Morgan Strawn

In a previous installment of Industry Insights, I shared some tips for defining a company’s brand purpose that guests on the Beyond Profit podcast have offered. While that process can be mysterious and daunting, so too can be the process of conveying to the wider world one’s purpose and one’s efforts toward its fulfillment. Fortunately, Beyond Profit has insights to impart on this matter as well, and seven tips offered by guests of the podcast follow below.

Brand purpose has become increasingly critical to how a company differentiates itself, appeals to consumers, and, perhaps most importantly of all, attains a goal loftier than simply making a profit. However, the process of defining a given organization’s unique purpose can be baffling for those undertaking it.

The 2022 Multicultural Excellence Awards shined a valuable spotlight on some of the excellent marketing being devoted to Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Below are some summaries of that trophy-hoisting work, with the full case studies accessible through the embedded hyperlinks.

The 2022 Multicultural Excellence Awards celebrated some of the excellent marketing being devoted to the Hispanic community. Below are some summaries of those blue-ribbon efforts, with the full case studies accessible through the embedded hyperlinks.

On the U.S. media landscape, sports looms with outsized prominence among the nation’s sources of entertainment, as a 2020 study by VAB suggests. According to that report, in 2019, the last year before the pandemic began distorting data, the average U.S. viewer watched 4,364 minutes of national live TV sports broadcasts a year.

Mastercard Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raja Rajamannar has expounded eloquently on this imperative. In an episode of the ANA Center for Brand Purpose’s podcast Beyond Profit, he explained: “As a marketer, you're in a very privileged position. You have access, you have the resources, you have influence, and you have capabilities to shape the cultures of societies. I think all the privilege comes with responsibility. The responsibility is to do something good for the society. Why do you do it? Because it's politically correct? Or because it gives you some better return for your business? You do good because you're in a position to do good. And in the process you do well.”

Forget baseball. These days, the national pastime might better be identified as gaming. As a 2022 dentsu consumer sentiment study put it, “Gaming’s growth has been exponential and it is expected to continue,” elaborating that “almost 9 in 10 U.S. consumers game.”

In its new report, “Digital Performance in Luxury,” R3 observes that “luxury marketers have to balance their traditional foundations with new market dynamics that reward mass relevance and immediacy.”

The Consumer Data Trust Index issued by Jebbit for the first half of 2022 highlights several factors that are contributing to upheavals in how consumers allocate their trust among businesses. These factors included the following:

If the peril currently faced by the planet was not enough to impress upon marketers the importance of sustainable business practices, they have had that importance underscored for them by one of their industry’s leaders, namely, Marc Pritchard. ANA Newsstand has quoted the chief brand officer of Procter & Gamble insisting that "marketing is in a state of disruption, and people expect more from brands and companies. They expect us to do good for society and for the planet. Brands really have the opportunity and responsibility to step up and do good — and do so in a way that's good for growth."

Candy, cookies, and chips sometimes get a bad rap as “empty calories.” Maybe so, but the marketing they inspire is brimful of creativity. As we prepare to celebrate National Junk Food Day on July 21, take a peek at a few of the campaigns used to promote some of the more indulgent snacks in the food pyramid.