A new playbook for marketers with a purpose.

The best campaigns don’t begin by asking people to donate, care more or “join the movement.” They make the issue impossible to ignore, then connect that issue directly to what the brand actually does.

One of the best examples comes from challenger brand “Who Gives A Crap.” To dramatize the environmental cost of conventional toilet paper, the company reimagined Winnie-the-Pooh. The words stayed the same. But the Hundred Acre Wood didn’t. The trees were gone.

The illustrations showed Pooh and his friends surrounded by the aftermath of deforestation, turning an abstract statistic about more than one million trees being cut down each day for conventional toilet paper into something people could instantly understand.

The message was connected directly to the business. “Who Gives A Crap” sells toilet paper made from recycled paper or bamboo and donates 50% of its profits to clean-water and sanitation initiatives. The campaign reportedly generated 420+ media stories, reached more than 5 billion people, sold out its print run in 48 hours and helped generate nearly 3,000 new orders.

There’s a useful playbook here for marketers thinking about purpose: Start with a business truth, not a cause. What does your company actually do differently?
Make the problem tangible. Statistics inform. A powerful visual or experience makes people feel the consequence. Connect purpose to the product.

The campaign should make choosing your brand part of the solution.
Give people something to do. Buy differently. Switch. Donate. Participate. Share. Purpose without action is just communication.

Make the idea interesting enough to travel without a huge media budget.
That’s where purpose becomes more than a corporate statement.
It becomes competitive strategy.

What’s the best purpose-driven campaign you’ve seen? I’d love to hear the examples that stuck with you.

And if your organization is trying to turn purpose into something people will act on, I’m always interested in comparing notes.