How to Harness the Power of Movements to Transform Your Company: Q&A with Chip Walker, Co-Author of Activate Brand Purpose

Today’s consumer is a socially conscious one. With activism on the rise, businesses are being held more and more accountable for the impact they have on the environment and their engagement in prominent social and political movements, and the extent to which brands participate is having a significant impact on consumer buying decisions. In fact, research suggests that 87% of consumers would purchase a product from a brand because it advocated for an issue they cared about, and more than 75% would refuse to buy from a company that supported an issue contrary to their beliefs.

However, despite the clear link between engaging in social movements and increased customer loyalty, activism on the part of brands is lagging. Many leaders fail to successfully align their business with a ‘purpose’ beyond empty platitudes, virtual signaling and half-hearted corporate initiatives, and their efforts to make a difference and authentically participate in social issues end up coming off as transparent marketing ploys.

With this in mind, how can leaders ingrain this into the core of their company culture and participate meaningfully in social movements?

Activate Brand Purpose: Q&A with co-author Chip Walker

Chip Walker, co-author of Activate Brand Purpose with Scott Goodson, sees brand purpose as the key to harnessing the power of social movements. In an exclusive interview for Insights for Professionals, Walker shares his views on the definition of brand purpose, the power of Movement Thinking, the mistakes brands make when aligning themselves to values and ideals and how purpose can be a guiding light in times of crisis.

1. How exactly would you define a brand's 'purpose' and 'higher purpose', and what are the differences between them?
2. Why is having a purpose so important to organizations?
3. Can purpose be a guide in times of crisis?
4. How do you align an organization with its higher purpose?
5. What's the biggest mistake you see brands make when trying to activate their purpose?
6. Could you tell us about the purpose of your company, StrawberryFrog?
7. How would you define 'Movement Thinking'?
8. In your book, you say Millennials are one of the driving forces behind the need for Movement Thinking. Would you say the same is true of Generation Z?
9. How can Movement Thinking transform a company for the better?
10. How do you go about getting your organization aligned with a Movement, inside and out - and how long can this take?
11. What would you say to organizations that are afraid of embracing and capitalizing on a movement for fear of backlash?
12. What impact do you see Activate Brand Purpose and Movement Thinking having on CEOs, business leaders and organizations?

Q: How exactly would you define a brand's 'purpose' and 'higher purpose', and what are the differences between them?

A: The way I think about it is that ‘purpose’ is why your company exists, while ‘higher purpose’ is why your company exists beyond making money. Which means that ‘purpose’ can be quite basic and functional, e.g., our company exists to deliver value for customers, while ‘higher purpose’ needs to speak to your company’s larger role in making life and society a better place.

Q: Why is having a purpose so important to organizations?

A: Unlike concepts such as ‘corporate brand’ and ‘company image,’ which can sometimes seem esoteric and vague, organizational purpose is foundational to how a business operates. When a company has a higher purpose that employees genuinely believe, research has shown that they will be more engaged, more motivated and less likely to leave their jobs -- thus driving productivity. When the CEO of a company leads with purpose, it aligns disparate stakeholders, who often have conflicting motivations, around a shared mission. It gets everyone -- customers, employees, investors, board members, etc -- marching to the same drum. So it’s not surprising that a ‘18 study from Harvard Business School showed that tied higher purpose to better stock market performance.

Q: Can purpose be a guide in times of crisis?

A: Absolutely. These days companies often face crises when they are publicly attacked for their actions or a stance on an issue. Purpose can serve as a north star and allow you to explain why your company behaves the way it does based on its reason for being -- not whim or politics.

Q: How do you align an organization with its higher purpose?

A: As explained in the book I co-wrote with StrawberryFrog founder Scott Goodson, Activate Brand Purpose: How to Harness the Power of Movements to Transform Your Company, clarity of purpose is the foundation. As a leader today, you have to be clear on what your company’s higher purpose is and make sure that it is activated authentically. This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many companies have purpose statements that mean nothing more than a slogan framed in the conference room. Most employees are unable to even recall it, much less any of its customers. In a world where your employees and your customers aren’t even aware of your brand purpose, it’s game over.

