Almost two weeks after its controversial launch, a large majority has supported the campaign in media and social networks. However, there is a significant part of users who have felt alluded and offended by the campaign\u2019s twist, that changes the concept behind \u2013 \u201cThe best a man can get\u201d, threatening to boycott the brand and to team up with its competitor Dollar Shave Club, that in response has posted on its Twitter profile: \u201cWelcome to the Club.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some blame the historic razor blades\u2019 brand as opportunistic, \nquestioning their credibility and motivations, as they simply surf on \nthe boom of the #MeToo movement, Gillette pushes forward the \u201cWe \nbelieve\u201d campaign, created by Grey. The campaign, according to Gillette,\n seeks to promote a more positive male behavior model and to highlight \n-or question- actions and attitudes of what has been called \u201ctraditional\n masculinity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to the social debate generated by the campaign, Gillette\u2019s brand director for North America, Pankaj Bhalla, said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that \u201cThis is an important conversation happening, and as a company that encourages men to be their best, we feel compelled to both address it and take action\u201d. According to Bhalla, \u201cWe were just trying to upgrade the selling line that we\u2019ve held for 30 years\u2013the Best a Man Can Get\u2013and make it relevant.\u201dBut media such as Fast Company, openly doubt about the good intentions of Gillette, noting that during the last three decades the company has exhibited an advertising that is \u201cfull of phallic symbols\u201d, far from what it promotes today. The publication goes further, and in an article entitled \u201cBrand Purpose is a lie\u201d, questions not only Gillette and the campaign, but the whole concept of purposeful brands, focusing on inconsistencies between what they say and what do they do. Fast Company poses firms like State Street, that placed the statue of \u201cThe Fearless Girl\u201d in front of the Wall Street bull (although now it is in front of the New York Stock Exchange) while, according to the publication, they underpay women; Starbucks, that did not pay their corporate taxes in the United Kingdom for three years while having sales of 1.2 billion pounds; and Johnson & Johnson that maintained 98% of its cash offshore in 2017 to avoid paying taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The article concludes that \u201cpurpose is something that you believe in, not something that you invent on any given day as a marketing strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely. Purpose is timeless, it is the organization\u2019s reason to exist. It answers the question of why and what the company exists for. It must be motivating, business strategies must be consistent with it, and it must be reflected by attitudes and behaviors of the staff, in product design, and in the way in which the organization presents itself to the market. The key, however, is that purpose must be activated.A beautiful phrase is not a purpose. According to Sally Hill, Managing Director of Wildwon agency, \u201cpurpose is an aspirational raison d\u2019etre rooted in humanistic values \u200b\u200band that inspires a call to action. It revolves around the notion that companies must establish a relationship of trust with the rest of the world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast Company does well to point out the irresponsible and unethical practices carried out by Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks or State Street, but these have more to do with corporate responsibility and business ethics than with purpose. They are connected concepts, but the purpose is about directing the organization\u2019s resources towards action, towards the urge to do something in favor of a superior ideal, as Gillette has done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building a relationship of trust, as Hill pointed out, implies the \ncommitment to maintain a coherence between tactics and purpose of the \norganization. It is interesting to observe that the multinational \nProcter & Gamble \u2013Gillette\u2019s owner since 2005\u2013states its purpose as:\n \u201cWe will provide branded products and services of superior quality and \nvalue that improve the lives of the world\u2019s consumers, now and for \ngenerations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with \nleadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our \nshareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n