Podcast: How purpose-led companies are leading the way

What does Gen Z want from their favourite brands? Beyond celebrity endorsements or value for money, personal values play an important role.

A younger generation with purchasing power are choosing to spend money on companies that align with their personal values and resonate with an ethical outlook, ranging from racial justice to gun control.

Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan, co-founders and co-CEOs of co:collective, have market research showing that 90 percent of young people feel companies have an obligation to solve social and environmental problems.

Additionally, 63 percent feel business executives are ‘purposely misleading’ customers.

Their research also found that trust in companies is at just 50 percent among millennials and 42 percent among gen Z – and it’s falling in both groups.

This is all linked to younger generations’ fears about climate change and economic stability, and about capitalism’s impact on both.

“The entire environment for business leaders today is shifting. There was a time when, as a leader or a founder of a business, if someone asked you to comment on religion or politics, your job was to zip it,” Ty reflected.

“That rule has changed. 90 percent of young people think that companies have an obligation to solve social and environmental problems. 81 percent want to see CEOs actively engaged in these issues.”

This extends beyond winning over gen Z consumers. Now, according to Ty, it includes hiring them: “In the war for talent alone, if you want to get young people inside your company, you need to be out talking about things.”

Is this a crisis of trust in businesses and brands? Yes, but it is also an opportunity to embrace conscious capitalism, says Ty. Companies with a purpose can thrive if they tap into the values of millennials and gen Z.

Ty and Rosemarie talk more about how concern for environmental and social justice issues is driving younger consumers to choose brands that care. And they explain how this is an opportunity for companies to get involved in the growing market for conscious capitalism.

Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan, co-founders and co-CEOs of co:collective, talked on the PandaConf stage at Collision 2022.

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Main image of Ty Montague, co-founder and co-CEO of co:collective: Lukas Schulze/Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)