Learn how to craft and bring to life a brand strategy with purpose at its core.

Everyone is asking:

What is brand purpose and how to do it right?

In this article, I try to give a comprehensive introduction to what brand purpose is — and highlight some best practices to define a clear brand purpose strategy and bring it to life in meaningful ways.

As you probably know: The act of purchase is an emotional process.

As marketers and strategists, we should focus less on the features of a product or service and more on the ultimate emotional benefit obtained from using such a product or service, which I like to call ‘the benefit of the benefit.’.

Having a clear brand purpose strategy from the start makes the job more meaningful and efficient.

Why? Because it helps gauge whether the work is worth doing and on strategy.

How? It all starts with knowing who you truly are as a brand. What’s your story? And why should people care about it?

Before going any further. What is “brand purpose”?

Brand Purpose is the truth about why you exist as a brand in the first place and the position you take in the world.

To help you get started with developing your brand strategy and defining your brand, here are 24 questions I use to reap great results, fast.

Brand purpose has become your new currency

Your customers today are more savvy, skeptical, and demanding than ever before.

With a wealth of information at their fingertips, they know what is good for them, others, and the environment. They want less but better. They welcome brands that speak their language, share their values, live up to their standards, and feel authentic. In short, they want human brands.

People make informed decisions on the products they consume and the brands they buy into (and wear).

They are wary of the impact these brands have on the world. They expect companies to do business in a more socially responsible manner and to be public about it. They also demand companies to be clear about the reason why they exist in the first place. And I expect that will be an ongoing mantra for generations to come…

Consequently, failures to deliver customers the brand truth they seek out or attempts to provide fake information can be devastating to your brand reputation and ultimately your sales.

Brands need to be more in tune with people’s needs and show through every action they take that they care. It’s called brand empathy or generous branding.

That’s not brainwashing, that’s just where the world is heading.

Because doing good leads to doing well — and profit-making will come naturally as a ripple effect.

Sadly, not all companies with a brand purpose strategy are being purposeful about it. Many companies use brand purpose as a marketing instrument in an attempt to stay relevant with today’s consumers.

The misconceptions of brand purpose:

1/ Brand purpose equals brand strategy

Don’t mistake Brand Purpose for Brand Strategy. Brand Purpose is why you exist. Brand Strategy is the plan to accomplish your brand ambitions and goals.

In today’s world, consumers demand to know why a business is doing what it is doing. As a result, Brand Purpose in marketing is no longer a choice, but an inevitability.

The question is no longer whether you should have a brand purpose strategy in place. The question becomes what should that brand purpose strategy be, and how to do it right for your brand and your audience.

Also, your brand strategy should evolve over time for your brand to remain relevant to the ever-changing world in which it operates. In contrast, your brand purpose strategy must look far out into the future. It may slightly change or get refined but should rarely take a hard pivotal turn. In such a case, you might be better off starting a new brand from scratch or considering a re-brand.

2/ Brand purpose is strictly connected to corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or saving the world

This is another misconception. Brand Purpose is the reason for your brand to exist beyond profit. Does it mean corporate social responsibility or sustainability? Not necessarily.

Some may prefer to be socially responsible and sustainable in the way they do business, branding, and marketing. In such cases, that’s great, the world needs more of these brands.

Others may prefer to challenge the status quo, inspire people to become athletes, or even bring out the adventurous energy in all of us.

That’s also okay. These iconic brands are some of the most intentional with their brand purpose strategy. Because they clearly communicate and act on their “why”.

Are they socially responsible? You get my point.

But don’t just take my word for it.

For more misconceptions and thoughts about brand purpose strategy, Robert Jan D'Hond, Managing Partner and global Lead Brand Practice at Kantar Consulting, recently answered deep questions from Afdhel Aziz, Founder and Chief Purpose Officer of the Conspiracy of Love, in the Forbes article The Power of Purpose: Kantar Purpose 2020 Study Shows How Purposeful Brands Grow Twice As Fast As Their Competition. Definitely worth reading!

Ready to clearly define your brand purpose, mission, and positioning?

Explore my brand strategy services

The Golden Circle: a simple brand strategy model to define a complex system

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle model provides a simple brand purpose strategy framework to uncover your company’s complex belief system which is attributed to your “why”.

Below is Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on the subject.

The simplicity of such an approach seems to have created the impression that brand purpose can be cracked in a half-day workshop.

To me, those who believe it can be done in such a short time frame only scratch the surface.

As the saying goes, “The more you seek, the more you find.”

Simon Sinek’s brand strategy approach is not changing the way brands are being created either. It’s changing how we perceive brands when they clearly communicate their Brand Purpose (“Why” we do what we do).

Another model I found applicable to finding your brand purpose is the Ikigai model which can also help you reach a balance between the spiritual and practical, even in a business setting. Even in marketing. You should give it a try.

How to articulate a solid brand purpose statement

Many stakeholder interviews need to take place, during which quality brand strategy questions are asked to unearth deep truths and the real reasons behind why a company exists, including conversations with the founders to put their vision into words.

All this should be done in parallel with a deep analysis of the 4Cs (Company > Category > Consumer > Cultural), before you can arrive at a clear articulation of a brand purpose statement.

It also takes a lot of listening and asking the right questions, the challenging ones, in order to put brand purpose strategy into inspiring and authentic words.

Should this exercise be done at the inception of your company? The obvious answer is yes.

Can it be done retroactively? The less obvious answer is also yes.

But that new articulation of the brand purpose statement must remain in line with what your company has done in the past, and what it is doing now, including how it conducts business, and where it is going. Otherwise, that’s just a fluffy statement with no connection to reality.

Your brand purpose strategy must be believed in and acted upon otherwise it’s just another fancy statement on a piece of paper.

Examples of brand purpose in action

I wrote a comprehensive article with examples of how the world’s most successful companies use brand purpose to guide why, what, and how they do the things they do. It’s worth a read and a bookmark.

Brand book: your guide to building a strong brand

A brand book holds the defining elements of your brand in one place. It is the one tool you need to unite your team and partners and support them in 'living your brand'.

I recommend developing a brand book to help everyone share your vision.

To guide you through the process of defining your brand purpose strategy, mission, and positioning, I have created a brand book template that is up for grabs in my shop.

Why is brand purpose done right so powerful?

Brand purpose done right is a powerful tool to guide how your brand communicates, acts, looks, and feels. It keeps everyone involved in the brand development process in check. It’s your guiding north star.

It gives every employee the clarity needed to embody and take ownership of your brand.

It’s the genuine story you want to live, activate, and shout out to the world with pride and without the fear of being judged. Be it socially responsible or not.

When done right, brand purpose brings those who share the same values and beliefs on a journey with meaning and impact.

Bastien Frediani
LinkedIn: in/creativebrandstrategist
Email: strategy@thinkbastien.com

Bastien Frediani is the founder and strategist of ThinkBastien, a strategy studio that helps bridge the gap between vision and audience.

For brand strategy with purpose at its core, ThinkBastien

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