Purpose In Business: Driving The Growth Agenda
For anyone who follows baseball, you may be familiar with the term ‘triple play’. This unusual event occurs when at least two base runners are on the field. The next batter up may blunder after connecting with the ball, and in a quick series of errors with the other two players, three players get out.
Yet, in stark contrast from the world of sport, in global business, there’s an emerging application of another type of triple play - the growth triple play. Rather than eventuating in loss, this version drives growth of companies 2.3 times more than that of their peers.
WHAT IS THE GROWTH TRIPLE PLAY?
In a recent study by McKinsey and Company, they describe the successful integration of creativity, analytics, and purpose as the growth triple play.
The outcomes of the study reveal that each of these elements act as drivers of growth, yet when unified, accelerate it.
To illustrate, it was advised that when one of these capabilities is used, it drove 6% growth, two elements, 7% growth, and when all three combined, 12% growth.
Let’s have a quick look at how these three capabilities are defined:
Creativity - is part of the origin story of marketing. It’s in the breakthrough ideas that have always underpinned bold, imaginative campaigns.
Analytics - data and insights that a company generates.
Purpose - the statement of a higher goal, and must be core to organisational decision making as well as intrinsic to a brand narrative.
In simple terms, analytics are far more powerful when integrated with innovative, breakthrough creative ideas and programs - yet both elements engage with customers in a deeper way when they are connected to purpose, which ultimately drives growth.
HOW IT PLAYS OUT
Triple-play companies that have learned to integrate all three elements are 1.8 times more likely to be in the top quartile of growth within their sectors.
Yet despite the compelling results, only 7 percent of companies in the study are successfully delivering to the triple play - here’s how they do it:
They infuse creativity with analytics at much higher rates than those who don’t.
They’re able to deploy analytics with purpose
They’re able to find and harness the power of purpose
Mars, Oatly and Salesforce, were all cited as companies reaping the benefits of the growth triple play.
You can read the full article here.
References:
https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/triple-play
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-growth-triple-play-creativity-analytics-and-purpose
https://www.mars.com/
https://www.oatly.com/au/
https://www.salesforce.com/au/?ir=1
