Are you a ‘CorpSumer’?

So what is a ‘CorpSumer’?

Well, a ‘CorpSumer’ is a brand activist who considers a company’s values, actions, and reputation to be just as important as their product or service. – DiGrazio (2017)

This newly established consumer segment surrounds the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility also known as CSR. CSR describes processes that encourage organisations to make positive impact on the various stakeholders in their community including consumers, employees, and the environment (Soloman et al. 2019).

YOUR BRAND’S BIGGEST ADVOCATE (AND THREAT) – DiGrazio (2017)

So… now you know what a CorpSumer is and it’s relation to CSR. The next question is… How do their behaviours affect the companies?

Basically, CorpSumers are the market movers of this age and day. They “vote with their wallets” (prnewswire, 2017) meaning that they act ideally on the company’s values and reputation. This shows how powerful consumers can be towards the companies because if company’s can utilise their power, it can benefit extremely well, in terms of market share, brand loyalty and activism (prnewswire, 2017). And if not, the companies are hurt pretty badly. Therefore, brands need to be dynamic and self-aware in the volatile and public atmosphere that surrounds consumers.

89% percent of CorpSumers are likely to share positive news about companies, but 78% are also likely to share negative news about companies – prnewswire.com

The elevation of CorpSumers has been well measured in relation to the CSR theory of the triple bottom line. This theory explores three important areas – the people, planet and profit (Riley, n.d). In concise terms, profits are the traditional drivers of the company, planet relates to the company having a positive impact that are measurable on the environment and the concept of people relates to companies being socially accepted by consumers (Riley, n.d).

The triple bottom line agenda for these CorpSumers is that they are “willing to stick with a company, whose products or services they are not completely satisfied with because they believe in the company’s values — or advocate against the brand when they don’t” (Whitler, 2017).

A company thats comes to my mind with a great CSR image is TOMS. TOMS is a well-known shoe company, that has successfully built a brand image around the CSR philosophy. The for profit company have helped children in need in the most poverty stricken countries. For example, the campaign ‘One for One’, brought a mission for every pair of shoes sold, a pair of shoes will be given to a child in need, which later expanded to eyewear and coffee (O’Brien, n.d). As you can see, even though TOMS may not articulate the social status and image of other shoe brands such as Adidas or Nike, however, it is ‘winning both sales and hearts by the buy one/give one model’ (Fritz, 2019).

I strongly believe that society, predominantly millennials, play an integral role in the way companies market their products and how others perceive their image based on other individual’s opinions, views and beliefs. Hence, why they are “easily influenced and highly influential” (DiGrazio, 2017).