Consumers no longer make their decision based solely on product prices or selection. Everyone wants to assess what a company says, does, and stands for. Consumers will support businesses whose brand purpose aligns with their beliefs. Most customers will walk away from brands that do not support their beliefs. Consumer expectations and brand purpose alignment is a challenge to most companies. However, brand purpose improves profits by attracting the crowd and building customer loyalty. We have seen brand purpose benefit several companies in the past few years. But will a brand’s purpose take on new meaning in 2022? Yes. The brand purpose will take on a new meaning, and here is how.

1. Multi-dimensional Narratives. The past few years were the best years for anyone to make their voices heard. However, 2022 is even better. Brands have several platforms available and use these platforms because they are multifaceted. A company will have one persona that fits LinkedIn and another ideal for Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok. However, these channels are not yet sufficient to express the multi-dimensional differences of your brand’s character. Companies that develop more complex personalities will engage deeper with a subset of their audience that could belong to the brand’s tribe. This means that some customers will fall by the wayside, allowing the company to focus on consumers who matter.

2. Activism and Community Impact. Using strategies like gender awareness, mindful shopping, and trade-in upgrades to align with consumers is not new. Brands are now shifting into activism. This means that they are upsetting several people with directly opposing interests. Brands are ready to be in the middle of a controversy storm to profit. However, this requires bravery and preparedness. Consumers will compare companies shifting to activism to their policies, packaging choices, and product obsolescence. Customers will want these brands to pick a side, commit to activism or stick to commercial messaging.

3. Machine learning. You probably know that machine learning is the next big thing. Most of the effect of machine learning is that it is entirely transparent. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning will help companies accurately predict what customers want and serve it to them. For instance, companies will be able to pick an advert that attracts a target audience based on what they like and not many people. The social network in place today already has thousands of data about everybody. Machine learning will use this data to combine visuals and write headlines that will look different depending on who is looking at the advert. A system so personalized will be the dream of every company. Although this shift might be slow, it will be unstoppable, and its initial implementation will make or break it.

Brand purpose in 2022 will focus more on diversity in imagery, products, narrative, target audience, and brand management. Although we are not yet out of the woods, companies are adopting new ways to do business. Click here to learn more about brand purpose.