Add this one to your lexicon of “new” marketing approaches–”purpose-based marketing.” Somewhere between Marketing for Good and Marketing as Service, this one is being touted by former P&G CMO Jim Stengel which helps explain why it was prominently featured in last week’s Wall St. Journal:

Starting Monday, the 25-year P&G veteran is opening Jim Stengel LLC, which will try to persuade companies to buy into a newfangled way of selling. It’s called “purpose-based marketing,” which Mr. Stengel says is about defining what a company does — beyond making money — and how it can make its customers’ lives better.

I am truly excited to see someone as prominent as Mr. Stengel endorse what for traditional marketers like P&G would have been considered a radical approach just a couple of years ago:

The well-known adman maintains that the idea of “purpose” isn’t just the latest cooked-up marketing-speak. He says dozens of companies and brands have used this approach. He points to P&G’s Pampers brand, which several years ago decided it had a higher purpose: helping moms develop healthy, happy babies, rather than just keeping babies’ bottoms dry.

So I write this open letter:

Dear Mr. Stengel:

If you have a spare minute, we should talk. I’ve been gathering cases that support your thesis for the last 4 years and have no doubt what you say is true. More importantly, while having a purpose-based strategy provides a solid foundation, you still need an agency that can create a transformative 360° experience–an agency like Renegade.

Finally, as a fellow punster, I love the title of your upcoming book, Packaged Good, and can’t wait to read it.

Cheers,

Drew

CEO, Renegade

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