Impact Branding - Can branding Change People's Behavior?

If regular branding focuses on customer centricity, better performance, outstanding results, breakthrough technology, innovation and customer centric approach, impact branding focuses on the greater good. In fact, the weight of the greater good is just as much and sometimes even more than standard corporate quarterly metrics and results.

According to Harvard Business review, nearly two-thirds of consumers across six international markets believe they “have a responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society” 82% in emerging markets and 42% in developed markets. However, consumers and customers are also very busy and don't have the time to spend on knowing your brand and its values.

Connecting this social responsibility with consumer's lack of time requires work on both conscious and sub-conscious levels. Creating a positive association with your brand by tapping into consumer's sense of responsibility to purchase services and products that do good for society and our planet and your brand's impact values. To do this you first need to understand and define:

• Does your brand have any impact values?
• If so, what are those values and how do they serve society or our planet?
• If not, is there anything about your corporate behavior that can be transformed to create impact?
  a. Kraft Heinz – changed the way it sourced palm oil which makes up at least half of the world's food and personal products. The company pledged to obtain their palm oil in an “ethical, transparent and sustainable matter.” When followed up by the WWF, Kraft Heinz received a "thumbs up" on their score board.

It's more than creating an emotional reaction from consumers. Emotional bond with your customers/consumers occurs only when it is actually part of the user experience which in this case it's not. Here we are actually unifying people towards a greater good by what we do, how we actually change our own behavior by taking steps (if needed) to transform our conducts into something that carries far greater significance.

Becoming a model of the needed change. This in turn becomes part of our brand identity and how we communicate it is our brand communications. Such communications and modeling impact behavior, not just talking about it, will tap into consumer's minds and sense of responsibility. Initiating engagements with consumers/customers based on your impact brand values will bring change (as it has before).

The good news is that with consumer's greater awareness to social and environmental impact, behavior change is faster and more adoptable if we persist in communicating, engaging and ultimately displaying model corporate responsibility.