Are Brands Today Talking Purpose or Building It?
- Marwa Kaabour
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
What’s the difference between a brand people buy and a brand people believe in? In 2025, that difference is trust.
Ethical marketing, sustainability, purpose. These aren’t just trendy phrases to sprinkle into a strategy deck. They’ve become the core challenges and priorities every brand leader must face. For marketers in the Middle East, these aren’t distant global conversations either. They’re here, shaping how our audiences think, choose, and engage, raising the bar on what marketing can and should be.
Brands today are navigating a complex environment. Audiences across the GCC are younger, hyperconnected, and values driven. According to YouGov, 52% of UAE and KSA consumers try to buy only from companies that are socially and environmentally responsible. What was once a niche audience is now the mainstream.
Consumers are asking hard questions: Do we actually live the values we promote? Are our sustainability efforts operationally sound or just talking points in campaigns? 60 percent of global consumers distrust sustainability claims,[1] and Gen Z audiences in particular are the most sceptical generation regarding environmental claims. Gen Z was raised on transparency and immediacy. Anything you want, at your fingertips. They don’t wait for annual reports. They look for alignment in real time, across every touchpoint.
What does that tell us? The biggest currency we’re trading in today is trust. Which means, that as marketers, we need to move from intent to implementation. In order to build trust, purpose, ethics, and sustainability cannot be afterthoughts to a campaign; they must be embedded into how we do business. And while the challenges are real, they also open up powerful opportunities to lead.
Audiences are asking for proof, not promises. Purpose needs to guide product innovation, supply chain decisions, and even hiring practices. We need to ask ourselves: does it merely tick a box, or does it solve a real problem? Ten years from now, will it still feel impactful, or was its only aim to help a CXO hit their KPIs?
Take, for instance, recent Cannes award winner HungerStation’s Shaded Route campaign. It worked because it solved a real, local problem helping Riyadh residents navigate extreme heat with data-driven routes, not because it shouted the loudest.
Chef Middle East’s Plate of Purpose is another example of purpose baked into operations. From eliminating over 50,000 single-use plastic bottles in their offices to redistributing surplus ingredients for more than 10,000 meals in partnership with local food banks, their actions ripple through their ecosystem. By sourcing from B-Corp-certified suppliers and engaging employees in sustainability training, they’ve built a culture where purpose drives both internal decisions and customer trust.
Even large financial institutions are showing how purpose and product can merge. First Abu Dhabi Bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework offers products including green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, and eco-mortgages designed to support environmental and social goals.
These examples drive home the point. Is it more impactful to tack on a message at the end of the process and risk putting out a hollow campaign, or to embed purpose into the very DNA of your business so the marketing writes itself?
Sure, it sounds like more work, but it’s really a mindset shift to being an active voice as the product, process, and culture are shaped. After all, marketers know what people want, and in the end, it’s the people who decide which brands win their trust and loyalty.
As climate risks escalate and regulations tighten, this shift is now imperative. Regulatory pressure is asking us as marketers to do more than sell the promise – because let’s be honest, no one’s buying it anymore – not the consumers, and certainly not the regulators. It’s our job to ensure the promises we make are rooted in real action and ethical consideration.
And if you’re worried about getting leadership to buy in, here’s something they’ll understand: purpose-led brands have grown 2.5x faster than their peers over the past decade. This isn’t just good for your conscience. It’s good for the bottom line.[2]
The path forward isn’t easy, but it is clear. Purpose-driven marketing in this region has a unique chance to define what ethical, sustainable branding looks like, not by mimicking global models but by creating authentic, culturally relevant narratives backed by real action. The opportunity is to move beyond “good marketing” and into “good business.”
The marketers who lead in this next era will be those who step beyond their traditional remit, collaborating across teams, asking the hard questions early, and helping businesses build the kinds of products and experiences that can stand up to scrutiny.
At its best, ethical marketing isn’t about validation or awards. It’s about building trust, driving change, and leaving a legacy that’s impactful, enduring, and real. And for client-side marketers, this isn’t just the work of a campaign cycle, it’s the work of our time.
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