Have we stopped talking about the conscious consumer?

Have you noticed that we’re hearing less about conscious consumerism these days? Since 2015, the great authenticity drive meant that, until a few years ago, it was all you’d see: purpose-led marketing reflecting ethical consumption habits and consumers voting with their wallets.

Today, the conversation feels much quieter. It’s not that conscious consumer values have gone away; there’s no shortage of research finding that consumers care about sustainability and social responsibility. But as economic conditions tighten, consumers have more to consider when making decisions. Sometimes the sustainable option isn’t more convenient, and sometimes consumers are led by the brand on offer.

Conscious consumerism has to justify itself

That's not to say marketing to conscious consumers doesn't matter; it absolutely does. But today it's having to compete with other brand priorities, particularly commercial outcomes such as profit and growth. We're seeing many household brands embark on a renewed search for growth, and if conscious consumerism doesn't clearly support that agenda, it can become a difficult sell internally.

The other issue is that the wider zeitgeist has changed; brands have become more cautious about talking about sustainability or social change, and consumers have become more sophisticated at seeing through eco claims. The greenwashing veil has been lifted, and consumers are immediately sceptical if a brand’s claims don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Of course, conscious consumer values still matter. People still care about ethical production, climate change and social issues while also caring about price, convenience and product performance. Those priorities have always coexisted, but the difference is that the economic environment makes them harder to ignore.

So, although conscious consumerism hasn’t gone, the era when purpose could be treated as a separate marketing conversation largely has, and conscious consumerism now has to justify itself.

Does purpose lead to growth?

Brands, therefore, are operating in a more complex environment today. The challenge is showing how those values can contribute to growth, rather than treating them as an additional, separate marketing objective.

Brands need to have a credible reason for doing something in the first place. To what extent are their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives changing consumer purchasing behaviour? The two need to marry up.

That doesn’t mean every sustainability initiative needs to produce an immediate sales uplift. Some investments will still be about long-term brand reputation, risk reduction and maintaining relevance.

But marketers do need to demonstrate where the value comes from. For example, can you pinpoint to what extent purpose-led values impact consideration? Do they strengthen preference? Do they help differentiate the proposition? Do they make consumers more likely to stay? Do they allow the brand to command a premium in the current economic climate? These metrics are far more useful than simply having something nice and feel-good to put in an end of year report.

The next era of purpose-led marketing

And this may be a healthy development. If conscious consumerism is going to survive the pressure for growth, it needs to do much more than make brands look good. It needs to do something. Ultimately, this is the question that marketing effectiveness must come back to: what’s the evidence that this investment is making a difference?

This is where things get interesting for marketers, and marketing econometrics plays its vital role. For me, there are three implications for marketers wondering where to focus next.

First, don’t confuse stated values with behaviour.

What people say they want and what changes their purchasing behaviour are linked, but they’re not the same thing. In a tough economic environment, there are more considerations. Boards are also saying that it’s not enough to invest in purpose-led marketing if the growth indicators aren’t there.

The two go hand in hand.

Secondly, look for the point where purpose creates genuine customer value. If doing something makes the product genuinely better, more useful, more trusted and more distinctive, there’s a much stronger commercial case than simply having something worthy to say. And thirdly, measure the impact. If conscious consumerism is supposed to influence brand preference, consideration, or willingness to pay, we should look for evidence of that behaviour, rather than relying on what consumers tell us in research. What they observe and think is not always the same as how they behave, and when marketing budgets are under increasing pressure to deliver growth, it’s worth keeping a close eye on that.

Article by Philip Gaudoin | Managing Director, MetaMetrics