Consumers can always smell greed and will punish you for it
Strategy expert James Sykes discusses how the marketing hyperbole of old has become the next generation’s fake news.
The people of marketing town have banged on about trust, company culture and brand purpose of late.
I think it’s a rehash of brand authenticity, which was a warmed-up version of Ben & Jerry citizenship, itself a knock on from the triple bottom line, which was born out of the 1970s stakeholder movement.
What’s oddly distinct is the blip in the 80s, when Gordon Gekko screamed out how greed was good and everyone joined in. Tom Cruise and Duran Duran still haunt us from that ugliest of decades when money shouted loud and we admired anyone who flaunted as much of it as they could.
Ultimately it’ll come back to bite them.
I wonder how this would play out if there were more women on boards?
@Inked: are you implying that greed is an exclusively male trait?
…and yet corporations that could be accused of serious ‘greed’ still seem to be doing very well.
A couple of examples: VW emmissions scandal? Not a problem. VW took over Toyota as world’s biggest car manufacturer in 2016 and is till there. Nestle (amongst others) are still being accused of aggressive tactics (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/27/formula-milk-companies-target-poor-mothers-breastfeeding), but Nestle is till the biggest FMCG company in the world (https://www.statista.com/statistics/260963/leading-fmcg-companies-worldwide-based-on-sales/). No signs of being punished…