Building brands in the age of conscious consumers: Balancing purpose and profit

CMOs’ Charcha - Delhi Chapter 2025, held yesterday (February 11, 2025), hosted an insightful panel discussion on the evolving landscape of brand-building in an era where consumers demand authenticity and sustainability. Moderated by Simantika Sarmah, AVP - Revenue, Channel Factory, the panel featured distinguished marketing leaders:

Santosh Kumar, COO, Innocean India

Siddhartha Butalia, Chief Marketing Officer, Air India Express

Ved Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Grip Invest

Rajat Abbi, Vice President - Global Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer, Schneider Electric India.

The discussion delved into the intersection of purpose, profit, and authenticity in brand strategies.

Opening the discussion, Simantika Sarmah emphasized the need for brands to engage with consumers across generations. “When we talk about consumers, we have to be very conscious while talking to all brands. When brands pick up campaigns, it has to be relevant to not only Millennials, but also Gen Z and Gen Alpha.”

She first posed a question to Santosh Kumar, asking how brands could align purpose with profit and authenticity in their campaigns. Santosh Kumar highlighted the importance of purpose being a fundamental part of a brand’s identity rather than a fleeting marketing strategy. He said, “When we talk about purpose, let me clarify that it should be very well understood. It is not a campaign-based initiative; it is a consistent approach for any brand and a part of a brand’s core value. The moment it is not coming from the core value of the brand, it can’t be sustained, and that’s where authenticity loses value.”

He further stressed the importance of sustaining purpose over the long term. “When we are consistently sustaining that purpose for a longer time, it becomes an important aspect. Without this, it doesn’t hold value; it doesn’t even get registered in the consumer’s mind. Consumers today are highly aware of what kind of products brands make, the services they offer, and their core values. Social media and the internet provide complete transparency, so it’s always better for brands to sustain their purpose and live by it,” Kumar added.

Speaking on the challenges of balancing sustainability and profitability in the aviation industry, Siddhartha Butalia acknowledged the sector’s environmental impact, stating, “We are very conscious of the fact that about two and a half percent of the world’s CO2 emissions come from the aviation industry. No matter what we do, we don’t take a high horse on how we’re doing it. In our case, however, we are fortunate because CO2 emissions come from fuel consumption. There is no distinction between the objective of sustainability and profit because both are driven by reducing the amount of fuel we consume.”

He elaborated on Air India Express’ efforts, highlighting their focus on fuel efficiency and alternative initiatives like cabin waste recycling and taxi bot operations. “The long-term objective is to reduce reliance on traditional aviation turbine fuel and move towards sustainable aviation fuel. However, in India, sustainable aviation fuel production is still in its nascent stage. We were the first airline to operate a scheduled commercial flight with regulatory approval on indigenously produced SAF. But this shift requires an entire supply chain ecosystem. The question then arises: how much more is the conscious consumer willing to pay for a more sustainable flight, given that air travel is a very price-sensitive commodity?” Butalia added.

When asked about balancing ROI with sustainability, Rajat Abbi spoke about Schneider Electric’s commitment to sustainability, stating, “I am proud to work for a company that is rated year after year as the world’s most sustainable company. This means we have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. Sustainability for us is not just a buzzword or a fad; it’s serious work.”

He outlined Schneider Electric’s four key focus areas. “First is ensuring that our products and solutions are not just world-class, but also produced sustainably. When we start designing, we ensure that the entire process is aligned with our sustainability goals. Second is helping consumers in their sustainability journey by providing solutions like solar, wind energy, and automation tools. Third, we work closely with our vendors to ensure that they operate sustainably. Lastly, our employees play a crucial role – our executive compensation is directly tied to our sustainability goals.”

Discussing Schneider Electric’s India operations, Abbi shared, “We have been in India for over 60 years, with 31 plants and 40,000 employees. Our focus is not just on talking about sustainability, but walking the talk by integrating employees, suppliers, customers, and our own operations into a cohesive sustainability framework.”

Elaborating on how Grip Invest builds trust while pioneering a new investment category, Ved Agarwal acknowledged the challenge of engaging Gen Z in financial discussions and added, “We are talking to Gen Z about a topic that is super boring – finance – and is very complicated. The moment you start talking about ROI and YTM, people switch off. And here we are, trying to build trust with them.”

He explained Grip Invest’s approach to trust-building. “There is no one big thing that you can do to build trust. Consumers today are connected in multiple ways, and you have to make a difference at every stage. The first thing we did was drive simple communication and tell people exactly what they are getting into. In the world of finance, many consumers don’t know what they are consuming, and they have no one to guide them,” he added.

Emphasising the role of content and consistency, Agarwal said, “We over-communicate content across the top, mid, and bottom funnel. Additionally, as a young startup, we realized that constantly changing our approach could create distrust. So, we decided that consistency, simplicity, and over-communication through educational content would be our key pillars. Three years into our journey, we have achieved a 70% return rate in our investment category, and that is how we build trust.”

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