Modern Mainstream
We didn’t set out to work with a number of different clients who are trying to create a new, more sustainable and honest way of creating a ‘brand contract’ with their customers, and who are trying to do it at scale, with huge ambition.
But this is where we find ourselves, partly through belief and partly because of where the world is now, the zeitgeist. At a moment when it’s clear that there has been a wholesale breakdown in trust between institutions and individuals, we need brands that succeed through a modern combination of practicality, energy and idealism.
This kind of organisation — at Corke Wallis we call them ‘Modern Mainstream’ — give us all some hope for a better, more stable and sustainable future.
Who are we working with in this way?
Pure Planet — a modern mainstream start-up that is taking on the big 6 energy companies with a sustainable and highly efficient business model.
In housing, we’re helping Places for People define their multi-faceted role in building successful communities.
We re-branded Ambition School Leadership last year and continue to work with them to support their mission to address the UK’s profound problem of educational inequality.
Brompton’s bikes are ‘Made for Cities’. Most recently, we’ve been working on the launch of their new Brompton Electric.
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What do these organisations have in common that suggests a bigger movement?
They have a mission, purpose. They want to make a difference to society, right wrongs and improve peoples’ lives. That doesn’t preclude business ambition, but it gives that ambition a different flavour.
They aspire to be beautifully designed at every level from an app interaction to they way they think about supplier contract terms.
They have efficient structures. You’re going to have to compete on price, consumers want price first, mission as added value; they won’t (not for a mainstream, high street brand) pay a premium for a company’s beliefs. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a premium brand, but people don’t shop at Waitrose because they admire the business’s ownership structure, it’s the product and service offer that is working for them.
Modernity is in their DNA, not just the smart use of technology, but also in less tangible ways, in a lack of cynicism that is felt through tone and culture.
Greed is out. Greed isn’t efficient (see above) and it isn’t sustainable. It is as much a mark-up on the price the consumer pays as any other cost in the business model.
No CSR. CSR is synonymous with ‘greenwash’ — conscience money, off to one side of the core business operations. A modern mainstream business has this baked-in, not as an add-on.
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Want to start a Modern Mainstream brand or move your current brand in this direction? Get in touch, we’d love to help.
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More reading:
- A bit more from us about Pure Planet
- Corporate ‘purpose’ — it’s not easy to deliver on the promise
- Marketing Week’s list of 100 Disruptive Brands 2017
