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By ACA Staff

The ACA recently published a report from a survey we conducted on purpose marketing, which explored the importance and success of this form of marketing according to Canadian marketers. Part of the Marketer’s Pulse report series, the survey polled 52 senior Canadian marketers representing a cross section of industry sectors and MarCom spending levels.

The study found that Canadian marketers almost universally believe that purpose marketing is important to brand-building efforts. The survey was completed at the same time as a similar global study conducted by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) which uncovered similar results.

For the purpose of the study, we defined purpose marketing as having an organization that supports a good cause, produces a product that addresses a societal issue or adopts ethical business practices. With this in mind, we asked panelists what they feel ‘purpose’ is about. It was almost universally agreed that purpose marketing is, more than anything else, about creating programs that positively impact communities. Interestingly, this didn’t seem to translate into employee welfare initiatives, as only 20% of marketers surveyed identified it as one of their top three choices. Compared to the global perspective, Canadian marketers are more strongly committed to community-oriented programs, and conversely, less committed to ethical business activities and addressing global issues.

Panelists were also asked who, in the organization, they thought should be involved in designing and shaping this type of marketing. The response was nearly unanimous that CMOs and CEOs should be involved, while most did not expect customers to be involved. Yet, this is the very stakeholder group that brands are attempting to connect with in their purpose marketing efforts.

When you want to do something well, you want to look to the leaders to see how they’re doing things. In terms of brands who lead in purpose marketing efforts, Tim Hortons dominated marketers’ minds. In response to an open ended question, the Canadian brand came out with 4 times as many mentions as the next most mentioned brands. Globally, Apple, McDonald’s and Unilever took the top three spots.

But can the impact of purpose marketing really be measured? We asked this question of our panelists and discovered that the majority don’t believe it’s possible to measure the ROI on business objectives like sales and share price, but that they do believe it can measure positive PR and reputation, as well as consumer engagement.

For a brand to succeed at purpose marketing, it needs to become part of the company’s DNA, according to marketers. 84% of panelists (comparable to the global perspective) believe that purpose needs to pervade the entire organization and have buy-in from all business functions. In addition, social media is seen by most as essential in engaging consumers, despite 60% reporting consumer skepticism and push-back against brands with a purpose.

While not everyone agrees that all brands are suited to purpose marketing, most marketers do think that purpose will be increasingly important to building brands. Savvy marketers know that consumers are increasingly demanding companies to be social responsible and help drive positive change in the world.

Interested in the full results of the Marketer’s Pulse survey? They are available at no charge to ACA members and panel respondents, and by subscription.