Just what is Civil Branding?

Civil branding is about harnessing the power of branded communications for social influence and brand difference.

Think about Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’

Think about Citibank’s ‘Live Richly’ long running campaign

Think about Honda’s ‘Power of Dreams’ positioning

Think about other brands you know and their messages

Socially influential brands promote progressive ideas that have the potential to create dialogue and advance society’s current agenda.

Valuing different perspectives

Celebrating creativity as a force for human development

Encouraging egalitarianism and liberty

Raising women’s self esteem

Active pursuit of happiness, Carpe Diem

Why should you care as a marketer?

We feel this is the next avenue to drive customer preference and that consumers are ready for it now.

Why now? Scarcity of attention increases consumer demand for depth in brand meaning – especially non-functional relevancy.

Brands have more of a social role to play as evidenced by efforts like CSR and the increasing devotion to hero brands.

<25 26 to 35 36 to 45 46 to 55 >550%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Required to tailor mes-sages accoding to effect on societyShould consider how messages influence pub-lic attitudesFree to promote any kind of message

How much freedom should companies have in promoting messages to society?

Source: Civil Branding UK survey

15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60%0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

Audi

BMW

Ford

Honda

Land Rover

Mercedes-BenzMini

Porsche

Renault

Skoda

Toyota

VW

Volvo

f(x) = 0.262344071102184 x − 0.0367181833635954R² = 0.896609584834363

% REJECTION

% M

OST N

EG

ATIV

E IM

PA

CT O

N S

OC

IETY

People who think civil branding qualities are important are much more likely to reject uncivil brands (automotive e.g.)

Source: Civil Branding UK survey

Which brands are performing?

Civil Branding Heroes

Civil Branding Advocates

Our goal is to learn from the best performing brands in order to help other companies create more civil brands.

www.civilbranding.com