PEOPLE & PURPOSE
But these two priorities – impact and growth – shouldn’ t be pitted against each other.“ A brand’ s environmental and social impact narrative and its commercial growth are not competing priorities – they are the same story, enabled by technology, told at different levels of resolution,” says Yakov.“ When a company’ s values and its technology are embedded in how it operates rather than layered on top, you’ re not managing two narratives. You’ re finding the right language to make one coherent story land with different audiences.” Julia agrees, noting that:“ When impact and commercial growth feel like competing priorities, it usually means the impact work was added on top of a commercial strategy rather than being part of the same logic from the start.” Despite this, she believes that it’ s“ worth being honest,” about the fact that building brand purpose campaigns can have a“ real commercial cost”.“ We’ re past the point where a purpose-led campaign is low-risk because it’ s broadly well-intentioned,” she says.” Consumers are actively skeptical, not just indifferent, but looking for the gap between the claim and the reality. A campaign that overpromises on impact doesn’ t just fail to land; it can damage trust and that damage can compound.”
Measuring the success of purpose-led marketing When it comes to gaining genuine insights from a purpose-led campaign, seeing a real impact can be challenging. In fact, only 36 % of marketers say they feel confident in accurately measuring their return on investment( ROI), according to industry insights from Firework – which is particularly important when the same insights show that 64 % of companies base future marketing budgets on past ROI performance. This can be even more challenging when it comes to measuring more vague metrics like‘ trust,’ which can often have no measurable business impact.“ Campaign metrics tell you the message landed – not whether it built anything lasting,” says Yakov. Instead, companies often have to look a little closer to see the tangible impact that an increase in brand trust can have on performance.“ Are we gaining ground with new audiences? Are customers referencing our narrative back to us in commercial conversations? Is the message coherent enough to hold up from a CMO who wants to understand what we stand for, to a technical director who needs to understand how our systems perform under pressure?” Yakov explains.
80 October 2026