Young workers are concerned with purpose.

There’s a lot of collective energy spent on analysing the behaviour of millennials. People talk about whether they’re deserving or not, whether they’re lazy or not, and whether they’re going to be our planet’s saviours—or not. It’s always the same idea: that millennials are exceptional in some way. However, this is nothing new in the cycle of generations. Critical voices of the millennial generation bear an uncanny resemblance to past qualms that baby boomers had with Generation Xers.

This being said, millennials are different than previous generations – as consumers, employees, and entrepreneurs. This is the generation that grew up surrounded by the instant gratification of technology and digital media. Most millennials (born 1980–2000) have no memory of a world without cell phones, digital cameras, text messaging, email, and web browsing. The internet has opened more doors to this generation than any other.

From a data perspective, millennials represent trillions of dollars in spending power and will make up more than 50% of the workforce in the United States by 2020. According to the 2016 Cone Communications Millennial Employee Engagement Study, 64% of millennials strongly consider a company’s social and environmental efforts when making decisions about where to work, and won’t take a job if the company doesn’t demonstrate noble values. This research also shows that 83% of millennials will spend more on brands they care about. Millennials already wield great spending power, make up a majority of the voting age population, will soon be the majority of the workforce, and are close to making up the majority of entrepreneurs as well.

Millennials are essentially in control now, and before long, they’ll be the number one most influential consumer group on the world’s markets. This means that at some point—and soon—brands and businesses are going to have to start focusing more on authenticity and values instead of just sales. Authenticity is key for these people, and consequently, social responsibility has become a priority for brands targeting this segment. Why are millennials more likely to engage with brands when issues of social responsibility are brought to the forefront? Because of purpose. This is especially potent for millennials, who are driven by fundamentally human aspirations and living life to its full potential.

Purpose-driven companies thrive because they identify a greater need for the work they do best, and they pursue that work with passion. This passion creates a virtuous circle: the business or brand stands out, spreads its passion, gains supporters, and goes beyond the transactional to create a customer experience that fuels growth.

Generation Y wants brands that care

For more than 50 years, marketers have used their support of causes to sell us stuff. And for the most part, it worked. Many of us found ourselves paying just a bit more to companies that supported our favourite charities. (Shopper marketers call this behaviour “cause-to-close”). We’ve frequently “rounded up” change to give donations, and we’ve fluttered like moths to brands that intermittently displayed pink ribbons, yellow bracelets, and red parentheses on ads and packaging.

Macro-trends and retail strategies all pointed to “cause” as a massive opportunity for marketers and the ad agencies that served them. The fact is, young customers share a magnetic bond with for-profit companies focusing on sustainability and corporate social responsibility, which are aimed not only at consumers but also at employees, policy makers, thought leaders, and Wall Street. This whole “do good” thing has gained traction.

In his article in January 2015 for Forbes.com, 10 New Findings About the Millennial Consumer, Dan Schawbel wrote, “62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. They expect brands to not only be on social networks, but to engage them.”

Now, ignore everything but the last two words: engage them.

As they’ve raced to deploy cause-marketing strategies, a major challenge has been for brands to understand the difference between rallying behind a good cause and standing for a purpose.

The marketing landscape offers many examples of companies that align with causes they don’t support, or that don’t fully match their business or brand. Starbucks’ fearless effort to engage the public in racial conversations through a #RaceTogether campaign is one example. The campaign, which included having baristas write “Race Together” on customers’ coffee cups, was a huge flop. Starbucks initiated the campaign with a full-page ad in The New York Times and USA Today and sent memos to baristas asking them to write “Race Together” on cups. The campaign included a video, in which former CEO Howard Schultz discussed why race is important to Starbucks and the company’s reason for the campaign.

However, all the direct advertising merely emphasised people’s perception that this was just another advertising gimmick, rather than a sincere stance for a social cause. And the public’s response was immediate and clear. “Forced racial dialogue with strangers before I get my morning coffee?” Many critics of #RaceTogether found the cause worthy, but the execution dubious at best.

Consumers, and millennials in particular, will critically respond to questionable social cause campaigns hailed by companies. Consumers only respond positively to those perceived as sincere. Starbucks didn’t succeed because it chose a campaign for a cause that wasn’t core to its purpose or products. The campaign lacked brand consistency, even though the reasons behind the campaign were noble.

