Skip to content

The purpose unmasking: How much are your values worth?

If you do not uphold your purpose and/or values in the face of adversity, how much are they really worth? It is a rhetorical question for most people. Yet, over the last year or so, the changing political winds have put many brands and people to the test. The results aren’t pretty.

Take for example Ford, Target, Meta, Amazon, McDonalds among others that rolled back inclusivity programs in the last year(s). But also the biggest asset manager in the world, Blackrock, who pulled out of a climate group last month. 

Or how about tech moguls like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) performing 180 degree turns to ‘kiss the ring’ of Trump in 2024. In order to protect their individual and business interests they have maneuvered themselves in spectacular ideological twists to change their attitudes (in case you want to see a cringeworthy example of what that looks like in two screenshots, click here and then here).

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with above mentioned values, people or political beliefs, one take-away that most would agree on is how…fluid their values ended up being when tested. Instead of staying rigid in their convictions because they’re convinced it’s the right thing to do – much like a chameleon – they adjusted their colours to match a changed environment.

And in a somewhat ironic way, they are actually listening to people, as a 2023 survey found that 72% of people are tired of brands pretending they want to help society when they just want to make money. People intuitively already felt that most brands were not genuine. Above mentioned examples only serve as further confirmation. 

It plays into a general feeling of cynicism and pessimism in the (Western) world, where talk proves increasingly empty. Brands position themselves as benevolent forces of change, but when push comes to shove, most of them (or their CEO’s) are not willing to suffer negative consequences and would rather discard the thin veil of integrity. 

One benefit of such trying times however, is it separates the wheat from the chaff, so to say. It’s easy to echo the sentiment of the times when all is well and good. But when your values and purpose clash with political or societal adversity, it provides you with the opportunity to differentiate yourself as a company that is willing to ‘bleed’ for what you think is right. Especially since most won’t. So in case you were not forced to ask yourself this question yet as a brand, it might be smart to anticipate: 

how much are your values worth?

Picture of Author

Author

Douwe Knijff

Share the signal.

More Signals

The State of Love for Gen Z

The paradox of online dating In an era where digital connectivity is at an all-time high, loneliness is paradoxically high, especially in early adulthood

Complex Society report

Stay relevant.
Sign up for our
bi-weekly Signals.

A bi-weekly newsletter in which we keep track of what’s going on in the world and translate based on our sociocultural knowledge, what this means to brands.

Kim Pillen

Consultant

Before Kim Pillen started as a trend consultant at TrendsActive, she worked for four years as a creative strategist at Dept. For brands such as Philips, bol.com, Beiersdorf, JBL, and the Consumers’ Association, she built (online) campaign, brand, and social media strategies. After four years, she decided that she wanted to better understand people and society in order to advise brands more effectively. That’s how she ended up at TrendsActive. Here, she can do what she loves most: digging into people’s needs and then working with brands to see how and where they can be relevant and meaningful.

Douwe Knijff

Researcher

Douwe is fascinated by how people work. With a background in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (Bachelor) and Psychology (Master) and an analytical mind he tries figure out how societal shifts manifest themselves through social culture and human behaviour.

Aljan De Boer

Keynote speaker

Aljan has been widely recognized as an inspiring professional speaker on the critical trends that will shape society in the decades to come. He works as the Head of Inspiration at TrendsActive, a trend consultancy from the Netherlands using social science to human-proof business decision for brands like

  • Disney
  • Vodafone
  • Hugo Boss
  • ASR
  • Rabobank

Next to his role at TrendsActive he is the Community Director at the Institute for Real Growth where he inspires and connects a global community of +400 CMOs.  

He has been on the board of the Dutch Platform of Innovative Marketing for almost a decade. Regular speaker and moderator for the Dutch Marketing Awards and 3 times winner of the best of MIE. 

Kees Elands

Founder & Strategist

Kees his purpose is to help ambitious leaders and brands to human-proof their business. In 2003 he founded TrendsActive, a trend consultancy enabling brands to become more human centric.

Kees consults global brands like

  • Disney
  • The Coca-Cola Company
  • Asics
  • Discovery Channel
  • Swiss Life
  • Vodafone

and many more.

Next to being the founder of TrendsActive, he is also initiator of the first academic trend master for executives at the University of Utrecht and is initiator of various trend studies and white papers on subjects like trust, meaning, visual culture & generations.

Trendsactive_blau

Kees Elands

Founder & Strategist

Kees Elands

Founder & Strategist