The layers of value and purpose embedded across a business – these form the central theme of this keynote presentation at the AMEC Virtual Global Summit on Measurement, led by Omnicom’s David Gallagher and One Hundred Agency’s John O’Brien.

 

Drawing on the ideas presented in their book, Truth Be Told: How Authentic Marketing and Communications Wins in the Purposeful Age, John invites the audience to consider the difficult relationship between business and society. It’s a relationship that has evolved considerably after being rocked by the 2008 financial crash.

 

Purposeful business has become a priority in the aftermath. And yet, while companies have interpreted social consciousness in many different ways, few have successfully connected it to the realities of the outside world.

 

The success to which a business’ so-called ‘human truth’ resonates with the wider world is fundamentally linked to how well it permeates across all aspects of its operation. This means building the same values into your sales department as you do into your CSR strategy. It means building the same purpose into your external policies as you do into your PR campaigns.

 

A purposeful business can’t exist in just one department, one advertising campaign or PR story. Because, when discrepancies surface, the human truth you claim to uphold is quickly discredited.

 

Conversely, the reward for upholding consistent values across your organisation is reaped when employees and customers alike become advocates for your brand.

 

It has never been more important for businesses to keep an ear to the ground to understand how they feature in the social conversation. “An audience may not care, or even know about your organisation’s products or services” explains David, “but they care very much about the cause that you have chosen to associate yourself with.”

 

As collective realisation is forming around the idea that capitalism needs to benefit everyone, not just shareholders, how can we begin embedding such values into corporate leadership from the start?

 

David ends with a call-to-action: to support him in the development of metrics that will demonstrate the benefit to all stakeholders of a truth-based purposeful orientation to business – and the communications and marketing that supports it.