Goodvertising. What does it mean? Well, the clue’s in the neologism:
Good-vertising.
Good. Advertising.
The wordplay is intentional and, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense.
It was coined by Thomas Kolster, an adman turned marketing & sustainability expert and author, to name a movement oriented around using marketing to show that doing good for the world is good for business.
Goodness begets goodness, essentially.
Advertising is a social experiment that for the most part has gone wrong.
— Thomas Kolster
With the world beginning to move towards a more conscious consumerism, it is more important than ever to understand the benefits of having a clear company purpose — an ethos that drives your brand identity.
Marketing has always been seen as a bit of the devil’s game 😈: often making the bad (gambling, smoking, environmentally damaging vehicles) seem attractive.
It’s the nature of the beast, but the beast is changing.
With conscious consumerism has come a need to feel good about your purchases, either because you have addressed a need (instead of a want) or source provides some benefit (to yourself or others).
People create brands and if they’re created for us and by us then they need to care — just like we do.
— Thomas Kolster
Goodvertising works best when there is a balance between what’s good for business, and what good the business is doing.
Goodness is a relative term, and the social and environmental benefits of a company’s actions exist on a spectrum.
You won’t ever make everyone happy.
But it’s worth a try.
Interested to learn more about the world of Goodvertising?
Originally published at https://blog.42courses.com on October 14, 2020.
