In the realm of marketing, "purpose" is often tossed around, yet it's frequently misunderstood. Many brands misuse it as an empty promise to boost sales, while others mistakenly think it means trying to cater to everyone. These misconceptions hold numerous brands back from making a genuinely positive impact in the world.
True purpose possesses the transformative ability to foster love, trust, and connection. It serves as the linchpin for elevating a brand's value, expanding its reach, and magnifying its influence. However, the opposite holds true as well. When brands lack authenticity in their actions, consumers are quick to call out their "purpose-washing" attempts, resulting in a loss of trust from their loyal followers.
Purpose isn't merely about CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or ESG (Environmental & Social Governance). Instead, it's rooted in the solutions a brand can offer to its community. Purpose drives positive change, contributes to the well-being of all stakeholders, and propels society forward by challenging the status quo, leading the way for others to follow suit.
In this conversation cafe, we welcome Christina Bouglass, the founder of The Butterfly Movements, as we delve into the intricacies of embedding purpose into the brands and
businesses we create!
Talking Points:
🌍 How brands can prioritize the well-being of people and the planet alongside profits in practical terms.
🤝 How brands can authentically create purpose in today's world, fostering trust and connection with their customers.
🚀 How solepreneurs and startups, even with limited resources, can embark on the journey of becoming purpose-driven brands.
📊 How to measure the success of purpose-driven brands and quantify their positive change and societal impact, moving beyond traditional ROI metrics.
Learn more about Christina Bouglass, founder of The Butterfly Movements
Christina Bouglass is a brand building expert and founder of The Butterfly Movements. She is passionate about the opportunity and responsibility of marketing in creating the wellbeing economy in which the measure of success is the long-term wellbeing of all people and planet.
She has over 20 years’ experience as a marketing executive in big multinationals (P&G, Coty, The Wella Company) and has worked across both big global brands as well as small challenger brands that are looking to break through the clutter and make an impact.
She left the corporate world with the desire to contribute her skills towards creating a better world and has since studied Sustainable Marketing with the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL) as well as trained as a B Leader with B Lab Switzerland. She is also a marketing lecturer at the Haute Ecole de Gestion (HEG) in Geneva.
Beyond marketing, she loves reading and writing and is currently writing a book about her ”pivot to purpose” experience when leaving the corporate world and how it shifted her vision of marketing. Christina's References from the Podcast:
Book: "Reinventing Organizations" – Probably one of the few management books I actually completed! It delves into how organizations can evolve with purpose at their core and explores the role of the CEO in these organizations as "the guardian of the company purpose."
Documentary: "Century of Self" (BBC) – Reveals how marketing taps into our unconscious desires to sell more products. It's fascinating, given that it was Freud's nephew who first employed these techniques!
Podcast: "Can Marketing Save the Planet?" Featuring some excellent guests who are already working on purpose-led brands or rethinking marketing approaches.
Learn more about Christina's work at www.thebutterflymovements.com