Another factor that is very important is an organization’s willingness to take action based on your purpose. Even if employees and customers know what your company’s higher purpose is, but don’t see you doing anything other than business as usual to live it, they’re not likely to give you much credit.

Story is the other big issue – specifically telling a complete ‘purpose story’. For both employees and customers, purpose is not simply a “why” statement about your company. It is a narrative in their minds about your entire company and how it operates and lives in the world. Your company might be doing a ton of charitable activities to improve the world, but if it skirted paying income tax for a decade, that’s a big red flag to people, a ‘hole’ in your story. They want to see you living your purpose in as complete a way as possible — through the products and solutions you create, in how you do business, in how you treat the planet, the way you treat communities, etc. – not just with one-off ‘feel good’ programs or initiatives.

Q: What's the biggest mistake you see brands make when trying to activate their purpose?

A: Failing to re-frame their purpose into a movement. Purpose is by its nature very lofty, which means that with even the most profound purpose statements, people are not sure what exactly they’re supposed to do with it.

People can’t join a purpose, but they can join a movement inspired by a purpose. That’s where Movement Thinking comes in - it lets us reframe a purpose in a way that’s easy for people to understand and know to act upon.

Q: Could you tell us about the purpose of your company, StrawberryFrog?

A: The purpose of our company, StrawberryFrog is “Creativity for Good.” To create good work, good impacts for our clients and teammates, and good in society. We create Movements that change companies and grow brands. We introduced “Movement Thinking” over 20 years ago when we launched the Smart Car for Mercedes & Swatch. It wasn’t an ad campaign, it was a global movement to reinvent the urban environment.

In the book I co-wrote with StrawberryFrog founder Scott Goodson, we make a strong argument that it's actually in the interests of corporations to ensure that they don't kill their customers, that it’s in their interest to ensure that the water isn't toxic, or that people live with financial security. So, it’s in the interest of companies to ensure that the world is tackling some of these bigger problems. So that's really what we believe in, and why we’re really passionate about activating purpose.

Q: How would you define 'Movement Thinking'?

A: Like traditional brand positioning, Movement Thinking is a framing tool, a way of contextualizing a company or brand’s place in the world, and thus its identity and reason for being. It’s a way of setting up a particular change we would like to see in the world in a grievance that needs to be addressed, a wrong that needs to be made right, and a stand we’re motivated to take in order to make things right.

Here are the 4 Movement Thinking™ Building blocks that invite people into a cause they care about.

• DISSATISFACTION: Identify your dissatisfaction in the world. All movements start with a grievance. What’s the wrong that urgently needs to be made right?
• DESIRED CHANGE: Name the change you want to see in the world. What do you want to see made different in the future?
• ENEMY: Name your nemesis. What are you against? There’s a caveat when identifying the enemy: Don’t simply be against your competition --the outside world is looking for you to take on something more meaningful and interesting.
• STAND: What will you stand for in the quest to overcome your nemesis and achieve the desired change?

For the Smart car, for example, the following movement thinking led us to the highly successful ‘Against Dumb’ movement that launched the brand:

• DISSATISFACTION: The fact that the urban landscape is becoming unlivable due to things like big, unnecessary cars, minivans, and SUVs
• DESIRED CHANGE: To restore the urban landscape
• ENEMY: Stupidly overconsuming, which we shorthanded as “dumb’
• STAND: A stand for a more conscious form of consuming, which we shorthanded as “smart.”

Q: In your book, you say Millennials are one of the driving forces behind the need for Movement Thinking. Would you say the same is true of Generation Z?

