Purpose is not a marketing strategy

Brands are increasingly behaving like charities, but that’s not what customers want or need. Responsibility starts with companies taking stock of the impact they have just by virtue of existing.

I will remember 2020 partly as the year my inbox and social media accounts flooded with messages from brands expressing concern about the state of the world, and promising they were there to help. Some of them — Everlane, Glossier, Outdoor Voices…