In this second article of our series about The Rise of the Conscious Consumer (and what it means for your brand), I would like to get further into drawing the profile of the new player I call The Conscious Consumer, its behaviors and expectations toward brands.

While Milton Friedman famously argued that “There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game” and went on to win a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Well… Friedman is dead.  And so is his doctrine.

Friedman is Dead, Long Live Purpose –

Indeed, according to a 2018 Cone/Porter Novelli Purpose Study, 78% of Americans now believe companies must do more than just make money; they must positively impact society as well. And we are not talking about any consumer either: the American consumer, the absolute consumer, the world champion in consumerism, is now placing purpose before money as its top one vs. two concerns.

This was so mind-boggling to me that I decided to take a closer look a this study.

Now, looking at the fine print, most purchase decisions are primarily driven by quality, and purpose comes either #2 or #3 on the podium and plays a significant role.

And when it comes to consumer behavior and brand support, then purpose is the leading factor in consumer adoption and brand engagement, with 77% of consumers feeling a stronger emotional connection to purpose-driven companies over traditional companies.

I would argue that this trend is likely to keep growing as millennials (and their $1.7 trillion buying power) keep entering the job market and gain more economic weight, while accessing more positions of power in the business world.

From consumers to brand activists –

But it is in brand engagement and support that the trend is most notable: 68% of people surveyed by Cone say they are more willing to share content from purpose-driven companies with their social networks over that of traditional companies – and 79% would be more loyal towards a purpose-driven company.

Which can be summarized as: Purpose drives Emotions, which leads to Adoption.

And this goes further, considering that 73% of consumers surveyed say they would defend a purpose-driven company if people spoke badly about it, and so are willing to (somewhat) become activists to support purposeful brands with whom they have common values.

And, the benefits of a purposeful brand are not only limited to customers, they also impact positively the company’s employees.

Boosting Employees with Purpose –

Both the  Harvard Business Review and the Center for Economic Studies agree: working toward a positive purpose not only positively impacts customers and the community but has also an uplifting effect on employees, driving their productivity up, increasing their job satisfaction and their attachment to the company: productivity can increase by up to 30%. See the virtuous circle here…?

And employees who derive meaning from their work report almost twice the job satisfaction and are 3 times more likely to stay with their organization.

I should know: this is the very reason I created Positive Solutions, invented a new job, and walked away from traditional business 😉

 

Thierry Daher

Founder & Managing Director

Positive Solutions

 

About Positive Solutions & Thierry Daher – www.positivesolutions.net

Positive Solutions is a purpose-driven content agency, creating exclusively Positive Content and igniting positive transformation in people and organizations worldwide. We do this by representing and promoting some of the world’s brightest business minds who have a positive impact on people and/or the planet, such as Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer of Google[x] & Founder of #onebillionhappy and Duncan Wardle, former Head of Innovation & Creativity for Disney. And by creating video, events and cinematic brand-content that have a positive impact on audiences, across cultural boundaries.

Positive Solutions was created in September 2017 by Thierry Daher, a tech entrepreneur, digital marketer, award-winning filmmaker and brand content pioneer who has worked over the years with the likes of Disney, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Macy’s, Bic, Mattel and many more, mixing brands and pop culture in his groundbreaking feature documentaries, series and videos.