Table 1 Conscientious purpose-driven... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Conscientious purpose-driven branding and related concepts

	Corporate social responsibility	Cause-related marketing	Cause or purpose-led branding	Brand activism
Definition	Social, environmental, ethical and philanthropic obligations of firms towards their stakeholders(Muniz et al., 2019) reflecting the responsible role of businesses in society (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Marketing activities characterized by an offer from the firm to contribute a specified amount to a designated cause when customers engage in revenue-providing exchanges (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Branding strategy aiming to unite a brand’s core values with the right cause/purpose, making it a part of brand identity (Prasad, 2011) and positioning in the long-term	An emerging marketing tactic for brands seeking to stand out in a fragmented marketplace (Vredenburg et al., 2020) by publicly taking stands on institutionally divisive social and political issues (Pimentel et al., 2024)
Aim	Seek reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation of association with an issue (Vredenburg et al., 2020) and to attain organizational and social long-term benefits (Ilicic et al., 2019)	Seek to influence consumer perception through company-cause association (Vredenburg et al., 2020), to generate funds for the cause, and to increase sales (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Support a cause, raise awareness, promote social change and bond with consumers; also seeks reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation of association with a cause (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Take a stance, raise awareness, promote social change and bond with consumers (Podnar and Golob, 2024); seeks also reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation of association with a cause (Vredenburg et al., 2020)
Nature	Strategic (van den Brink et al., 2006), but not implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Tactic (van den Brink et al., 2006), pervasively short-term and transactionally oriented (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Strategic, implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Can be tactic or strategic (Vredenburg et al., 2020); but may not be implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning
Degree of controversy	Non-controversial issues (Wannow et al., 2024)	Non-controversial issues (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	No or minimal controversial issues (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Deliberate controversial, polarizing issues (Osuna Ramírez et al., 2024), yet to reach consensus (Vahdati and Voss, 2019)
Illustrative examples	Danone’s “One Planet, One Health” initiative aims to bring health through food to as many people as possible (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Pampers donation of a proportion of sales profit to UNICEF for vaccine against neonatal tetanus (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Patagonia’s active support for environmental causes for decades (Schmidt et al., 2022)	Pepsi’s campaign, featuring Kendall Jenner, in the midst of the “Black Lives Matter” movement (Mirzaei et al., 2022)

	Corporate social responsibility	Cause-related marketing	Cause or purpose-led branding	Brand activism
Definition	Social, environmental, ethical and philanthropic obligations of firms towards their stakeholders(Muniz et al., 2019) reflecting the responsible role of businesses in society (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Marketing activities characterized by an offer from the firm to contribute a specified amount to a designated cause when customers engage in revenue-providing exchanges (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Branding strategy aiming to unite a brand’s core values with the right cause/purpose, making it a part of brand identity (Prasad, 2011) and positioning in the long-term	An emerging marketing tactic for brands seeking to stand out in a fragmented marketplace (Vredenburg et al., 2020) by publicly taking stands on institutionally divisive social and political issues (Pimentel et al., 2024)
Aim	Seek reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation of association with an issue (Vredenburg et al., 2020) and to attain organizational and social long-term benefits (Ilicic et al., 2019)	Seek to influence consumer perception through company-cause association (Vredenburg et al., 2020), to generate funds for the cause, and to increase sales (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Support a cause, raise awareness, promote social change and bond with consumers; also seeks reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation ofassociation with acause (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Take a stance, raise awareness, promote social change and bond with consumers (Podnar and Golob, 2024); seeks also reputational and economic benefit via consumer appreciation ofassociation with acause (Vredenburg et al., 2020)
Nature	Strategic (van den Brink et al., 2006), but not implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Tactic (van den Brink et al., 2006), pervasively short-term and transactionally oriented (Varandarajan and Menon, 1988)	Strategic, implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Can be tactic or strategic (Vredenburg et al., 2020); but may not be implemented as an integral part of the brand’s core positioning
Degree of controversy	Non-controversial issues (Wannow et al., 2024)	Non-controversial issues (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	No or minimal controversial issues (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Deliberate controversial, polarizing issues (Osuna Ramírez et al., 2024), yet to reach consensus (Vahdati and Voss, 2019)
Illustrative examples	Danone’s “One Planet, One Health” initiative aims to bring health through food to as many people as possible (Golob and Podnar, 2019)	Pampers donation of a proportion of sales profit to UNICEF for vaccine against neonatal tetanus (Vredenburg et al., 2020)	Patagonia’s active support for environmental causes for decades (Schmidt et al., 2022)	Pepsi’s campaign, featuring Kendall Jenner, in the midst of the “Black Lives Matter” movement (Mirzaei et al., 2022)

Source:

Authors’ own work