23red

23red Integrated Creative Consultancy

A recent survey of 1,000 people by the integrated creative agency 23red, (whose previous campaigns include Change 4 Life and Drink Aware), highlighted by and sent to me by a lovely lady called Hannah at Pumpkin PR and Social Media Agency, adds weight to the growing cache of evidence that proves consumers are demanding a higher standard of ethics in business.

The survey, commissioned in conjunction with the launch of 23red’s new inititiative ‘Great Good‘, which educates brands and businesses that “it’s the good a brand gives back that makes the difference“, produced some powerful and elucidating results. For example,

91% of consumers say how a brand behaves towards customers and communities is an influential factor when making a purchase.

Furthermore,

74% want to know more about the behaviour of a company before buying

and

60% say that awareness of a company’s ethics – environmental record, sourcing, sustainable employment policies, etc, affects their decision making.


The survey also points towards an age and gender split – a majority of under 30′s ranked ethical brand values as a priorityn when spending their hard earned pennies, and a greater percentage of females demanding social responsibility from their brands, compared to their apparently less conscientious male counterparts! (I am happy to point out that I do not belong to that minority – I purchased a pair of the wonderful Monkey Genes chinos recently, which now means I can dress ethically from head to toe!)

Sean, Jane and Hamish from 23red

Jane Asscher, managing partner and founder of 23red, stresses that authenticity from brands and businesses is essential,”The real challenge for brands is how best to harness the values at the heart of their business as marketing tools, without appearing cynical. This isn’t about sound bites and tokenistic gestures; it’s a paradigm shift. It’s about making specific and quantifiable changes..”.

It’s fantastic to learn of further bodies of evidence that confirm what I already knew – the future is ethical. It appears businesses now have a choice – dig your heels in, carry on as you are, ignore the buying signals from consumers and consider moral values & business mutually exclusive, or, join and help sustain the burgeoning movement for ethical business, in the mean time contributing to a better standard of well being for people and the planet. As Anita Roddick said,

“being good is good business”.