Here I am, standing at the front of a conference room full of expectant faces in a complete cold sweat. My nerves are shot and the stress is having a physical impact on me. This is not my first rodeo; I have presented to rooms like this many times over. But I feel off my game. Why am I so nervous?
Because this matters. Like, really matters. This is not about marketing tactics, return on investment, or the silver bullet concept that is going to drive sales and boost a brand into the stratosphere. This is life and death. I face a room of about 20 social workers representing communities that have been identified as our country’s worst places to live if you are a woman.
My job here today, with our client the South African National Aids Council (Sanac), is to listen and discuss the causes and complexities of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide in our country. After today’s session, my team and I will need to create a programme that will train and prepare 40 GBV ambassadors to use communication as one of their tools to fight the scourge of violence that claims the lives of at least nine women in South Africa every single day (Africa Check).
As marketers and communicators we have the skill set that earns us a place in those rooms. But we have to approach work like this with humility and respect. Let’s not lose ourselves in the methodology and grand-scale tactics. Our job is to first listen, ask the right questions and then apply our know-how to making communication an effective tool towards the solution.
But what is purpose-driven work (really) in the marketing and communications space? Is it just another trend, another employee value proposition to give GenZ a reason to get up in the morning?
Over 30 years ago marketers woke up to the fact that the science of human cognitive behaviour can help us change consumers’ buying behaviour. And with this came an explosion of campaigns using this power for good – showing that with this understanding of human behaviour we can cause people to behave differently when it comes to issues such as drunk driving, smoking or organ donation. Ad agencies were clamouring to get their hands on this work, offering to work for free in exchange for creative freedom that, for a time, paid off in awards season.
But now we are entering a new era of the purpose economy, where “for-benefit” companies are crossing over the traditional sectors and are either for-profit or not-for-profit. The key distinction, argues HR and management consultant Craig Stevens, is that they have a mission that supports the public good, with their profits funding this mission. They have the money AND they see the value in marketing to help their cause – cue us! I think this is the most interesting changing landscape in our industry since the birth of digital marketing.
As author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” Knowing what you believe and why you do what you do is only good sense and every brand, no matter how lowly or frivolous, can undoubtedly make their strategy better armed with this wisdom.
But when our clients measure success in tangible improvements that benefit humankind, this really offers marketers like myself true fulfilment. And so, once again, I am grateful that our clients at Flow Communications trust us with their work. Because their purpose is built in, we only have to tell their stories and ask the right questions about “why” their stories matter.
It’s no wonder that almost every one of my 53 colleagues cites purposeful work as one of the reasons why they work at Flow Communications, which in turn lists being known globally for its purpose-driven work as one of its three long-term ambitions.
This communications work is not always sexy; it is hard working. It needs to be easy to implement and get the job done with minimal fuss (read budget). It brings a new voice to the conversation. It reaches the ears and hearts of those who may not have heard it before. And it paves the way for our wonderful clients to make impacts where they are so desperately needed.
One such example of this work is the Good Work Foundation (GWF), which reimagines education for underprivileged children in rural communities. Our GWF team visits its amazing campuses and sees this organisation’s impact on children’s lives, coming back devout in their support of its work. Telling the GWF’s stories is seen as some of our best work: we hold ourselves to the highest standards, in honour of the standards and sacrifices of the GWF team.
Can marketing and communications solve a social problem? No, it cannot.
But if marketers are invited to the conversation there are several ways our expertise can have an impact, besides just our ability to persuade wealthy benefactors to part with their money.
The marketing approach of customer centrality is probably the most useful in communicating for social change. Workers in this space are more often than not activists for the cause. Their whole world is the person or the issue they are trying to help. They don’t have the time or inclination to understand the audience members who they need to tell about this issue. As communicators, our audience is everything to us, so we know how to frame the messaging to get them to do what we want them to (such as help the cause!).
Furthermore, marketers have learnt to take risks. We operate in chaotic, cluttered commercial environments and have the guts to try, fail and adjust. As Alan R Andreasen states in his article on Commercial Marketing and Social Change, our mantra is “Ready, Fire, Aim.” whereas many others in the space of social change seem to follow an approach of “Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim, Aim – Fire (maybe).”
Last but not least is the missing ingredient of most good causes: creativity. With creativity we can present different perspectives; we can bring about feeling and empathy far more successfully than facts and figures can; and we can ask questions no one has thought to ask.
So back to me, standing at the front of that room full of social workers and the wonderful people at Sanac. I take a deep breath. I am not here to solve this problem. All I can do is ask questions no one has thought to ask, harness all my empathy and creativity and, together with the client, find the right words to communicate with both victims and perpetrators, to galvanise action, spread hope and call on people to stand up and say: “No more.”