Marc Santos, Associate Director of Strategy

I just spent 3 jam-packed days in Nashville at The Market Research Event (TMRE). I listened to and chatted with Insights & Strategy leaders from across the world. A Disney trip for people like me that obsess over understanding humans and what it means for brands and our futures. 

I was inspired by an idea that ultimately led me to a thought: meaning is misunderstood. 

We use meaning predominantly in the pursuit of better understanding something else. What does this or that mean? We don’t give the actual concept of meaning enough love. We don’t think or talk about the meaning of meaning. We use it too one-dimensionally. You know what I mean? Hang with me…

Roughly 40% of English words have more than one meaning (reason enough why my Portuguese grandparents never mastered it). And beyond words, meaning can be feelings, visuals, actions, and implications. It can be past, present, or future. It can change. That all makes meaning the opposite of one-dimensional. 

Here are three implications of meaning for brands and why:

Meaning is dynamic.

Oftentimes, brands think about marketing and product innovation in pillars. The example I’m going to use here is around the idea of convenience.

Over the years, the meaning of convenience has changed. In Grocery or QSR, convenience once meant physical presence in as many locations as possible and has evolved into self-checkouts/kiosks, curbside pickup, and “is my grocery store on Instacart yet?” These are all products of convenience = time saved.

There is a race to provide the fastest, most seamless experience possible. Brands are putting their Benjamin’s and brains towards the cause but as they do, something more macro may be happening. What will it mean to have a relationship with a customer? What if time spent becomes more coveted than time saved? What if one day speedy experiences mean soulless ones?

People are funny. Maybe one day they’ll work harder for brands because they’re willing to, want to, or it becomes normal to. In that world, a brand designed to make it easy – but not engaging – will become boring and forgettable.

Meaning is active. 

You can’t go a day without hearing the words ‘authentic’ and ‘purpose.’ They’re only worse when they’re used in a sentence together. As it’s well-documented, living their stated purpose is where brands can be vulnerable.

That old phrase “SAY WHAT YOU MEAN!” has been totally replaced with “DO WHAT YOU SAY!” because our mental say-do equation has changed drastically over the last few years and instead of giving the benefit of the doubt, we’re actively monitoring and questioning brand behaviors – regardless of whether we’re evaluating them as their customer or never intend to be anyway.  

Purpose is reason – something stated. Meaning is significance – something created. By being hyper-focused on purpose, we’re predisposed to focus on words and messages but when we focus on meaning, we’re naturally in action.  

Meaning is power. 

Using an airplane analogy, meaning plays the role of a rudder. The rudder is important but only plays a role when the pilot engages it. A decision vs. natural occurrence. Meaning is oftentimes used in that same capacity – necessary context to “land the plane” (excuse the bad pun), but what if meaning was in the pilot’s seat and could inspire decisions? 

There is a rapidly-growing department within many of the world’s top brands – Foresight Teams. Rudders in the cockpit. These teams have a challenging job to predict what’s largely unpredictable. Present day Consumer Insight is hard enough given people don’t always say what they mean, do what they say, or tell you what they really think. But sometimes they can indirectly or unknowingly offer clues about what their mindsets and behaviors today suggest about the future. 

With the right blend of indirect association and projective exercises (and the right eyes on the data!), brands can find avenues where meaning can power their longer-term futures vs. solely helping them navigate today.  

Remember… meaning isn’t perfect because it’s created by people who aren’t perfect. We’re illogical and change our minds… a lot. The more brands can prepare for meaning to change, the better.

Hillary Williams, Group Brand Director

With the Holiday season approaching, one word seems to stand out among the rest: Gratitude. It’s always top of mind (or nowadays, “trending”) as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday … and this year that magnified sense of thankfulness feels more relevant than ever for brands.  

Expectations for brands have been dramatically increasing for the past several years and the need for companies to stand for something greater than their products has never been more profound. These expectations are driven by consumer desire to identify with companies through shared values, in order to rationalize purchase behavior via decisions that contribute to the greater good. At the end of last year, a study by Forrester reported that “63% of consumers will choose brands that help their local communities, while 57% intend to buy from companies that contribute to sustainability more frequently over the next two years” (Forrester, 2020). Alongside what companies are doing for society, consumers want to feel personally appreciated and that their business is not being taken for granted. According to a recent study, “48% of people expect specialized treatment for being a good customer,” and will be quick to switch from product experiences that lack appreciation and personalization (Accenture, 2021).

