Purpose
A brand’s purpose relates to their values and core reasoning for existence beyond making a profit. The purpose pillar also relates to the term wellbeing, especially eudaimonic wellbeing fundamentally meaning the do-good factor. For example, the brand tentree plant a tree for every item they sell, promoting the brands values of sustainability and their overall purpose.
Brand philosophy is important as it helps individual brands differentiate itself from others and be unique in order to flourish, helping gain customer loyalty and repeat business. Without it brands will just be seen as the same and have no unique purpose in existing. A brand philosophy is made up of a mission, vision and the brands values. A brands mission is why the business exists, for example Nudie Jeans which is Swedish based ‘employs a variety of approaches to reduce the environmental and social impacts of its products, from making the production processes of a product transparent to providing advice and services that help consumers extend the life of their Judie jeans’ (Gwilt, A. 2014). This is particularly important especially due to the fact it takes up to 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce a pair of jeans (Barbara and Twitter, 2018). A brand vision is where they see their selves in the future and their ambitions. Having a vision can enable a brand to grow, not just in terms of size but it may help them to grow in terms of how they operate or how they contribute to the environment and being sustainable. Lastly a brands value proposition is what a business believes is important. Strong value proposition is all about the customer’s needs, ‘it outlines the benefits they will receive when buying your product or service. A good value proposition is about making the connection between customer needs and the seller’s solutions’ (Thacker, 2019).
A sharing economy can occur in any industry, from transport, for example uber, to clothing such as renting between individuals. An example of a clothing renting brand is Girl Meets Dress, where you can hire dress for an occasion and send it back afterwards, contributing to a more sustainable circular economy and limiting fast fashion, especially when people will order a dress for an occasion and never wear it again.
Brands mainly communicate their purpose to gen z through social media as it influences consumer behaviour especially to the younger generation who use social media the most. Brands will collab with popular influencers in order to promote their clothing as they know gen z will be inspired by the outfits their favourite influencers are wearing. ‘97% of Gen Z consumers say they now use social media as their top source of shopping inspiration’ (Kastenholz,2021).
Reference list
Barbara, U.S. and Twitter, T. (2018). How Many Gallons of Water Does It Take to Make . . . [online] Treehugger. Available at: https://www.treehugger.com/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make-4858491.
Gwilt, A. (2020). A practical guide to sustainable fashion. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kastenholz, C. (2021). Council Post: Gen Z And The Rise Of Social Commerce. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/17/gen-z-and-the-rise-of-social-commerce/?sh=483a140251d0 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].
Thacker, M. (2019). Council Post: How To Create A Successful Value Proposition. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/07/15/how-to-create-a-successful-value-proposition/?sh=7e36c0e025d5 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].
user (2018). Here’s Where We Plant Your Trees. [online] THE ENVIRONMENTOR. Available at: https://blog.tentree.com/where-do-we-plant-your-trees-these-are-the-countries-where-we-plant/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2022].