Profit first brands & impact first brands : a study on brands and their promises, purposes & marketing strategies

Today, we see a lot of brands take a larger role in society. Besides making profit, they want to benefit the society. The purpose of this study is to find out how brands communicate their greater purpose to their consumers and how consumers perceive this communication. This research distinguishes two types of brands: brands originated to do good (impact first brands) and brands for which making an impact is important, but making profit is still paramount (profit first brands). The results of this study show that when it comes to purpose marketing, it seems that who you are is of greater importance than how you bring the purpose message. Impact first brands were considered more credible than profit first brands. This was expected since impact first brands were founded to do good, their purpose is the reason for their existence. The way in which the purpose message is brought to the consumer, seems not to influence his or her opinion of the brand. Who you are and what you stand for is more important than how you communicate your messages.