Givsly, the responsible advertising and marketing solutions platform, today released its research report, “The Rise of Conscious Consumers: How Values Drive Customer Purchases,” which studied how the importance of brand values has changed over time and how brands can authentically engage consumers through values to drive sales. 

Consumers are increasingly aligning their purchase decisions with their personal values. Givsly’s research found that more than 1 in 4 Americans consider brand values more today than they did five years ago, a trend that is even stronger among Gen Z (36%). This shift spans across all demographics, including baby boomers (22%) and conservatives (24%). In fact, 64% of Americans say they would pay more for brands that reflect their values, a number that jumps to 79% for Gen Z. Retail is the top category where Gen Z would spend more (61%), while healthcare leads for multicultural Americans (58%). 

During an economic slowdown, it’s particularly important for brands to look for areas of growth. Multicultural consumers care more about values than the average consumer, and with black Americans projected to have $1.7 trillion in spending power by 2030 and Hispanic Americans already contributing $3.2 trillion annually to the economy, brands have an opportunity to win business and loyalty by focusing on where values align with these audiences. Neutrality doesn’t cut it – in fact, 24% of multicultural consumers reconsider buying from brands whose values don’t align with their own. 

Additional findings include: 

• Only 12% prefer brands to stay neutral and avoid involvement in social issues; 53% feel disappointed when brands stay out of social conversations 
• Over 6 in 10 Americans want brands to talk about their values in product ads as opposed to cause marketing campaigns that do not focus on products – this is particularly true in healthcare/pharma (64%), travel/hospitality (63%) and retail/apparel (62%) 
• Nearly 84% of consumers will recommend a brand based on values
• 1 in 3 Americans view the causes brands support as the strongest signal of their values and 63% want brands to share the causes they donate to
• 55% say they feel more loyalty to brands that publicly share their values
• 40% of consumers pay more attention to digital ads that include a donation as compared to traditional digital ads
• Across all Americans, animal welfare (38%), mental health (37%) and food insecurity (34%) stand out as key values. The biggest value for liberals is women’s rights (52%) and for conservatives is supporting the military/veterans (45%)
• Americans feel a brand’s values are very important in their purchase decisions across all categories: Healthcare/pharma (30%), everyday essentials (26%), restaurants/fast food (26%), retail/apparel (26%), financial services (25%), tech/telecom (24%), travel/hospitality (24%) and automotive (22%)

“In today’s market, where brands are watching every dollar they spend, values-based advertising delivers a winning strategy. Brands see greater financial efficiency and results when they lean into values to sell their products,” said Chad Hickey, founder and CEO of Givsly. “Consumers aren’t just buying products; they’re buying into brands’ stances on the values they care about as people. This is particularly true for affluent consumers with discretionary income to spend during an economic slowdown, as well as for younger consumers whose spending power is growing rapidly.”

Givsly commissioned GWI, which has a panel of over 22M consumers, to survey over 2,100 adults in the US for this study from March-April 2025. The data was then synchronized with the 35,000 data points across GWI’s USA data. The research will be presented at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

To access the data, download here: https://company.givsly.com/the-rise-of-conscious-consumers/