Nov 03 2008
Does Marketing Have a ‘Higher Purpose’?
As proud as I am about my chosen profession of marketing, I would not immediately say that it typically has a “higher purpose.” A former client and now good friend once defined marketing like this: “It is the management practice that aims to sell more things to more people at a higher profit.” Sounds about right to me.
But, there are some marketing practitioners who believe marketing can strive for something more. One in particular caught my imagination recently. I actually think he may be on to something. His name is James Stengel, and he is the former head of global marketing for P&G. Recently retired from P&G, Stengel seems to be striving for much more than playing golf and fishing. He is opening up a consultancy, writing a book (with the clever name of “Packaged Good”) and positioning himself as a guru around the idea of “purpose-based marketing.”
In a recent Wall Street Journal article on the subject, Stengel described purpose-based marketing as ”defining what a company does — beyond making money — and how it can make its customers’ lives better.”
While I appreciated the sentiment of Stengel’s idea, my first reaction to his concept was kind of knee-jerk negative. I tend to dismiss most of these former corporate big wigs who anoint themselves as industry gurus to sell expensive (usually over-priced) consulting time. I initially saw Stengel’s purpose-based marketing idea in that vein, until I really started to think about it. The WSJ article includes some examples cited by Stengel of companies that are already using the concept to great effect – both in terms of stronger brands and sales and also improving people’s lives.
The more I considered the concept, the more the closet idealist/progressive/do-gooder in me started to warm up to purpose-based marketing. I think Stengel’s idea goes well beyond “cause-related marketing,” which too often was/is used by marketers as a fairly shallow way of generating more business while trying to look like a good corporate citizen. (Doing well by doing good.) I think Stengel’s purpose-based marketing is much more than that. It aims to tap into basic human values that are too often absent from business and marketing.
By defining a business, brand and the accompanying marketing around a “higher purpose,” companies can achieve a level of “connection” and “relevance” that has been largely out of reach to marketers. Given the deep cynicism that people have today about business, financial institutions and of course government, connecting your brand and company to some greater purpose can’t be a bad thing.
In the Journal piece, Jack Trout (formerly of Trout & Ries, the self proclaimed “fathers” of positioning), expressed skepticism about Stengel’s purpose-based marketing concept. Noting that consumers are “going for the cheaper guy now,” Trout said Stengel’s approach is “not going to save your bacon in this tough world.”
Perhaps not, Mr. Trout. But, even Wal-Mart, which has never been accused of being altruistic or high minded in its commercial practices, has in recent years embraced the cause of environmental sustainability as a defining “purpose” for its business. They did not just jump onto the green band-wagon because Al Gore suggested it, but because it made sense business-wise and marketing-wise. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott has made environmental sustainability a cornerstone “purpose” of his leadership of the company.
I think purpose-based marketing could have special power in the PR profession. Many people who practice PR today have forgotten that a core element of the original definition of PR had to do with contributing to the “common/greater good.” Yeah, I know, you have not heard much of that from PR types of late, but it still is an important part of what PR originally stood for. By that classic definition, PR should closely align to Stengel’s vision of a new kind of marketing and communications that transcends business metrics by being about real values that matter to and benefit people and the world around us. In other words, striving for some higher purpose than just competing and winning in business.
I welcome Jim Stengel’s newest contribution to the understanding and practice of marketing. After pushing Tide, Crest and Pampers all those years, good for him if he finds a meaningful new career in helping marketers actually reach for a higher purpose in their selling strategies and campaigns. Lord knows the world could use all the higher purpose that it can get these days.
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This is an interesting topic. It also may be a semantics discussion.
For me, Stengel’s definition, “define what a company does – beyond making money – and how it makes customers’ lives better,†is simply a better way of articulating the goal of marketing and highlighting the importance of a true Point of Differentiation.
Sure, your previous client, now friend, is accurate in the assertion that business is about making money. However, to sell more things, and make the greatest amount of profit, there has to be a “reason†that the consumer buys the product. That reason can loosely be defined as something that “makes customers’ lives better.â€
A belt keeps my pants from falling down, and thus “makes my life better†in a narrow perspective. When choosing a location to shop, I can shop for a belt made by a company that does less harm to the environment in creating, shipping, and selling their belts. Thus, a point of differentiation for the strip of leather with a buckle.
I also need food to survive, and a grocery store selling me food “makes my life better.†However, I can pick someplace that simply sells food, or someplace that “makes my life better†on multiple fronts. For example, Whole Foods sells food, but also give emotional satisfaction and “makes customers’ lives better†on the emotional front with the knowledge that their business practices make other individuals lives better (environment practices, environmental production, etc.).
Faster, smaller, and easier have always been Points of Differentiation, but with all things being equal, HOW something becomes that way has also become a true Point of Differentiation for business.
My three and a half cents.
Shawn, love your comments. I think the Journal article’s example (offered by Stengel)of Pampers really drills the point home. Pampers realized it had a “higher purpose” than just keeping babies’ bottoms dry. The real purpose was helping moms develop healthy, happy babies. So, in keeping with that purpose, Pampers offered parenting advice and provided experts on parenting topics. According to Stengel, P&G also did research on why babies don’t sleep, which led to a Pampers design change that gave them more of a cloth-like feel that kept the babies more comfortable and thus helped them sleep better.
This purpose approach differentiated the Pampers brand, built trust and emotional connection with consumers and, perhaps most importantly, inspired P&G employees. I think this last result — inspiring internal audiences — is one of the most powerful aspects of purpose-based marketing. By positioning themselves and their brands around a higher purpose, companies can build real commitment and trust with employees who too often look at their employers in a pretty cynical way.
Thanks for your great comments!