ethics, continued...

there has been a swift and massive response to the trump administration’s decision to pull out of the paris agreement, and the fallout is scaling the consumer conversation globally.

we are seeing the intersection of consumerism and ethics grow wider. big brands like microsoft and apple have publicly declared staunch support of the paris agreement, not just for the sake of climate change but for the strength of the american economy. sixty-two percent of exxon mobile shareholders voted in favor of public disclosure of the impact of climate change on the business, and individuals, in the u.s. and abroad, are pledging allegiance to companies that stand with them in their belief of what is right.

people are aligning around their values, and all signs indicate that this growing population is ready, willing, and able to put their money where their mouth is.

creepy.

while legions of consumers move towards more values-based behavior, some corporate giants are moving in the direction of, well, creepy.

just before the holiday weekend, google announced its plan “to track billions of credit and debit card sales to compare online ad clicks with money spent offline.”

this might mean more metrics for advertisers, but, no matter how google slices it, less privacy for everyone else.

if you feel that this may be tipping into google doing like, maybe a little bit of evil, this is how to ensure your settings don’t allow them access, courtesy of BBC.com’s researchers:

“Users can opt out of the service by going to their ads setting page and unchecking the box that says: “Also use Google Account activity and information to personalise ads on these websites and apps and store that data in your Google Account”.

Users can also disable personalisation for all Google ads. And they can pause or delete their location history.”  

and to ensure that the brands you like don’t partake in this little bit of evil, write and let them know you don’t want to be tracked that way.

ford shake-up #changepositive

two years ago, i asked the question “what does it look like to be change-positive? to create with the knowledge of change?”

the question is a constant spark to my curiosity, and the recent leadership shakeup at ford fuels it. i see change-knowledge as equal parts art and science. a proactive perspective on past, present, and potential.

ford ceo mark fields was replaced with “change agent” jim hackett.

while the move is seen by some as uncharacteristic for the methodical company, a usa today article cites bill ford jr. as saying “hackett’s ability to pair a focus on the future with operational improvements was enticing.”

hackett’s change-knowledge positioned him to lead the charge as ford tries to not just survive, but thrive.

new luxury: bye bye bill

the same forces reshaping luxury seem to be reshaping television.

when it comes to ethics, network news has long been a team sport — you watch who you believe in and retain peripheral interest in the rest. maybe. (the phrase “preaching to the choir” comes to mind.) but in this brave new world where ethics guide how we spend our money and time it appears that even big brands can be forced to bend to the will of the consumer. fox was good to quietly support bill o’reilly, the show’s advertisers were not. the advertisers, luxury cars amongst them, were listening to their consumers… shaping the new luxury.

new luxury, new stories

we’ve talked about the current cultural conversation around ethics, and the new consumer conversation around luxury. but where the rubber meets the road is in the conversation between brands and consumers.

ethics as the new luxury won’t affect advertising and marketing as much as it will messaging. the shift won’t be on spend, but on the stories that get told. 

the march issue of departures offers a solid example of this in its story into the blue. “while the maldives struggles to deal with the rising seas of climate change, new resorts like the st. regis are doing their small part.” that line alone — the rising seas of climate change — would eliminate a swath of conservative consumers who “don’t believe” in global warming, but triggers passionate support among a much larger segment whose politics have commandeered their wallets.

the idea of eco-travel or ethical fashion is not new — for years companies like elevate destinations and designers like stella mccartney have built their brands on the idea of ethical luxury. but now it’s not just a side conversation with a conscientious few. the new luxury is a mainstage badge of social responsibility, impact, and alignment. so each message has to be an invitation to not only buy, but to be part of the solution.

formula change: luxury

now that we know what we mean when we say ethics and values, let’s look at what we mean when we say luxury.

because what we, culture, means by luxury has changed.

luxury has been defined, for decades, by a trifecta of exclusivity: tribe, attainment, and craftsmanship.

tribe is the social badge of a purchase: who you associate with, who you share values with. attainment is status, the level that must be achieved to allow you to afford access to such a purchase. and craftsmanship is the quality of construction of an object. in the instance of luxury objects, it’s high quality.

quality is rarely the prime motivator in the calculus of a purchase, but it pretends to be. quality is the cocktail party rationale for a purchase.

let’s say you drive a mercedes g-class suv. it speaks to your level of attainment and tribe, but the conversation is often about its quality. its durability and engineering, its resale value… but it’s the other two factors that are more likely to have motivated getting that car onto a short list for purchase.

if ethics is the new luxury, then the formula shifts.

tribe doesn’t change — we are still aligning ourselves with those who share our values. but the cocktail conversation about quality shifts to impact. “this exquisitely crafted bag is not only made within a fair trade collective… 10% of proceeds go to support the (insert badge association here) and…”

because it’s no longer enough for something to be well made — craftsmanship is a cost of entry. the new luxury is how much downstream impact a purchase has. how much influence.

in this new conversation i believe we will see attainment shift to independence. “i’ve achieved this level” becomes “i have the freedom to make this sort of decision, to have this impact.”

tribe + impact + independence = the new luxury

what do we mean: ethics

working on a re-brand or product launch, certain words will come up over and over in conversation with clients. over the years i’ve found it’s good to make sure everyone in the conversation has the same meaning in mind when using the words, whatever they might be.

we all keep saying the same thing, but i want to make sure we are meaning the same thing, so we “go to the dictionary” to gain clarity around what is actually being expressed — and to avoid costly trips down the rabbit hole of miscommunication.

if ethics is the new luxury, and values are driving both consumer and brand decisions, then we need to be clear on what we mean when we say “ethics” and “values.” what currency do those words have in our culture and how does our culture express it? 

the dictionary definition of ethics includes phrases like “a system of moral principles,” “the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group culture, etc,” and “the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.”

consumer and brand values are then the “relative worth, merit, or importance” they place on a set of moral principles. what they are willing to stand by as right action, and what they’re willing to stand down as wrong.

the current cultural conversation around ethics seems to hinge upon this polarization of rightness and wrongness, particularly when it comes to the values of humanity, equality, respect, and honesty.

this is how every purchase is becoming an expression of ethics. how culture is bringing philosophy into the center of commerce, asking “do you stand for what i stand for?”