Our industry must reckon with how we’ve trivialised activism by turning it into comms strategy – only to abandon itNobody likes to admit we need marketing, but the discipline has always been necessary to match people with the products and services that fulfil their needs and desires.It started s imply enough, with us focusing primarily on brands’ features and tangible benefits. But as consumer society evolved, we moved on to symbolic benefits: identities, lifestyles. Finally, we began selling values: an ideology that hit its zenith between 2015 and 2022 in the era of “brand purpose”.Eugene Healey is brand strategy consultant, educator and creatorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading... ...read more read less