Mission-led creative: tying local initiatives to advertising results

In the age of AI and social media, purpose matters more than ever. Customers are more likely to connect with your brand when you put values and purpose first. People are looking for brands with purpose, connection, and authenticity to build long-term interactions. Unfortunately, you will always find brands that will use this to their advantage, claiming to have purpose and just using it as an excuse to gain conversions. If you’re serious about it, using mission-led creative is a great way to forge deeper connections with your audience while at the same time improving advertising results. For the most part, when we talk about mission-driven creative and marketing, it’s important to note that the impact should not be measured in conversions or engagement alone, but rather qualitatively to give you a more holistic picture of where you stand and the impact mission-led creative has. 

Why purpose matters and how to put your brand’s front and center

People are seeking authentic and transparent brands that show a willingness to stick up for their values and engage in purpose-driven work. We live in an age of insecurity and increasing disconnection, making purpose a differentiator and a builder of community. Your brand’s purpose matters to the communities where you work, as a contributor and member of that community. It can help you build local connections with prospects, partners, and employees. Whether your brand focuses on sustainability, DEI, women’s healthcare, animal rights, or any number of causes, it’s important to be open and straightforward with your community by putting your purpose first and using it to engage people. 

When we say put your purpose first, it does not mean printing it on every piece of digital or physical collateral you create. Rather, incorporate it into the daily operations and brand voice in a way that will make it very obvious to your community what it is you stand for, this can be enhanced by mission-led creative as well. When brands get it right, there’s no question, through their voice and messaging, about what it stands for. 

Turning local values into a story in ads, content, and events 

Storytelling is an art form, and it’s necessary to do it well if you hope to resonate with your audience. The brands that are great at it make their advertisements seem more like movie trailers that inspire and evoke feelings, rather than boring stock photo carousels. So, how do you turn your values or purpose into a story that your audience can engage with rather than an afterthought? For brands that don’t yet have that recognition or the expensive creative department, investing in case studies, consumer-generated content, and events are great places to start. These all pull together insights from your audience, giving people a clear picture of what you stand for. When pulling together the creative, do not be afraid to test the boundaries of your brand and try something new. Invest in video and try to get live testimonials from clients that are authentic and unscripted (to an extent). It’s nice for audiences to see that a brand is not all structured all the time and that people in the community actively support them.

Integrating your purpose-driven content into advertising

Since we’re after purpose-driven creative that doesn’t feel contrived or inauthentic, so when selecting platforms and mediums it’s important to consider what is most connected to your brand. This may be the perfect time to work with a micro-influencer from your community or secure a spot on a local radio show or podcast to get in front of a targeted local audience. Digital advertising provides numerous opportunities for hypertargeting and getting your purpose-driven creative in front of the right people. Start by going through different platforms and reviewing the ads of competitors or other brands with purpose-driven content to see the strategies they are using and get a lay of the land, because it might be very different from how you normally advertise. 

Measuring the impact of purpose-driven campaigns

For digital advertising, the markers of success for purpose-driven campaigns will not always be centered around conversions. Depending on your objectives, the metrics to measure may be brand mentions, shares, likes, or comments to show that the messaging is resonating and more people are talking about your brand. You can then reengage those that were interested on digital channels. For other advertisements, it might make more sense to measure foot traffic to different locations, attendees to events, money raised for a cause, or the response from the community (won an award, featured in a local newspaper, etc.). It will also be interesting to see how mission-led creative impacts brand equity, at the local and broader levels, since mission-led creative is often a catalyst for new customers. Either way, consider the ways in which purpose-driven creative can impact your brand beyond simple conversions and track accordingly.  

Empowering teams to share more broadly

For multi-location businesses, purpose-driven creative can come from the broad or local level. At the local level, it makes sense for each to share results and findings more broadly as it may help other locations with similar communities. Then again, the broad brand should always ensure the purpose of the brand is consistent. There is room for localization in terms of initiatives or different campaigns locations want to champion, but the brand’s purpose does not change. Either way, teams should be excited about and connected to the brand’s purpose and want to share more broadly. This will enhance the impact the brand has on the community and the overall purpose. As a lucky consequence, it will also deliver better advertising results.