A: Reams of research point to Millennials as being a driving force in this shift towards valuing purpose over pay. And with good reason. Millennials’ parents, the Boomers, had a clear social contract with their employers. In exchange for their hours, weeks and years of devotion to their employer, the company would compensate and be loyal to them. But the terms of the labor contract have changed for Millennials. They saw that employers were not in fact loyal and laid people off with impunity. As a result, they’ve come to expect companies to make the workplace a source of personal growth and shared purpose.

This sentiment is expected to get higher with the entrance of Generation Z into the workforce and become a major part of the consumer population. 72% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers now ‘prefer to buy from brands that do good’. Gen Z as customers and employees expect its favorite brands to stand for something – in ways that impact both growth and profit authentically. For this cohort, if purpose is going to be a real differentiator it must have societal, functional and emotional benefits for consumers and the greater good.

Q: How can Movement Thinking transform a company for the better?

A: There are five important ways a movement can help activate purpose and transform a company for the better:

1. Getting all stakeholders on the same page: As mentioned earlier, lack of shared vision among disparate stakeholders is a huge factor holding back company performance. A galvanizing movement can fix this.
2. Engaging internal stakeholders: Employees often don’t understand what to actually DO with a lofty purpose statement, but a well crafted movement can motivate them and show them what to do.
3. Engaging external stakeholders: A movement can provide a differentiating way to galvanize customers, prospects and the public at large
4. Transforming company culture: CEOs often need to shift culture, but doing by mandate (do this because I say so) doesn’t work. A movement gets people to change because they want to.
5. Big financial payoffs: There is a growing body of research from respected sources, e.g. Harvard Business School, demonstrating that higher purpose leads to big financial gains for companies.

Q: How do you go about getting your organization aligned with a Movement, inside and out - and how long can this take?

A: We often use the phrase, “top down, bottom up, middle out” when discussing how to mobilize and organization with a movement:

1. Top down: In order to be sustained, the CEO and other C-suite leaders need to be stewards of the vision. Involvement from the top is super-important. So not just marketing, or not mid-level or lower-level employees or younger employees who have an interest in purpose. But a commitment from the very top.
2. Bottom up: For a movement to take hold, front line employees down to the lower tiers of organizational seniority must understand and buy into the movement
3. Middle out: Research has shown that the ‘secret sauce’ of companies that successfully activate purpose is to connect the vision at the top of the organization, e.g. CEO, with those at the bottom of the organization, and the way to do this is through middle management. They are the ‘glue,’ and are crucial to engaging and motivating when rolling out a movement.

In terms of timing for rolling out a movement, we think in terms of an initial 12-18 month time horizon for most companies.

Q: What would you say to organizations that are afraid of embracing and capitalizing on a movement for fear of backlash?

A: Activating purpose with a movement can actually HELP companies avoid controversy and backlash. That’s because grounding everything a company does in its higher purpose and values takes things out of the realm of politics. For example, REI’s “Opt Outside” movement is about giving its employees and customers the freedom to enjoy the great outdoors. So when the company does things like sponsor legislation supporting the environment, people understand that this is because protecting the outdoors is part of its DNA, values-system and core business strategy - and not a political play.

Q: What impact do you see Activate Brand Purpose and Movement Thinking having on CEOs, business leaders and organizations?

A: We’ve observed that leaders can’t ask for a change of their employees without doing that work themselves. If you, as a leader, desire to have great impact and influence, you have to realize that you are the message. In order for real transformation to occur and be sustained, it must happen simultaneously within individual leaders, between leaders, and at critical seams of the organization that supports the desired transformation.

By building movements that tackle some of the most pressing issues facing society and our planet, firms will start to move in a direction that resonates with stakeholders from all walks of life. Defining and activating a higher purpose has become one of the greatest sources of hope the business world has ever seen. As we look across the planet at the many issues challenging us all, the time for action is now.

Chip Walker and Scott Goodson’s book, Activate Brand Purpose, is available in paperback, hardcover and Kindle.