Recently, Bloomberg ran an article about Dr. Bronner’s. If you are unfamiliar, Br. Bronner’s Wikipedia page states:
“Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps is an American producer of organic soap and personal care products headquartered in Vista, California. The company was founded in the late 1940s by Emanuel Bronner and continues to be run by members of the Bronner family. The company’s products are known for their text-heavy labels and the variety of their advertised uses for a single product (e.g., one soap advertises eighteen uses, from toothpaste and shampoo to toilet scrubber and insecticide).”
Dr. Bronner’s is an iconic American classic. Dr Bronner’s is also a brand committed to conservation and mutuality. Dr. Bronner’s website provides the brand’s six guiding principles: 1) Work hard! Grow! 2) Do right by customers; 3) Treat employees like family; 4) Be fair to suppliers; 5) Treat the Earth like home; and 6) Fund & fight for what’s right!
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The gist of the Bloomberg article is the fact that Dr. Bronner’s quit B Lab, “the non-profit that certifies companies for meeting social and environmental goals.” Dr. Bronner’s garnered the highest B Lab rating EVER. However, Dr. Bronner’s quit because the Dr. Bronner’s brand believes B Lab lost its true purpose by giving high ratings to many brands just because those brands are doing “something” environmental. You know, like greenwashing. Bloomberg’s commentator thinks Dr. Bronner’s should alight from its high horse – “Chill” – and not be such a stickler for its provenance, purpose, and promise. After all, isn’t it better to have a lot of companies doing minimum, possibly non-effective, things rather than just a few doing the maximum?
The Bloomberg piece highlights the social and political ramifications of being a good, global, corporate citizen. And, focuses on the idea that something is better than nothing. The argument is valid. But not for a brand. The article does not consider the ramifications of dismissing a brand’s powerful provenance, purpose, and promise. Not surprising. Most business press miss the fact that there is no shareholder value without customer-perceived brand value. By converting – or perverting, as it were – a brand’s relevant, differentiated experience, a brand loses trustworthiness and, worse yet, customer-perceived brand value.
Dr. Bronner’s tells its customer base and its prospective customer base that the brand has a principled history, a serious purpose, and a relevant, differentiated experience that is consistently delivered each and every time to employees, customers, and prospective customers. Dr. Bronner’s action of quitting B Lab demonstrates the brand’s commitment to its reason for being. Dr. Bronner’s action demonstrates that it prefers not to be in the same category as other brands that are waltzing around being planet-committed and people-committed. Dr. Bronner’s action demonstrates that the brand does not want to be perceived as the same type of global citizen as other brands that make half-way steps, catering to financial engineers and trends.
Let’s just review the magnitude of sticking with provenance, purpose and promise.
Brand Provenance
A brand’s provenance is its consistent, motivating, relevant, distinctive heritage. The power of provenance is not about preserving everything from the past. That would be an antiquated brand. The power of provenance is about preserving the best of the past for the present and the future.
Provenance offers confidence. Provenance reflects a past of authenticity, a present of genuine customer engagement, and a trustworthy foundation for the future.
In a world of diminishing trust, the demand for trustworthy brands drives the relevance of provenance. Powerful brand relationships derive strength from a brand’s provenance. A customer knows who to trust.
Brand Provenance supports credibility. A brand’s Provenance provides customers with authoritative information, making the brand’s message believable. Even in a techno-digital world, Brand Provenance provides continuity and consistency across all platforms.
Customers and potential customers want to know, “Why should I believe the promise you are making to me?” Provenance is a direct answer to this question.
Analyses show that building a strong, provenance-based brand leads to high quality revenue growth. High quality revenue growth leads to enduring profitable growth.
Brand Purpose
A Brand Purpose is the compelling statement of the overarching brand intent or mission. Brand Purpose defines a clear sense of direction, an overarching goal for the organization and the brand. Brand Purpose is the common goal for all the actions on behalf of a brand. Brand Purpose is the brand destination defining the Brand’s True North. Brand Purpose describes the brand’s ambition. Brand Ambition defines where you believe the brand can … and should be. It is a global or domestic brand vision of the future world in which the brand will compete and win.
Brand Purpose is essential for organization cohesiveness. Organizational alignment is critical. The entire organization must be aligned behind a single, clear, shared goal for each brand. Employees need a sense of purpose. Employees want to know that their work makes a difference. This is part of internal marketing: give your people the definition of the brand’s Purpose. What is the shared sense of purpose, the common direction that will align everyone? A brand needs to refocus and emphasize the organization around a common sense of purpose.
Brand Promise
A Brand Promise summarizes in a brief statement the special contract that exists between a brand and its customers. Brand Promise describes what the brand is intended to stand for in the mind of a specific group of customers or prospective customers. By consistently living up to and delivering the Brand Promise, a brand will be relevant and distinctive. Consistently living up to this Promise is how customers perceive the brand’s performance quality.
A Brand Promise continuously strives to achieve. Brand Promise is a future-focused description because a Brand Promise states what the brand will do for its customers and the relevant, differentiated experience it delivers.
Brand Promise defines the brand. Brand Promise defines the parameters for all development, communications, innovation, and renovation on behalf of the brand. Brand Promise must be a motivating, relevant, differentiated description of the brand experience that you want the brand to deliver. However, the brand promise is an internal force as well. All employees must know and understand the Brand Promise. They must be able to define it and deliver it, day after day, for every customer. Regardless of function, employees must know what they need to do to live up to the brand’s Promise to its customers.
The effectiveness of a Brand’s Provenance, Purpose, and Promise is not determined by good intentions. Brand Provenance, Purpose, and Promise are actionable elements achieved by strategies and actions. Knowing, articulating, and disseminating Provenance, Purpose, and Promise are absolute necessities for any brand.
Suggesting that a brand erode its Provenance, Purpose, and Promise is the same as asking a brand to become a commodity. There are brands that continue to stand behind their past, present, and future without sacrificing who and what they are. Patagonia comes to mind. Does Bloomberg object to the ferocious way in which Patagonia continues to lobby for the planet and its people through the way in which its goods are made and sold? Stella McCartney fashion also comes to mind.
With brands, it is more profitable to have a brand that people love a lot rather than a brand that people like a little. Bloomberg errs on the side of brands that are sometimes doing a few good things some of the time rather than supporting and encouraging brands that are committed full-time to good global citizenry. This is a valid argument. Good intentions matter, up to a point. But, aligning with this argument will erode the customer-perceived value of brands. And, once again, there is no shareholder value without customer-perceived brand value. Start eliminating the elements that makes a brand valuable to customers and you might as well say good-bye to enduring profitable growth.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Joan Kiddon, Partner, The Blake Project, Author of The Paradox Planet: Creating Brand Experiences For The Age Of I
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