Shifting the Paradigm: From Profit to Purpose

In a time of fast-paced consumption, production and forced creativity; a company mission rooted in doing good can slowly dissolve into oblivion. The need to keep up and do more can often take precedence over purpose. But it seems that as a generation of juxtapositions, many organisations are prioritising positive change instead of profit in the work that they do. 

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For a long time, social responsibility has always been a footnote in business practices. Following the money through trends held precedent. Certain terms like ‘diversity,’ ‘mental health’ and ‘inclusion’ slowly became a part of the business and workplace discourse but often remained too surface level. It’s like that one TikTok about mental health in the office space. You know the one, right? 

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https://www.tiktok.com/@fentifriedchicken/video/7337806998081195307

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But I digress… While we as companies, organisations, businesses, individuals have a long way to go, it is important to take a look at where we started out. Just to remember the progress we have made and to retain the motivation to keep going. 

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The 1800s saw the rise of philanthropy with business tycoons donating to community causes. In the 19th century ‘doing good’ was mostly an individual affair. Individuals were expected to do good but businesses as a whole were not necessarily required to take part in it. In the 1930’s the role of corporations started appearing in literature and discussions about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) became more prominent. After WWII, with the post war economic expansion, companies started being seen as actually having social responsibilities. One of the biggest indicators of this shift came from economist Howard R. Bowen in 1953. In his book, the Social Responsibilities of the Businessman he explained that  the businessman was entrusted with “decisions and policies of the greatest import for the general welfare.” Making him a vital decision-maker in production, a promoter of economic development and a symbol of culture. Seeing their great importance to society, Bowen argued that businessmen had an obligation to be beneficial to society, to practise good.

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The approaches to CSR changed with the historical context of the time. For example, with the rising global focus on anti-war and civil rights protests in the 1960s, CSR became a potential mirror of the society’s needs, dreams and problems. In Europe, a strategy of CSR began with the establishment of the United Nations Global Compact and the Millennium Development Goals. In the Green Paper of 2001 published by the European Commission, CSR was placed into an European context and was defined as “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”

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Similarly, media and communication have always been on the frontlines of trend and profit, and they also have been constantly evolving. The 2000s saw the rise of CSR campaigns, which led to the large-scale PR campaigns of the 2010s and now purpose-led campaigns take precedence over profit. Making social impact an incentive hard to ignore. A research conducted in Spain in 2019,  illustrates that CSR practices “strongly influence consumer advocacy behaviours through consumer admiration.” In general consumers have shown time and again that they care about the companies they support. They want to see companies take environmental, financial and ethical responsibility. And in summary, they just want to see companies do good. 

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So as Dante Media where do we stand? 

In a time where purpose is seen as a higher-order, and social responsibility an important aspect of any business, how do we approach the way we do communication? Well, first of all, we only work with companies that also internalised this shared goal. We use communication as a tool to help organisations of the future create impact and accelerate positive change. And we constantly check-in to make sure we follow our three core values; 

1. Working with purpose,
2. Collaborating honestly, 
3. Pushing boundaries. 

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There are a plethora of companies working for social change, and we, as Dante Media, are happy to be able to call ourselves one of them. Having meaning-making, social-impact rooted strategies and purpose-driven communication at the core of everything we do. Are you interested in being a part of positive change? To get in touch, drop us a line at hello@dantemedia.eu

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