Five purpose-led brands that leveraged their digital marketing in 2021 and what we can learn from them

The past eighteen months were unprecedented times that certainly put a strain on brands. But along with challenges also came opportunities.

Opportunities for brands to leverage digital marketing and grow their engagement with new audiences through innovative ways.

In this blog post, we look at the five purpose-led brands that stood out from the crowd this past year. And they will inspire your marketing strategy for 2022.

Dove, a brand that ‘redefined beauty for the pandemic’

Purpose goes beyond what customers can expect from a brand’s products and services. A brand purpose is a moral reason for the brand to exist, independently from the commercial benefits. And a brand’s purpose needs to align with its audience’s beliefs.

Dove is the perfect example of a purpose-led brand that leverages its digital presence to make a difference with relevant and timely communication.

With its campaign ‘Courage is Beautiful’, Dove won the 2021 Marketing Week Masters Award for Brand Purpose. The campaign featured real photos of frontline workers and was launched to thank them for their work. And to reach key workers with the campaign, Dove collected data on their shift patterns and commutes and used digital out-of-home adverts on billboards and bus shelters.

Another example of Dove leading as a purpose-led brand is its recent stance on animal welfare. The brand teamed up with rival The Body Shop to take on the EU over animal testing in cosmetics.

Gymshark, a brand with a strong community

Gymshark is a fast-growing brand that has built an impressively strong community online through social media and influencer marketing.

Their TikTok campaign, the “66 days: change your life” challenge #gymshark66, leveraged the popularity of challenges among the app’s biggest trends and generated 193 million views.

As the brand is expanding globally, Gymshark welcomed Gary Vee in November 2021. Gary is chairman of VaynerX and one of the leading global minds on what’s next in culture, relevance and the internet. He joined the Gymshark team as an advisor to the board to lend his expertise in areas from e-commerce and digital marketing to business strategy and consumer attention.

According to Gymshark, e-commerce has been an amazing vehicle for the brand’s growth. But the brand recognises that not everyone is entirely okay with shopping online. And after seeing the success of hosting pop-up stores, Gymshark decided to offer a place for their community to ‘look at, feel and touch the brand’.

With a sizeable 18,000 square feet space across three levels, its flagship store is situated on Regent Street in London, amongst some of the most prestigious brands. And it should open for business by summer 2022.

Gymshark is a community brand, so to stay true to its value and identity, the majority of the space inside the gigantic store will not be dedicated to selling Gymshark products. Instead, it will serve to engage with customers by building the Gymshark community, connecting with people and inspiring them to get into fitness. So that’s customer engagement with a full omni-channel experience online and offline.

Moonpig, the revival of a brand identity

Back in 2017, Moonpig decided to scrap their famous pig logo. This move was part of a brand refresh to position itself as an online gifts retailer as well as cards.

However, CMO Kristof Fahy, who joined the business in 2019, saw the pig logo and jingle as ‘incredible brand assets’. So Moonpig brought back their famous jingle and their mascot in the form of a family of moonpiglets to facilitate brand recognition.

The moonpiglets have now reclaimed a prominent place in the brand’s communication since they connect the brand with consumers’ emotions. And as a result, their Moonpig Birthdays Ad was chosen as part of the best marketing campaigns of 2021 by the Marketing Week team.

Innocent Drinks, a brand that knows how to portray its value with a unique tone of voice

Innocent Drinks have a unique way to reach out to their customers. The brand has always been all about the consumer’s experience. It engages with its audience using a personal, friendly and humorous tone. And at the same time focuses on its core value, promoting its products health benefits and its positive impact on the environment.

Innocent generate a lot of engagement online by cleverly starting conversations with other household brand names. Their 2021 April’s Fool post that announced a collaboration with Heinz UK to create a SMOUP (Smoothies + Soup) created quite a buzz on Twitter.

Most recently, they used their humorous tone in a campaign created by BMB Agency, that went live on social media. It was created to remind people of the health benefits of their drinks playfully. Innocent picked at the nation’s most hated fruit and veg, reminding the audience that their drinks are an ‘easy and tasty’ way to get 1 of your 5 a day.

The campaign also highlights the brand’s mission to donate 30 million drinks to people who need them. And to give away 1 million meals in partnership with food redistribution charity The Felix Project.

Nuud, a new sustainable brand that’s going places

Nuud gum is a purpose-led brand that enunciates the problem and the solution right there on its packaging with ‘Chew plants not plastic’.

Most people don’t know that chewing gum is made of single-use plastic. And the brand’s mission is to make chewing gum as unacceptable as using plastic straws. While offering a sustainable and biodegradable alternative.

Nuud cleverly tackles a serious issue and educates consumers through a fun and playful brand identity.

The logo and mascot are the key elements of the brand identity and are designed to give it a friendly and approachable personality.

The founder of the plastic-free, plant-based chewing gum brand pitched his new sustainable product in Dragon’s Den. And despite positive feedback from both the Dragons and the show’s viewers, none of the Dragons decided to invest.

But this didn’t stop Nuud, who later announced a partnership with Candy Kittens founders Jamie Laing and Edward Williams. The brand was excited to announce their plant-based gum to be stocked in over 200 Waitrose stores at the beginning of 2021. And they have recently become available at Morrisons and Co-op.

In addition, Nudd offers a direct-to-consumer subscription service via its website. This drives convenience and ease from their e-commerce platform and is also a great way to encourage repeat purchases.

With this in mind, Nuud is the brand to watch in 2022.

Is your brand purpose clear for the future?

Contact us at hello@thebrandmap.co.uk to discuss further