Mars: “Purpose without proof is a strapline”
Mars’ Andy Pharoah described how the company is living its purpose at the PRCA National Conference.
The COVID-19 pandemic is separating the companies who say things from the companies that do things.
This was the view of Andy Pharoah, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability at Mars, speaking at the PRCA National Conference.
Avoiding purpose washing
“If your purpose can’t be used to make a business decision it’s probably not a purpose. It’s a strapline,” said Pharoah.
“Purpose is a journey. It needs to describe who you are, where you came from, and where you want to go.”
Mars is $40bn turnover family owned confectionery, petcare and food business that thinks in terms of generations and not quarters.
It employs 130,000 people, called associates, in more than 80 countries around the world.
Mars is a principle led organisation that have their origin in the values of the Mars family. These are efficiency, freedom, quality, mutuality and responsibility.
“We didn’t invent our purpose but set about articulating it in 2018 based on our 100-year-old history,” said Pharoah.
The purpose statement is: the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
“Purpose without financial performance isn’t possible but financial performance without purpose is meaningless.”
Environment, society, and governance
Pharoah described various initiatives focused on the environment, society and governance agenda.
“In the last two year we have decoupled the growth of our business from the growth of our carbon emissions. We have created science-based targets.”
Mars is part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) along with Diageo and Unilever, that calls on social media platforms to report on action on hate speech and other harmful content.
“Purpose isn’t a communication discipline. It’s more important to do live it. You must have a point of view and stand for something. You need to be prepared to stand up to criticism,” said Pharoah.
“Inevitability it has led to criticism online that shows up in social media algorithms,” said Pharoah.
He spoke about an incident during the 2016 US election when Donald Trump Jr used a bowl of Skittles as a metaphor for the Syrian refugee crisis.
Pharoah’s team responded within two hours with the following a statement.
“Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don't feel it is an appropriate analogy.”
It ensured that Mars avoided being drawn into the election debate and an issue that could have negatively impacted its reputation.
“The world that we’re living in now is the biggest test case for an organisation’s purpose,” concluded Pharoah.
