DATA DRIVES DECISIONS
London, 1980’s: My padded shoulders, permed hair and I, worked with leadership teams and marketing managers within multinational companies (Unilever, J&J, Cadbury’s to name a few). Upon arriving in Australia in 1994, I began working with amazing Australian companies through my company Cavill + Co, advising on their CSR & building partnerships for blue chips including Disney Australia, AMP, Mondelez, Vodafone, SEEK and many more.
I’ve acquired so much knowledge rubbing shoulders with corporates, but a vital learning is that data drives decisions in most corporations and brands. Unlike non-profits (who tend to have an intuitive sense of what the community needs, and let’s face it, often don’t have the budget for large scale research projects), corporates and brands invest heavily in research to understand customer wants & needs, in order to predict – and deliver – services & products to meet them.
To understand corporate behaviour in this fast-changing world, we need to be constantly across the research that they rely on to guide them in best practice corporate responsibility, consumer expectation, reputation and so on.
For over two decades I’ve been tracking all the major research studies, and when I see trends emerge or consumer sentiment shifts, I’m compelled to compile a report with plain English explanation of what it means (research can be mind-boggling). In 2016 when trust in corporations was low, I published my 6th research report called Talking the Walk® - a compilation of over 26 research reports. It included a new model for communicating CSR & Social Good and provided proof – beyond doubt – that aligning with non-profits to solve social problems is good for business. In 2018, after numerous scandals had driven trust and corporate reputations to an all-time low, I updated it and published Talking the Walk®2, this time with new research and an emphasis on millennials - who at the time were driving the growing conscious consumer movement.
Then, as we know, the world up-ended at the start of 2020. It impacted everything, including what consumers around the world want from companies, brands and their employer. At the end of the year Conscious Consumerism (purchasing products/services aligned to values) had swelled to a mass market level in Australia, with all generations (Z, Y, X and Baby Boomers) purchasing based on values. Our research was captured this in my 8th report called The Conscious Consumer Era Arrives. Finally (launched in November 2020).
Check out the blog that summarises the report here. Download the BePartnerReady.com® report written for non-profits here. Download the Cavill + Co report written for corporates here (send to your corporate prospects & partners).
Since the start of the year there’s been some research reports from other credible sources that all point in the same direction. Consumer attitudes changed dramatically during COVID-19, and there’s no going back to the old ‘normal’. Research that provides compelling proof that corporates need to get involved in solving social problems, as consumers are demanding it.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be diving into these research reports to provide you with a plain English snapshot via our blog. Research on trust, consumer appetite for cause driven brands, sustainability and more. Because the more you understand the corporate mindset, the more impressive you’ll be when you reach out for a partnership. Plus, you can use many of the statistics in your presentations to corporates and on your websites.
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
