Brands face a reckoning as consumers prioritise social values

Brands can no longer force their way into a conversation as consumers see straight through the advertising “BS”.

Brands can no longer force their way into a conversation as consumers will see through the “advertising bullshit”, according to founder of US global purpose consultancy Conspiracy of Love, Afdhel Aziz.

With brands on the books such as Adidas, Red Bull, Sonos, The North Face, Oreo, Skittles, Ritz and trillion-dollar tech companies like Facebook and Microsoft, LA-based Mr Aziz describes the past two years as sparking a reckoning for people and companies – with Australia being third in terms of client growth – behind the US and Europe.

‘Consumers are savvy, they see through the advertising bullshit’

Mr Aziz, who works with brands in this market such as The Cotton On Group, said the rise and importance of establishing a brand purpose has been rapidly bubbling up in Australia.

He said disasters such as bushfires and the Covid pandemic had made many people wake up and start to reconsider what they’re doing personally and professionally, with this spilling over into how they are now viewing and using brands.

Founder and chief purpose officer at Conspiracy of Love and co-founder of Good is the New Cool, Afdhel Aziz.

“Consumers are savvy, they see through the advertising bullshit, they know how to block out brands on ad free streaming on Netflix or Hulu and they don’t need advertising in their life anymore as they can block it out,” he explained.

“Brands can’t force their way into conversation like they could before which means they have to earn the trust of their consumers – which is where consumers are saying to them ‘I want you to stand up for my values, I want you to actually contribute something to the world as opposed to just talking the talk but not walking the walk’.”

With a background in marketing, having worked on brands such as Max Factor, Vidal Sassoon, Heineken, Nokia and Absolute Vodka, Mr Aziz, who is also co-founder of the Good is the New Cool movement for leaders in business and culture who want to use their forces for good, said his own reckoning happened back in the early 2000s.

‘the genie is out of the bottle for brands and in this era of cancel culture’

He described it as feeling like there was “a crack” in his universe.

“I suddenly became aware of a gulf between what I had chosen to do in my career, and while that was fun, cool and exciting, it didn’t have an impact that lasted,” he said.

Increasingly, he said, this crack is appearing in many people’s lives.

“There’s an awakening that people are having which is making them reconsider what they spend their time doing and makes them question how they leave this place better than they found it, especially for their kids – it’s like a species-level of awakening,” he said.

He said Covid has massively accelerated expectations, particularly around “the great resignation” happening in the US, where one in four workers are about to change jobs.

“People are now having a new evaluation of where and how they want to work, but in addition they are looking for meaning and purpose and this is why we’re about to see the biggest game of musical chairs where people start changing jobs,” Mr Aziz said.

He said purpose driven companies will and are winning, that brands cannot advertise their way back into trust anymore and instead, must focus on winning a share of mind (a great product), share of heart (a great story) and share of spirit (great impact in the world).

Mr Aziz said “the genie is out of the bottle” for brands and in this era of “cancel culture”, where companies don’t control the narrative like they used to and consumers are in more control than ever before, brands have to wise up and show they have purpose.

Citing the Pepsi and Kendall Jenner infamous ad fail, Mr Aziz said this “flaming dumpster fire” example of getting it wrong is why brands have to be authentic when wading into the brand purpose arena.

Afdhel Aziz is speaking at GOODCon Australia on Wednesday October 6 at 10am AEDT.