Social innovation and business

As local brands grapple with a slowing economy, their challenge is to become more relevant in a complex marketplace. According to a recently published white paper by brand strategy and strategic marketing consultant Yellowwood, marketers today have to deal with more sceptical consumers who have grown weary of both organisations and their brands. As a result they interact with brands from a position of deep distrust, while at the same time having greater expectations of big business.

Titled “Social Innovation: Gearing Business to Address Social Systemic Challenges”, the paper argues that it’s no longer business as usual. As a result of changing consumer behaviour, businesses need to change their approach if they are to remain sustainable.

Smart marketers, says the report, will see the blurred lines between social and economic flux as an opportunity to collaborate with business and government to find sustainable solutions to deep-seated and systemic issues.

Understanding culture is key, as it helps brands to anticipate where consumer behaviour is changing. It also shows where the opportunities lie for businesses to foster engagement and respond proactively to consumer needs. The paper says social innovation is not only about understanding cultures, but also about challenging traditional ideas around business, social good and innovation, providing a space where marketers can conduct business and interact with society in different ways.

Another area Yellowwood highlights is the way in which we rely on a country’s GDP as a measure of its success. The paper points out that GDP does not account for issues such as happiness, community and how people experience life. An interesting alternate view is provided in the form of Michael Green’s Social Progress Index, which puts forward the idea that measuring a nation’s success by GDP is actually detrimental. Instead, the Social Progress Index uses human experience and actual achievement as a measure of the effort and intention of a country. In a marketing context, the index is a good point of departure for those seeking out areas that require intervention and seeing where brands can provide solutions and create shared value.

A central theme in the report relates to entrepreneurship in SA. While government’s National Development Plan emphasises the need to develop entrepreneurs, the paper notes that the challenges start-ups face often discourage them from continuing setting up businesses. Yellowwood’s interviews reveal that businesses and marketers have a role to play in using social innovation to break down barriers and advance entrepreneurship in Africa.

The paper says brands need to become “positive deviants” in their spheres of influence. Positive deviance is a behavioural and social-change approach, according to which certain individuals facing challenges, regardless of context, will use different, but effective behaviour to find better solutions. These are individuals who see solutions other people do not see, making them fundamental to spreading change.

Yellowwood supports the idea of creating white spaces for brands. As part of the TBWA Group, Yellowwood sees Disruption® (part of TBWA’s brand identity worldwide) as a way of thinking and acting, as well as of viewing clients’ businesses to find new opportunities, and defining how brands should behave and how agencies should be doing business. Disruption® defines a vision that breaks market conventions and creates a new platform for growth.

A set of guidelines for marketers on how to develop their own social innovation strategies includes “placing social innovation at the core of the business strategy; taking the bigger picture into account and avoiding silos; keeping Africa’s entrepreneurial agenda in mind at all times; using operating models which consider the socio-cultural impact of the business; listening to conversations before starting new ones; rather than trying to lead a movement, provide a platform to draw attention to the issues that matter most to consumers; and always to curate knowledge”.

The big take-out: According to Yellowwood’s white paper on social innovation, it is possible for brands and marketers to drive social innovation and be profitable at the same time.