The Growth Agenda Podcast: Brand purpose buzz and challenges with Nespresso, Saatchis and Porter Novelli

In episode one of The Growth Agenda podcast, Nespresso marketer, strategy whiz at Saatchi & Saatchi and CEO at Porter Novelli talk brand purpose challenges, measurement and why consumers won’t choose purpose or price – they want both.

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Honing in on purpose isn’t always the silver bullet answer to business challenges, consumers don’t want to have to pick purpose over price and measurement must improve.

Those are just a few of the threads discussed in episode one of The Growth Agenda podcast featuring head of marketing and sustainability at Nespresso Mariah Monaghan, chief strategy officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Iona Macgregor and chief executive at Porter Novelli Australia Rhys Ryan.

Moderated by TGA editor Pippa Chambers, guests discussed the rise, the role and meaning of purpose to a brand.

As well as understanding the distinction between your own north star and a greater purpose – triggered by conscious consumerism and expectations driving more mature behaviour from brands – the three discussed avoiding environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESCG) “word soup”, Australia’s low levels of circularity and how “not everyone can save all whales”.

Kicking off with addressing confusion around brand purpose, Mr Ryan explained how in one bucket there’s purpose in relation to the reason for your organisation, and in the other there’s positive impact that your company creates in order, for example, to become more sustainable and more responsible – which falls into a different bucket.

“When we discuss purpose it is much more about the reason that your organisation exists and if you can’t simply answer the question, what are you here for? then you might be confused about your own purpose as an organisation,” Mr Ryan said.

He also believes that brands will get “a bigger tick” for admitting they aren’t quite there yet on ESCG moves, the at times sceptical Aussie will appreciate that more than any overblown claims.

Ms Monaghan agreed, adding that “transparency and humbleness” was the foundation of newly minted B-Corp Nespresso’s efforts.

On future gazing, Ms Macgregor said she was hopeful of a paradigm shift where marketing and technology work for humanity and not the other way around.

She also said a key step to anticipate in the shorter term was getting data and tools to be able to measure the impact that different companies have across a whole range of sustainability goals.

“As then you’ve got a common language and common KPIs, and we can start to quantify that progress and make it less of a purely communications topic and really bring it into action,” Ms Macgregor explained.

“That’s when we’re going to start seeing it taken out of the PowerPoint and into metrics which will be exciting next steps.”

Listen direct on TGA here or visit theaustralian.com.au/podcasts