Brands on a Mission

How to Achieve Social Impact and Business Growth Through Purpose

Myriam Sidibe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367428334
• eBook ISBN: 9781000069235
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Economics

Winner of the Bronze 2021 AXIOM Business Book Award in the category of Philanthropy / Nonprofit / Sustainability.

Brands on a Mission explores the importance of creating a performance culture that is built on driving impact through purpose, and the type of talent required to drive these transformational changes within companies – from CEO to brand developers.

Using evidence from interviews and stories from over 100 CEOs, thought leaders and brand managers, the book presents an emergent model that organisations can follow to build purpose into their growth strategy – and shows how to bridge the gap between Brand Say and Brand Do. Readers will learn from the real experts in the field: how Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, built purpose into the DNA of his company; what keeps Alan Jope (new CEO, Unilever) and Emmanuel Faber (CEO, Danone) awake at night; and how brand developers from Durex, Dove, Discovery and LIXIL have made choices and the reasons behind them. In this book you will learn how a soap brand Lifebuoy taught one billion people about hygiene, how a beer is tackling gender-based violence, and how a toothpaste is tackling school absenteeism amongst many others. Renowned experts like Peter Piot (Director, London School of Health and Tropical Medicine), Michael Porter (Professor, Harvard School of Business), Jane Nelson (Director, Corporate Responsibility Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School) and Susie Orbach (leading feminist and formerly professor, London School of Economics) also share examples, data and their everyday experiences of helping corporates create a culture of purpose. And leading NGOs and UN experts like Lawrence Haddad (Executive Director, GAIN) and Natalia Kanem (Executive Director of UNFPA) will recount how the public and private sector have worked together to create an accelerated path to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The book provides a clear pathway of how to take brands through the journey of developing impactful social missions and driving business growth, and is an essential guide for both managers and students alike.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: an intrapreneur born for social purpose
• 1 Why brands need a social mission
• 2 Dove and the impact of body image
• 3 Driving mass behavioural change
• 4 Durex: how a global condom brand helps reduce HIV infections
• 5 Collaborating with outside partners: how do strange bedfellows get along?
• 6 How Lifebuoy secured a seat at the table of lifesavers
• 7 Brand advocacy: can brands drive social movements?
• 8 How Discovery Limited promotes health through its Vitality brand
• 9 Carling Black Label #NoExcuse: an alcohol brand counters violence against women
• 10 What do numbers really mean? The challenge of measurement and accountability for brands on a mission
• 11 How LIXIL is changing the narrative on sanitation
• 12 Winning support within the corporation
• 13 How processed food brands can gain a social purpose: the public health challenge of this century and the biggest opportunity for brands
• Concluding thoughts
• Afterword by Alan Jope, CEO Unilever
• Index