• by Karl Greenberg , March 14, 2012

It's a coincidence, but the focus on corporate moral directives at the latest Association of National Advertisers Marketing Conference comes on the day former Goldman Sachs former Greg Smith published an opinion piece in the New York Times explaining his decision to resign. What he said could have been projected above the stage: "How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence."

A major theme at the ANA/WFA Global Marketing Conference in New York on Wednesday was global marketing in the service of global ideals. The notion that people are watching where in the world your products are made, what they're made of, how your policies impinge on the world, and what your brand stands for was elaborated by presenters like Marc Mathieu, SVP of marketing at Unilever, and Luke Dowdney, CEO of Fight for Peace and the Luta Limited clothing brand that supports it.

The lunch speech made it clear: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recounted as probably only he can the horrors perpetrated by humans on humans and how individuals and corporations can play a role in trying to change the fates of those who didn't win life's lottery.

While each presenter talked about how they are bringing back virtue and idealism to their brand identity, Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer at P&G and now CEO of the Jim Stengel Company, put it all together with the results of a 10-year study of 50,000 brands done with Millward Brown. The study, elaborated in his book, GROW: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies, identifies 50 companies that are best at engaging employees, sustaining consumer loyalty and financial growth. Also there was Millward Brown Optimor VP Benoit Garbe who lead the study. 

Stengel said the key is ideal-driven growth. "Ideals can reset the business agenda," he said. "Business is broken. The number of Americans have who have confidence in big business is at 19%, it's lowest ranking. Business has a lousy reputation." He added that only 30% of American workers are engaged, involved in and enthusiastic about their work, and that 64% of high-performing companies say their corporate character is well understood by the market. 

"I think it's time for a new narrative and story," he said, adding that his search to identify attributes that make successful brands was driven by his conviction that great businesses do more than make great products or services. Stengel subscribes to a few ideas that he says drives successful brands, among them that strong brands change peoples lives; that they are led by "artists" who care about what they're doing; that culture is the only competitive advantage; and that brand coherence and consistency is critical. 

Garbe said the study looked at brand equity; brand valuation, or how much that relationship with consumers attributed to the brand's financial success; and growth in absolute and relative terms. 

Among the top 50 are Visa, Google, FedEx, Pampers, Apple, Zappos, HP, Red Bull, Samsung, Method, MasterCard, Mercedes-Benz and Petroras. 

"We visited companies in person, doing interviews with many executives, and actually talked to academics as well to get a sense of what is going on. What we found is they are all built on ideals. They have a higher purpose. They define themselves beyond products and services. And the idea drives all the decisions of the company," he said.  

Stengel said the best brands also happen to outperform the market by a big margin, with a 382% increase in stock value since 2000 versus the S&P 500, which lost 7.9% during that period. 

"We found that brands strongly associated with ideals have created more resonance with consumers and are perceived by them as 'different.' They are seen as different not in a functional way but in the meaning of the brand, which drives equity and choice. It's a very nice demonstration that if you stand for something, if you have a higher meaning, people will come to your brand at much higher rate."