Co-founder and executive partner at Zensciences, a leading global marketing and consulting agency.
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Most free-enterprise capitalist entities are reengineering business models that deliver profits with purpose — purpose toward consumers, employees, society and the environment. But what is fueling this new drive toward “do good, do better”? How did the pandemic drop an apparent pin on purpose? It’s time consumers like you and me stand up and take a bow.
The desire to lead purposeful lives has peaked in the last few years. Whether working from anywhere, pursuing conscious consumerism, defining minimalism on our terms or caring for climate change, sustainability or mental health, consumers worldwide are encountering more and more of what we call “liquid behavior.” Essentially, liquid behavior in this sense means behavior not obliged to stay static. Instead, it emerges from the fluctuating (and contradictory) choices around employment, activism and consumerism (and other -isms).
It’s no secret that consumers affect businesses and brands. So how does this shift in purpose-driven consumerism affect brands?
Consumers want to know what brands believe in.
The trend of liquid behavior thrives only because the ecosystem that nurtures an individual’s agency continuously grows. Consider, for instance, the rise of companies that stand on issues like labor conditions, material sourcing or waste (i.e., Good on You, Done Good, Project Just); charities and campaigns that organizations contribute money to; businesses that buy second hand (i.e., Poshmark, ThredUP), or even the ones that help in embracing minimalism (i.e., Buy Nothing Project); or organizations that help us calculate our carbon footprint (EPA).
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We want to be sure our work is closely aligned to who we are or who we are becoming.
Along with activism, liquid behavior can be seen in our employment choices. Or, more accurately, how people define their work. In fact, “who am I and what is my life’s purpose?” are two overlapping questions that have not been any closer. Liquid behavior thrives because today’s working population is able to derive more financial freedom via tech platforms, channels and tools. From turning into resellers, opening our own e-commerce stores, renting out homes and skills, or jumping on to the creator economy (YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, Substack, Yuup, OnlyFans), the age of side-hustle is truly on.
What are the points of tension between today’s enterprises and new-generation workers?
Not all is settled or harmonious in the world of liquid behavior. There is an inevitable tension between employees’ growing preference to decide where they want to be versus employers’ stance on what’s best for business. The face-off can be described another way: people’s desire to meet their own needs vs. the share of communal responsibility they willingly agree to.
Imperatives for Brands
In response, businesses must reassess across levels. Here are three imperatives for brands:
• Creators, after all, may not only be their customers. For one, realize that conventional definitions of “competitors” and “collaborators” may no longer apply. The creator economy is reported to be 50 million strong. It includes all who use social media and platforms to monetize their fan base. The creator market ecosystem — creator market, influencer marketing industry and associated startups — is worth $104 billion. This segment molds vital opinions for (or against) brands. While brands are cognizant of the value on the table, only a few have resisted pigeonholing them into the usual slots (competition or collaboration). In this era of liquid behavior, the way brands creatively engage with the creator economy will be a marketing game-changer in 2022.
• Assess whether you can help in creating the liquid behavior ecosystem. Determine whether you can create or adapt your products or services to the consumer/creator ecosystem. For instance, Moves helps gig workers improve their financial health and Lili helps freelancers bank.
• Be a soul mate. As liquid behavior grows and expands across demographics, brands must support employees and customers in their quest for deeper meaning. Whether that means meeting an individual’s sense of purpose, conscious consumption, offering guilt-free experiences or meeting the customer midway about feeling good about who they are and what they do, brands have work to do.
Yes, these are worthy practices by which organizations will assist employees in excavating their value systems and sculpting their individual purpose. There are more ways for companies to recognize the person as a whole. For one, businesses can create, track and improve by adopting a “net purpose score” as a measurement of employee engagement. Like a net promoter score (“will you recommend a company, product or a service to a friend?”), the net purpose score asks if an employee would be an advocate for the organization.
Secondly, businesses can strongly bring values mapping — in addition to work experience and skills — in the interview selection and onboarding processes. What are the value systems that guide a new joiner’s near-term and long-term purpose?
Thirdly, treat culture-building as a product much like designing software. Be relentless with regular employee feedback, create a culture road map that plots employees’ purposes on a timeline and, in turn, feeds into the practices around hiring, training, mentoring and career development.
The idea is not to treat “purpose” as another HR buzzword and create policies, but to think of unique embedded mechanisms that actualize it through an employee’s daily rhythms. When customer behavior is fluid, brands must follow suit.
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Author: Rohit Kumar, Forbes Councils Member