Consumers do not want to feel like they’re being taken for granted by the brands they support, but neither do the employees working for these organizations. The pandemic of the past year has further amplified the search for meaning and purpose in our lives, yielding a shift in perspective on priorities. Recent reports reveal that “25% of polled professionals said the pandemic has made them want to pursue more fulfilling jobs,” (Boston Globe). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that 2.9% of the entire workforce quit their jobs in August alone, hitting a new monthly record (NPR).

So how can companies effectively navigate this greater sense of purpose and feelings of restlessness to retain and attract both employees and consumers? Simply put⏤  they can show genuine gratitude. Appreciation is a critical foundation of any strong, long-lasting relationship and as Professor Bradley Cannon of the University of Wisconsin remarks, “We did not create or fashion ourselves. Life is about giving, receiving and repaying. We are receptive beings, dependent on the help of others. As such, we are called to gratitude.” Studies show that grateful people tend to be more empathetic, agreeable, joyful and enthusiastic and that the act of gratitude helps mitigate toxic emotions (Forbes). In a University of Pennsylvania study, telemarketers who had a brief visit from the Head of Giving thanking them for their efforts, outperformed the shifts that did not by 50% (Wespire). 

Gratitude starts from within companies, – and the way it’s rooted in the brand DNA and manifested towards consumers are of equal importance.  With this in mind, here are three ways to show gratitude for employees and consumers in a compelling, authentic way:  

1. Walking the brand purpose walk. An oldie but a goodie and no better example in my opinion, is REI. Despite a tough sales year due to COVID related store closures they’re continuing with their #optoutside movement and closing all doors on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, encouraging over 15,000 employees and consumers to spend time outside on the busiest shopping day of the year. REI’s commitment to the #optoutside effort exemplifies their core purpose of “inspiring, educating and outfitting for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship,” on the heels of a period where many reprioritized time outside. This year aligns with their new Cooperative Action Fund, a charity to support “nonprofit organizations promoting justice, equity and belonging in the outdoors.” From a loyalty standpoint, REI offers a $20 lifetime membership offer for customers. This alternate take on a traditional loyalty program reflects their co-op roots and gives consumers frequent discounts, but with a sense of genuine belonging to the organization. Members see themselves as an extension of the company which creates a genuine sense of loyalty vs. generic and artificial discount offer system.
2. Grand gestures that make a statement and prioritize emotional health over immediate profit. After a grueling year in a reimagined corporate world that blurred all lines between home and work, LinkedIn prioritized the mental and emotional health of their employees with a company-wide “RestUp!” week that gave nearly all their 15,900 full time workers an extra week off to recharge. By promoting the well-being of their hard working staff with this dramatic gesture, LinkedIn boosted internal morale and optics with platform users, all with a relatively minimal impact on their bottom line in the grand scheme of things. This move is particularly relevant at a time when other social platforms have been under increased scrutiny regarding their moral compasses – or lack thereof. It helps set a high bar for companies to demonstrate appreciation in concrete ways, which Spanx CEO Sara Blakely embraced as she surprised all employees with two first class tickets and $10,000 to celebrate their recent acquisition by Blackstone. 

