Does your brand take a stand: A container case-study

Credit unions have every opportunity to stand behind their products and services and deliver, hopefully, better, faster, more immediately, more conveniently, more pervasively than any other financial services provider around. They also have every opportunity to stand behind a purpose bigger than the reach of their businesses’ products and services. It’s up to you, credit unions–you can tell your story any way you wish.

Which, the question then becomes, will yield greater results? Which will be more worth your time and resources and strategic efforts to pursue? I think about these possibilities a lot, and to try to find some semblance of an answer, I looked for inspiration outside the industry; in places I could only see myself as a consumer of a brand, rather than an insider of the message.

I recently came across an Upworthy article about a coffee shop running a social experimentwith customers. This coffee shop wanted to take a stand for what they believe in–not contributing to the 160 million single-use cups that are thrown away each year–and stopped offering to-go cups to their customers. A bold move for the coffee shop—it could be bad for business. What they saw was that people decided to have their coffee ‘for here’ without much of a fuss, and likely remembered to bring their reusable mug next time. Because for the most part, it was a reasonable action to take and no one really disagreed with it.

The article included a cool video about this coffee shop, at the end of which, the call to action was “Let’s talk about it. #BringYourOwn” and then “Brought to you by Klean Kanteen.”

Brilliant. Let’s talk about it!

Of course a reusable container company would want to spearhead a campaign that encourages every citizen of the world to #BringYourOwn. It’s good for the environment too, so really it’s a win-win for them to make this their mission, their ‘stand.’ So I went to the Klean Kanteen website to see how much this was really a part of who they were on a corporate brand level. And there it was… Proudly inviting site visitors to “Take the Pledge,” “Join the conversation,” and “#BringYourOwn.”

They also proudly displayed their logos for being a Certified B Corporation and their membership in 1% for the planet, making a commitment to donate at least 1% of annual sales to non-profit organizations protecting the environment.

So clearly what this business has built, rather than just hocking product, is a strong belief in doing good, giving back, and encouraging/influencing their customers to embody these actions and beliefs in their own lives as well. They even have a section on their site about co-branding their products for others’ events or fundraisers or businesses. And this says it all — “Klean Kanteens start conversations, and our mission is to partner with like-minded companies and organizations that share our values.”

Again, it’s a no-brainer for a company with this line of business to ride the environmental/sustainable wave — it has become more and more mainstream and today’s consumers really do demand businesses to do good, not just sell good product. The same could be said about the obvious ties between the financial services industry and issues of equal pay, access to education and serving the un- and underbanked population.

This isn’t to say product or service quality doesn’t matter. Back to the coffee mugs–my absolute, hands-down favorite coffee container is made by Contigo.  Never spills, easy to use and clean, keeps the coffee hot, lots of fun colors — what’s more to want. Well…

Their site is bland; no personality, no cause. I feel less engaged, less inspired on this site than Klean Kanteen’s. Almost as though they are saying “are you going to buy anything here, or what?”

Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh—but I do feel conflicted. Contigo has a good product and they know it. Their site is all about their products and the quality of their products. But that message falls flat. Why would a customer want to engage with this company? What conversations can we have? What larger real-life connections can we have beyond you and your product, Contigo? Even when they do try to engage with the customer, they are still just talking about themselves: “Want to be the first to know about new products? On the hunt for special offers?”

No. Not really. I think I’m sold — I think I will check out how Klean Kanteen’s travel mugs hold up to the quality and awesomeness of Contigo’s. Why? Because I’m inspired. One brand is selling a movement that I want to be a part of, and one brand is selling travel mugs. Because I want to “Join the conversation” (who’s having this conversation, will I meet new and exciting people like me in this conversation?) and I want to #BringYourOwn because I want to believe that my actions and dollars are not only getting my delicious hot coffee to my mouth in my on-the-go day, but also maybe saving the world. One coffee cup at a time.

So, which company’s message is more compelling to you? What message could your brand sell that inspires beyond just your products and services?