The lack of coherence and logic between Starbucks’s identity as a coffee provider and its advocacy for racial dialogues generated the perception that this was opportunistic. Starbucks should care about racial equity—its organizational culture and policies should reflect that—but it was an ill-advised choice of subject matter for a public cause marketing campaign.

While there are many causes that a company may passionately support, it should develop campaigns only for those that align with its purpose and identity. The reason is simple. People—millennials in particular—aspire to brands that reflect a fundamental attitude, a profound reason for being, a positive change they want to see in the world.

Banner of the book Point of Purpose written by Bård Annweiler

Demand for social responsibility

If we believe that corporate social responsibility persists as a major factor in building relationships with millennials, it’s important for brands to pay attention to social causes and show sincere support rather than using social responsibility exclusively as a marketing strate

Cause-marketing is, for the most part, against something. Purpose, on the other hand, tends to lean into support for something. For example, many brands are against environmental pollution. But companies like Burt's Bees, The Honest Company, and Whole Foods all have purposes related to helping people live more natural, healthy, and chemical-free lives. A major retailer may advocate against deforestation. But Patagonia makes saving the environment its corporate mission.

Cause-marketing has historically relied on corporate giving. However, for emerging and disruptive companies today, purpose lies at the heart of their very business model. An important differentiator to cause-marketing is the authenticity of the message. And that differentiator is exactly what millennials are searching out. Cause-marketing tends to rely on “traditional” media to tell its story. Purpose-led campaigns, on the other hand, tend to use what we call “human-centric mediums” like social, digital, and experiential. Optimizing these channels gets people, millennials in particular, to share, participate, and act.

Adapt or disappear

So why this constant search for meaning, authenticity, and truth? And why do so many young people distrust big corporate businesses? Perhaps it’s because they grew up in an age of social media and transparency, where everyone and everything is knowable. Maybe it’s because they’re buried in student debt. Or maybe it’s because so many of them are still searching for their own purpose in this wild world, and therefore support and respect any enterprise that pursues a purpose as relentlessly and as passionately as they do themselves, each and every day.

The millennial generation demands authenticity in messages, brands and interactions. They believe that brands with a purpose pass the test of authenticity in ways that brands that simply support "causes" may not.

Brands that fail to differentiate themselves with a unique and iconic purpose can fall into an inauthentic (or overkill) approach to good cause-marketing. And therein lies the danger for massive social media backlash and cultural shaming. Millennials are an influential and rapidly growing consumer market with a lot of power. And they know it.

Millennials desire companies that have the courage to show their true purpose for everyone to see. Fortunately, the market is responding and there are now a number of brands that are flexing their purpose muscle and have adapted their business models to bring millennials on board.

Less is more

Overcome by content, choices, marketing, and products;, more millennials are embracing a minimalist approach. They're bringing a "less is more" mentality to their homes, closets, and diets. Related trends like mindfulness and decluttering are growing in popularity. Young consumers have always chosen experiences over products. Now they're looking to get rid of material goods and simplify their lives. This yearning for an easier way of living is affecting how and what they're buying.

For a good time

Millennials are favouring the couch or café over clubbing. Partying hard has always been a hallmark of youth, but millennials today are less determined to push boundaries, and prefer to live in the “Netflix and Chill” zone. Understanding what young consumers consider a good time means changing the assumption that they are drinking and partying whenever they have a chance.

Beyond money

Increasingly, people are putting their money where their hearts are. Millennials continue to drive demand for more purposeful brands. Young adults are prepared to pay extra for sustainable goods. As employees, they are rewarding purposeful businesses with their notoriously fickle loyalty. One of the most frequently cited attributes millennials look for in employers is “a strong sense of purpose beyond financial success.”

Attention and engagement

Millennials have a short attention span. It’s important to engage them in ways that are more memorable and last longer. When so many products are cramming the market, how can you help these young buyers choose you? Millennials appreciate transparency, especially when being sold to. They’re attracted to honest and authentic brands, and they’ll engage with a brand’s marketing efforts when they feel a meaningful connection.