclusive/altruistic demand. How will or how should luxury brands respond? And will tomorrow's definition of luxury change - if it hasn't begun to already?  I think I have something to think about for my next post...   Would love to hear some of your thoughts in the mean time.