Abstract
Consumers expect brands to take stands on social issues facing the world today and will reward those brands with higher loyalty and advocacy when values align between consumer and brand. For decades, companies have invested heavily in CSR initiatives with the hope of connecting emotionally with their consumers. Past studies have shown that when consumers are aware of a brand's CSR approach, their loyalty and advocacy increase. Awareness is a critical element and a substantial challenge for brands to obtain. Traditional companies continue to pour investments into CSR initiatives with little confidence in a return on investment. However, an emerging hybrid business model has recently disrupted the traditional brand's approach to CSR investment. The hybrid organizational model focuses on producing economic and social value through one unified strategy. Patagonia, Tesla, Allbirds, and Just Water are examples of brands being rewarded for products that meet expectations and the good the company is doing in the world. To understand the impact these new hybrid brands are creating, this research explores the comparison of consumer awareness of a brand's social value approach between hybrid and traditional brands. Additionally, analysis was developed to measure consumer behavior attributes of loyalty and advocacy of both types of brands. This research was conducted using online reviews and text analysis tools to classify and measure these reviews. The results indicate that hybrid brands create significantly more awareness of a brand's social value approach resulting in higher levels of consumer loyalty and advocacy. The importance of this study for academia is that it provides a better understanding of the impractical nature of awareness that has been employed in past studies. In addition, this study furthers insight into the future potential of hybrid brand value creation. The importance of this study for businesses is that it provides practical avenues for how to drive returns on investment of a social value platform.