Great Britain’s cause landscape offers brand owners plenty of opportunities for nuanced brand building and a chance to tackle real issues affecting people, according to “Causes and Effectiveness: What Marketers Need to Know About Aligning with Values,” a new report from Effie UK and Ipsos. The report, the latest in Ipsos and Effie’s Dynamic Effectiveness series, was prompted by the uneasy world in which we live. At a time when backlash by some public figures against perceived “wokery” has contributed to many organizations diluting--if not abandoning altogether--cause-related marketing activities in the past few years. The starting point was a key trend in the 2025 Ipsos Global Trends report--the Power of Trust, and the role “aligning with values” plays in it. For the new report, Ipsos analyzed the responses of 4,200 GB adults about their relationships with 60 causes across 109 brands in seven product areas to unpack this trend further. Effie then illustrated the findings of the Ipsos data with recent Effie UK award-winning cases to show how these dynamics play out in the real world--and the business impact they have. Ipsos’ analysis shows that people do (still) care about causes--78% of Britons care deeply about at least one. However, it also reveals that the value exchange from brands is less clear-cut. 37% of Britons say they don’t care if brands are “ethical or socially responsible.” And a majority feel that the government, rather than private companies, should act for a cause. Despite this, across a broad range of categories, many brands are seen by Britons as doing “good” things for the planet and for their communities, with 32% of those surveyed agreeing companies have a “positive impact on society and the world we... Read More