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4 Times Influencers Did Purpose Marketing Right

  • Brett Hyman
  • July 30, 2019

Purpose marketing is mandatory for Gen Z. However, traditional channels run big risks that influencers can defray.

Millennials and Gen Z favor companies with purpose. This is why so many corporations scramble to engage in “woke” advertising campaigns that draw attention to popular social causes. Data shows that younger consumers are more likely to buy when they feel that a brand embraces purpose marketing.

However, traditional ad campaigns that “show off” purpose initiatives can fall short. Jordan Uhl admonished Budweiser after one purpose commercial: “Budweiser just spent $5 million on a commercial to brag about donating $100K worth of water.”

As a response, more and more brands turn to engagement marketing, particularly involving influencers and experiential campaigns, to demonstrate purpose in a more authentic way. These examples show it done with varying degrees of success.

4 Purpose Marketing Campaigns With Influencers

1. ItsJudyTime x Convoy of Hope. Legendary YouTube beauty vlogger ItsJudyTime danced for charity.  Even better, she made a YouTube vlog about it, which some followers loved. However, since it wasn’t a natural integration focused on beauty or family, it ultimately received fewer views than some other videos.

2. Logan Paul x Wal Mart. In a clever activation, Logan Paul told followers that for every like Wal Mart would donate 10 meals to the hungry. The Instagram post received well over a million likes!

3. Chef Roble x Wells Fargo Food Bank. To help raise food donations during the holidays, culinary influencer Chef Roble launched a “can toss challenge” across Instagram stories. This worked because food integrated into his natural feed.

4. Michelle For Good. Michelle Chavez is a micro-influencer whose whole account integrates lifestyle content with purpose-based brands. This affords her the opportunity to always match her feed with purpose marketing.

Generally, influencers are a safer bet for integrating purpose marketing into brand campaigns, because they have more narrow audiences. In other words, they know how to integrate the purpose campaign in a way that’s sure to be digestible.

Brett Hyman
President, Founder & CEO
I founded NVE Experience Agency with the guiding principle: "The right moment will transform someone forever.” When I am not leading a team of cross-industry experts in delivering transformative experiences, I am striving to be a cultural champion, a thought leader, and a social advocate.