CONTEMPORARY BRANDS NEED A SOCIAL PURPOSE / OPINION

If capitalism and freedom are going to work, they really need a shakedown. Prioritising a healthy profit over a healthy society has delivered predictably dire results and the resulting stress fractures are showing across key institutions; most obviously banking, news, police and politics.

Lis Murdoch gave a surprisingly heartwarming speech at The Edinburgh TV Festival, which contrasted with younger brother James' notorious 2009 McTaggart lecture, by pleading for purpose and alongside profit. Could this be a sign the mainstream is catching up with the 'sharing caring' ethos propagated by social technology and media?

Take Kickstarter as the most obvious example.  On paper, creating a community of people willing to invest hard cash in new concepts and ventures, often based on ludicrous ideas like the ostrich pillow, for little more return than a cap or a bottle of hot sauce would seem, well, ludicrous. But, blow me, it's working. Who'd have thought there are so many bedroom philanthropists out there? 

Or look at visionaries like Alex Bogusky, who walked away from his well-paid job in advertising to build Made Movement: a community of like-minded people to source and sell innovative products that benefit society.

Then there's TOMS Shoes, who donate the same pair of shoes you buy to a child-in-need on a one-for-one basis. The for-profit company has sold more than two million pairs and is at least a $100 million enterprise.

So can social ambition really help businesses complement their profits? After all, selling ostrich pillows will only get you so far. But a 2011 Harvard Business Review article suggests it's possible: 'The companies that perform best over time build a social purpose into their operations that is as important as their economic purpose.'

Having a social purpose gives companies a direction. It gives them human interest to innovate against, creating products people will actually buy, whilst motivating staff with a purpose they can believe in. Not least, social purpose creates unexpected connections between like-minded companies, individuals and institutions.

The automotive sector is dominated by the traditional MO of making profit by selling product. But if this is their sole purpose, they're missing out. If an automotive product is conscientiously connected to the Internet of things, for example, it could enable car sharing, improved public transport and energy consumption. By focusing more on improving a community's mobility through efficiency and affordability, the results are enhanced.

But why incorporate a social purpose if you're still turning a profit?  Well, Local Motors shows the way. By using open source, creative commons, open API's and communities as communications, they're developing cars for niche markets at 1% of the conventional cost. Impressive stuff. Local Motors proves we can collate expertise from 'the people' and use it to great effect.

Likewise, Kickstarter has shown it's possible to generate funding from the masses. And Big Frame - a one-year-old marketing company that raised $3-million in seed capital to help YouTube users build audiences, profit and improve content - demonstrates that 'little people' can create mass audiences: 42 million monthly views... and counting.

New technology means people - rather than companies - can now create the products they want, in the way they want them. A commonly used example is the 3D printer. If people can print their own products, having downloaded an open source design, then what else is around the corner?

Social technology and connectivity have brought power to the people by enabling individuals to connect around a shared interest or purpose, often creating both market and product at the same time, whilst forming much deeper relationships. Unless business and brands can connect with people through social purpose, there's a danger they'll get left on the shelf.

Ronnie Crosbie is planning director at social agency Outside Line