Brand Activism Isn’t a Campaign. It’s a Company Decision (Podcast with Philip Kotler)

Customers care more about the values of the companies they buy
from than ever before.


That includes B2B buyers, even when they pretend it doesn’t.


It’s not just about what you sell. Buyers want
to know what kind of company you are. What you protect. What you
tolerate. What you’re willing to be held accountable for.


That’s why I interviewed Dr. Philip Kotler,
often called the “father of modern marketing,” and co-author of
Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action, about what brand activism
actually is and why so many companies get it wrong.


Author’s note: This transcript is edited for clarity and
readability.
Quick Answer: What Is Brand Activism?

Brand activism is when a company publicly commits to
values and causes beyond selling products, and backs that
commitment with real actions.


It’s not a “purpose statement.” It’s not a rebrand. It’s not a
social post.


Brand activism only works when leadership owns it,
operations support it, and customers can see receipts.
Key Takeaways


Brand activism is a business decision, not a marketing
tactic.

Buyers are looking for signals of integrity, not slogans.

Purpose without action becomes brand risk.

B2B isn’t exempt. It’s just slower to admit this matters.

“Greenwashing” (or any version of performative values) erodes
trust faster than silence.

Why This Matters in Modern GTM

In complex B2B, buyers don’t just evaluate your product.


They evaluate the risk of tying their career to your company.


So they look for signals:


Do you behave consistently, or do you “pivot” values when
it’s convenient?

Do you treat employees and customers like humans, or like
inputs?

Do you stand for anything that costs you something?



Brand activism sits inside the buyer’s trust
filter. Not because buyers are idealists, but because
they’re risk managers.
The Interview Brian: To start, what is brand activism?

Dr. Kotler: Brand activism is a movement toward
making a brand do more than tout the virtues of a product or
service. It identifies values that the company has and cares
about.


For example, The Body Shop under Anita Roddick was not only
selling skincare products. It was fighting for animal rights,
civil rights, fair trade, and environmental protection.


More and more consumers want to know what kind of company this is
and what it cares about.


Our society is saddled with many problems. Does the company care
about any of these problems, or does it just think it’s supposed
to make money?


An increasing number of companies want an identity that goes
beyond making products and services.


That is what we call brand activism: the brand connecting with
causes.
Why Kotler Wrote Brand Activism Brian: Why write this book now?

Dr. Kotler: If you look at barometers like the
Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in society has been falling.


As a result, companies are not going to be trusted either.


Companies ought to fight against bad companies rather than stand
near them or be part of them.


The reputation a company has can be whatever happens through its
actions, or it can be designed better. Consciously better.
The Evolution of Branding: From Products to Values

Kotler described brand development as a series of stages, moving
from product-driven to values-driven.


Brands evolved like this:



Stage 1: Product identification (the brand
name as a label)


Stage 2: Positioning (lowest price, family
entertainment, highest quality)


Stage 3: Company qualities (integrity,
innovation, multi-trait reputation)


Stage 4: Corporate social responsibility
(supporting a cause)


Stage 5: Brand activism (a defined stand with
real commitment)



Brand activism, in his view, is one of the latest stages of this
evolution.


Translation: you can’t fake your way into stage
five with stage two tools.
How Customer Expectations Changed Brian: What’s driving brand
activism?

Dr. Kotler: Customers have concerns about
immigration, ethics, gun control, debt, and education failure.


These social issues become the ground out of which brand activism
becomes essential.


An increasing number of people argue that companies do not have
the right to be silent about these issues.


They want companies to show they care about more than making
money.
Is Brand Activism Different in B2B? Brian: Do you see a
difference between B2B and B2C companies?

Dr. Kotler: No, I don’t see a difference. Both
will want reputations that go beyond making products.


There are many B2B and B2C companies in the list of brand-active
companies.


Salesforce is a good example. Marc Benioff has been a pioneer in
this area, including actions around homelessness and affordable
housing in San Francisco.


B2B companies have been slower as marketers. Most modern
marketing came first from the consumer side.


But B2B companies are close to their customers. Through their
salesforce, they know buyers and what they’re like.


There can be less “need” for B2B to signal values publicly
because values show up in relationship and reputation anyway.


My take: that’s true, but the world changed.
Buyers still talk. Employees still post. Partners still notice.
Silence is also a signal now.
Brand Activism Is Not a Marketing Department Project Brian:
Brand activism isn’t just marketing, right?

Dr. Kotler: Absolutely. No CMO will move a brand
into activism on their own.


Choosing issues like the environment or gun control is a
corporate-level decision. This is about designing and protecting
the firm’s reputation and meaning.


Purpose is now a major question:


What is your purpose as a company?

What are you contributing?

How are you making life better in society?

If It’s Top-Down, What Can Marketers Do?

Dr. Kotler: Marketers can surface issues that
matter to the business and bring them to senior leadership.


Example: water scarcity. If you’re Coca-Cola, water is not “an
issue.” It’s your future.


The CMO’s role is to refresh the brand with meaning, and to
research risk.


If there’s real risk, brand activism probably won’t be adopted.


But the marketer can initiate the conversation with leadership.
Kotler’s Brand Activism Framework

Kotler broke brand activism into categories that companies might
choose to engage with. Examples included:



Social activism (education, healthcare, civil
rights, aging)


Workplace activism (compensation, CEO pay,
labor relations)


Political activism (voter rights, lobbying,
gerrymandering)


Environmental activism (pollution, emissions,
conservation)


Economic activism (wage policy, tax policy,
inequality)


Legal activism (policies impacting
corporations, employment laws)



He also emphasized the need for measurement: how the company is
viewed before, what it’s expected to accomplish, and how outcomes
show up in market response.


Not because you can reduce trust to a dashboard.
But because performative activism is expensive, and buyers have
gotten good at spotting it.
Evolution of brands from marketing-driven to values-driven
Authenticity: Where Brand Activism Usually Breaks Brian: How does
empathy fit into brand activism?

Dr. Kotler: This can get lost in superficial
talk by the company with no real commitment.


If you say you’re against pollution, what have you done?


If you only talk about it and don’t act, customers are not
impressed.


“Greenwashing” is appearing to be green through talk and not
doing much.


Customers will ask: is the company sincere? Is it genuine? Or is
it just marketing?


That’s where empathy shows up. Not as a vibe,
but as credibility.
What This Means for GTM Leaders

Here’s the part most GTM teams miss.


Brand activism is not about being louder.


It’s about being coherent.


Buyers don’t need you to have perfect values.
They need you to have consistent ones.


They need to know:


What you will not do to win a deal

What you will protect even if it costs you

Whether your internal incentives match your external claims



If your company wants to “stand for something,” it has to show up
in how you sell, how you onboard, how you support, and how you
treat people when nobody’s watching.


Otherwise, it’s not brand activism.


It’s brand exposure.
Bottom Line

Customers aren’t begging companies to be political.


They’re begging companies to be real.


If your values only exist in a slide deck, buyers will
treat your messaging like a campaign.


And campaigns don’t earn trust. They rent attention until the
budget runs out.
Additional Resources

The Case for Brand Activism – A Discussion with Philip Kotler
and Christian Sarkar

Purpose matters to marketing

Get the book: Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action