Recently I spoke of how we’ve entered a third age of branding, a phrase on the lips of many marketers as the roles played by consumer and brand continue to change and evolve. One of the new imperatives I spoke about was the need for brands to discover, or rediscover, why they exist and what difference they are trying to make in the world.

It goes beyond what we know as corporate social responsibility, for the term itself implies that a concerted effort backs it and a ring of dedicated resources encompasses it, waiting to be invested. In the third age of branding, social responsibility cannot be just an initiative. It must be rooted in the organization’s inherent set of brand values and ethos, and cannot be devolved from it. This is why it was so interesting to see the launch of a new app called Buycott.

Buycott is a socially-minded app designed to empower shoppers by revealing the true lineage of the products they are buying. When you use Buycott to scan a product, it can determine what brand it belongs to and tell you which company owns that brand (and who owns that company, ad infinitum).

In addition, the app offers a number of user-generated ‘campaigns’, which feature a cause and a list of companies to either support or avoid as a result. Users can join campaigns they feel resonate with them and adjust their spending habits accordingly.

It is a fascinating prospect. Currently, there is an understandable disconnect between consumers who see a large corporation’s publicized unethical behavior and the motivation or empowerment to act upon their resulting emotions. Perhaps it is because they feel it will not make a difference or because they feel they do not know enough about the situation. With Buycott, they can not only empower themselves by exploring the provenance of their products, but they can also potentially connect quickly and seamlessly with hundreds (or even thousands) of like-minded consumers–all with the littlest of effort–through this app.

Brands falling short of expectations is nothing new, admittedly. For years we have seen organized protests, demonstrations and campaigns targeting small and large companies alike for questionable ethical practices or standards. Earlier this year, a number of FMCG retailers were embroiled in a scandal that saw countless products withdrawn from the shelves after it was discovered they contained traces of horse meat. That breakdown in trust created a motivation strong enough for a significant number of shoppers to seek out smaller, independent retailers, no longer trusting the supply chain machinations of larger, global entities.

However, consumer initiatives really reinforce the power of social media to enable communities to mobilize quickly around a cause and on a large scale. Fueled by a wave of impulsive emotion and the motivation to act, consumers are finding new ways to seriously challenge brands and organizations they feel have wronged them.

Effectively, Buycott is a new form of consumer justice. Currently in the UK, we are also seeing a number of large, global corporations come under fire for paying small taxes in comparison to the large profits gained. While these organizations are neither guilty of breaking any laws, nor paying less taxes than they are obliged to, consumers are not interested in legal nuance. They are interested in how these brands truly carry themselves beyond the advertising campaigns. If it does not come up to scratch, then they are more than willing to vote with their feet and wallets.

To put it simply, it is of utmost importance that brands begin refining their brand experience and putting the consumer first, or risk being shunned. If brands do not adopt transparent and authentic practices, then–as Buycott demonstrates–consumers will not wait around for them either.

Photo: ElvinWong / Flickr