Our Account Manager, Ella, comes from a background in retail marketing.
She loves getting to know her clients, their motivation and mission, to provide the most compelling campaigns that deliver value and growth.
In fact, it has become the heart of what we do here at MP&Co as we decided to partner only with purposeful clients. And we’d like to think of ourselves as a values-driven employer too!
While it’s not a new term, purpose-driven is highly at risk of being overused and misused these days, with some organisations falsely claiming it without the means to back it up (think greenwashing – there is often lots of talking the talk!).
Our recent report in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and Lancaster University explores what purpose really means (go ahead and download this here). This report explored how fundamental it is to portray your mission statement in an authentic and compelling way, and this is often best delivered through a strong campaign hook and memorable storytelling.
We have picked out three of the best examples of purposeful campaigns from 2024 to uncover some learnings that you can take forward.
Unilever’s personal care brand, Dove, have been committed to a Real Beauty pledge since 2004. They have a purpose to improve female self-esteem and natural beauty through a ‘beauty for everyone’ motto.
For the 20th anniversary of this mission, their most recent iteration ‘The Code’ is all about the rise of AI and the detrimental impacts this has on promoting unrealistic expectations and social bias. Dove have committed to choosing real women rather than utilising models or AI to feature in their campaigns. This advert focuses on showing AI beauty standards vs realistic beauty standards to spread Dove’s passion for diversity and inclusion.
Dove conducted research and created a report alongside a psychologist which forms the basis of the campaign hook, with key insights and stats being used to influence the story. Despite the20 year long campaign, Dove have found fresh ways to share the same message. This a success because their longstanding purpose shines through in a way that is grounded by facts and research but presented in a way that is compelling, authentic and emotive.
Craft beer giants Beavertown have entered the world of TV advertising with their first TV ad concept ‘For Humans…and other Social Beings’. The brand has brought their very recognisable animated skeletons to life with the goal of ‘re-telling pub stories’. Beavertown asked customers to share their favourite tales and experiences to feature in the ad.
This campaign shows how the brand encouraged engagement from their loyal customers to put their authentic stories front and centre of the advert. Visually, it’s unmistakenly them, with their playful, bold brand animations and witty tone of voice, combined with their motto of getting people to bond over a beer. The advert imagines a Beavertown world, depicting real stories from real mates which celebrates human connection with relatability and sincerity. This campaign spans out-of-home advertising, TV, podcast, digital and trade activity, showing the importance of maximising your reach.
This TV ad comes shortly after the recent Beavertown campaign where they partnered up with mental health charity, Calm. The aim was to encourage people to ‘open up’ to their mates over a beer and some crisps in your local pub. This campaign saw participating pubs offering Beavertown’s exclusive crisps as a freebie; each sustainable packet had some conversation starters to inspire meaningful conversations, in-keeping with the overarching theme of their new ad.
We know that alcohol brands usually face negative connotations in the media, particularly around the impact of alcohol on mental health, so they aren’t what we may traditionally think of as ‘purpose driven’. However, Beavertown’s ethos and approach encourages positive social experiences and human connections while advocating for mental health, which gives an fresh and seemingly genuine approach to marketing from a beer brand.
Sustainable fashion brand, Lucy and Yak, have launched a new clothing collection for Pride 2024, which was created in collaboration with 7 LGBTQIA+ artists. This collection is formed of one patchwork print reminiscent of the famous pride flag, that encompasses the experiences of the 7 artists to spread the message ‘With Love’.
Not only have the brand created this line specifically to celebrate diversity and inclusion, which is at the core of their brand ethos, but they have also pledged to donate 100% of profits from this collection to charities in the UK and India. This campaign shows how Lucy and Yak take their CSR really seriously, which is a great example of bringing several parts of their mission statement together in one campaign message (diversity, inclusion, charity, sustainability).
The campaign is being brought to life across their social channels like Instagram and TikTok, with beautiful bespoke imagery and video content to reach their core audience. Lucy and Yak have created a social series called ‘Comfort Stories’ through mini-interviews with a diverse group of brand ambassadors to share their history, talking about how important their style is to their sense of self. Lucy and Yak consistently use diverse models in their campaigns, and this campaign helps to give them a voice to share their experiences. They also have a dedicated landing page on the website making this a holistic campaign, reinforcing the message across key touchpoints.
Our longstanding partnerships with meaningful clients are what make us tick, and this was no different when we started our journey with Tyler Grange (an environmental consultancy who are experts in landscape planning, ecology and arboriculture).
As a B Corp, they came to us with an exceptional set of business values, a clear mission, and unique culture, but they felt that this wasn’t being articulated through their brand.
Our relationship kicked-off with a full strategy project. Once we had the fundementals locked down, we developed the ‘Join our Tribe’ which helped TG to attract new talent in a competitive market.
Overall, TG were delighted with the outcome and were able to attract the right skills and talent who passed their culture test with flying colours. These individuals have gone on to flourish in the business.
Maybe you could use this example to refresh your hiring and retention strategy?
Beyond this campaign, our partnership has gone from strength to strength with Tyler Grand. Here are some ways that we have supported their growth:
To find more inspiration from our recent projects and campaigns, take a look at our case studies page here.
And don’t forget to download our recent purpose report for more insight around staying true to your values.
If you would like further support with bringing your purpose to life through marketing and campaign planning, get in touch with us at info@mpand.co to discuss your ideas.
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