3. Public celebrations of appreciation. The best acts of gratitude stem from a company’s brand ethos, and Dave’s Killer Bread’s employment model is based around hiring the best person for the job, regardless of their criminal history. In their recent campaign with Exverus Media they showed the empowering and inspiring stories of workers with criminal backgrounds and reciprocal nature of second chances through a moving long form video that personified their brand values and celebrated employees in a personal way. Similarly, in the midst of the pandemic Burger King’s targeting took an unconventional and compelling shift when they used their on-site advertising to showcase messages of gratitude for their employees, who had to risk their health to keep working through the pandemic. Customers were invited to leave thank you messages when placing an order through the app which resulted in more than 5,100 messages over just three days. While this was a timely and impactful gesture, there’s an opportunity for this type of employee appreciation outside of extenuating circumstances like the past year’s pandemic. A CP client, Liberty Bank recently repositioned the brand around improving the lives of their customers, teammates and communities for generations to come. Their “community kind” brand ethos is rooted in the bank belonging to something greater than itself. The organization lives out this mission on a daily basis with gratitude for their customers and community – whether it’s surprising the community with ice cream at a children’s summer camp over the summer, featuring profiles of inspiring customers on their social channels or OOH that speaks to how inspired they are by the community. These types of public gestures of gratitude both celebrate employees and drive consumer affinity. 

It’s clear to see that this Thanksgiving represents a unique opportunity for companies to lean into gratitude and find genuine ways to thank both their consumers and employees. But more than that, it’s a reminder that gratitude should be something that’s practiced 365 days of the year – positioned around what giving thanks really means for your business and to those that support you from both a workforce and consumer standpoint.

There’s never a dull moment in the world of social media and that especially rings true in the wake of Facebook’s recent scandal and outage. In the simplest of terms, the platform experienced a major outage, the largest in over a decade. Millions of users, who depend on social media every day for communication and work, were left without it. Not to mention, the former employee and whistleblower going public and her subsequent congressional hearing. CP’s own Michelle Capasso and Alyssa Stevens weighed in on the issues and important takeaways. 

Michelle Capasso, Director of Media Services 

Another week, another Facebook scandal…  

Facebook investigations and allegations seem to be in a constant news cycle, but have we truly changed our behavior? Is the one-two punch of a whistleblower and a worldwide outage enough to start a new change movement? Most advertisers, and consumers, seem relatively willing to accept that Facebook is constantly under fire, and unfortunately the platform’s role for a brand’s bottom line is too addictive to completely walk away. This is a company that was under such scrutiny in 2020, with major brands pulling off the platform in light of the social justice movement that summer, yet still made an estimated $84B in ad revenue that year alone. 

And while it’s the company we all love to hate, are we really surprised that they put “profit over people” as many headlines read? Do we hold other massive global organizations to the same standards? We accept that the largest companies in the world are in the business to make money, but does Facebook – or for that matter, any social network – owe us more simply due to our reliance on it for information – or misinformation? 

For all its injury, the outage put a spotlight on how many small businesses have been built entirely in social media, supporting an entire segment of the economy that wouldn’t exist without the social platform. And they, unfortunately, don’t have the luxury to simply turn that off. Facebook partially weathered last summer’s storm from large brands by refocusing on small businesses who couldn’t afford to leave. The growth of TikTok seems poised to pull small business reliance away from Facebook, but it’s certainly not there yet. So as advertisers, we find ourselves rooting for another social platform to “take over” – although we should be more careful of what we wish for…   

Alyssa Stevens, Director of Public Relations & Social Media

With over 50 million people worldwide identifying themselves as creators and social media being the primary platform for that content creation, an outage, like what occurred across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp last Monday, is a cause for concern amongst the influencer community. 

When the buzzword “influencer” first emerged, it was synonymous with being a blogger. However, as the industry has grown, the idea that someone could influence others purely through their social media page, and without having a blog, is becoming more common than not. With the absence of another platform to support their influence and the very real notion that Instagram could disappear for hours, if not, days…the question begs…what is a social media influencer without social media? 

Following the six hour social media outage, I watched many of our influencer partners be vocal about the effects that this type of occurrence can have on their brand and livelihood. Through the ease and convenience of affiliate marketing and shoppable links and the steady interest from brands to work with them for content creation and brand awareness, influencers use platforms like Instagram to make a living. A day without Instagram means a day without commissionable sales or the ability to complete projects on behalf of brands…a day without a “paycheck.” 

The need for influencers to diversify revenue streams beyond just “renting” the audience they’ve amassed on social media is the key here, but for many creators, it hasn’t been top of mind. I will be curious to see if this outage will serve as a wake-up call for influencers to have a back-up plan for content creation and their business when and/or if this occurs again and for a longer duration.