How to get brand purpose marketing right and not ruin the industry

Dentsu creative director Toshihiko Tanabe believes that if superficial and poorly thought-out purpose-driven campaigns continue to be executed, the industry risks ruin.

Purpose is “getting a little bit crazy”, according to Dentsu creative director Toshihiko Tanabe speaking at Spikes Asia in Singapore.

“We can’t just take any purpose, hack that into our campaigns, and say that’s what we believe in,” he said. “When we smell something fishy about a purpose campaign, we know it’s bullshit.”

Consumers are wising up to “superficial” attempts at cause marketing: “They will ask questions like this: ‘You weren’t doing anything last year or the year before. Since when do you give a crap about this?

While Tanabe is in support of purpose campaigns done in a meaningful...

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