This year's Festival Path was packed with impressive attractions. Among the main themes, the search for purpose, diversity, and the relationship between humans and machines stood out the most.
Purpose has been a much-discussed topic in recent years, and the Path Festival made this very clear by inviting spiritual master Sri Prem Baba. In his book "Purpose, The Courage to Be Who We Are," Prem Baba addresses one of the themes that touches the most intimate longings of human beings: why were we born? For him, "if we are not following the program of our soul, no matter how much success we achieve in the world, we continue to carry an anguish.".
This attitude towards the world is very clear in the famous Generation Y (or millennials), those born between 1982 and 1999. Much studied and criticized – sometimes called lazy, impatient, and self-indulgent – the millennial generation seeks a different relationship with the world than the previous one.
According to Nigel Miller, co-chair of Europe CIS Employee Engagement and global director of Talent Engagement at Edelman, millennials want to work for a company that makes a positive difference. Today's young adults tend to have experiences that contribute positively to their time and expect their employers to generate something beyond profit.
Therefore, articulating a clear purpose becomes fundamental to establishing everything from a corporate culture – into which this generation will enter – to a more transparent relationship with brands – other companies that should also have a positive impact.
And it's no coincidence that this topic is so popular. Today, the millennial generation in the United States represents 80 million people, almost a quarter of the entire population, with a purchasing power equivalent to US$200 billion. In Brazil, their share is slightly higher, reaching 30% of the population, which, by 2025, will represent 7% of the workforce.
An increasingly strong element in the behavior of this group is the pursuit of engagement with proposals and causes that align with their expectations and vision for life. Last year, We presented a study at Path. which already pointed out how this is reflected in this generation's purchasing habits and their relationship with brands. But what became evident in this edition is how subsequent generations take this even more seriously.
In the panel “Children's influencers on YouTube: opportunities, limitations, and risks.”The panel, led by ESPM Media Lab researcher Luciana Correa, presented the landscape of children's consumption and production on YouTube. Also participating were lawyer Marcos Mota, child influencer Valentina Schulz, and advertising professional and Valentina's mother, Daniela Schmitz.
In addition to presenting its search, In a segment highlighting the most successful and fastest-growing categories on YouTube in Brazil, Luciana discussed the presence of brands with this audience. What stood out were Valentina's testimonials about this relationship. For the 13-year-old, it's clear when a brand's product is presented in a video in a veiled advertising attempt. For her, this way of relating to brands is a thing of the past, and it's much more interesting when the action is genuine on the part of the presenter—that is, when there's an identification with the brand and the causes it supports.
After spending the last few years researching the relationship between brands and purpose, we at Ana Couto Branding believe that this evolution of the role of brands in society is irreversible. Those purely focused on selling a product/service, with a focus only on financial results, will be increasingly perceived by new generations as commoditized. And so, to navigate this 21st-century scenario, it is necessary to evolve as a business and as a brand in search of a genuine purpose.
Article by Julia Resende
