Purpose, Values & Principles | The Invisible Hand that Guides the Company over Time
Before logos, campaigns or quarterly targets, a company needs a purpose, that deeper raison d’être beyond making a profit. Purpose is made tangible through values -core concepts that steer behaviour-, and principles -decision‑making criteria-.
A purpose without daily action is “greenwashing in fancy dress”.
Why Purpose Matters Commercially
Consumers across Europe found that purpose‑led brands enjoy loyalty scores +30% higher than category averages. Patagonia, Tony’s Chocolonely and BrewDog -controversies aside- all leverage a higher‑order purpose to command premium pricing and recruit talent faster than peers.
Naturally, for this to happen, such purpose must be translated into strategic objectives that ultimately permeate all actions of the business.
Translating Values into Behaviours
Map each value to signature behaviours -observable and measurable actions everyone must perform-. If collaboration is a value, signature behaviour could be weekly cross‑functional demo day.
- Build value rituals –Slack channels, stand‑ups, onboarding stories that reinforce folklore.
- Codify a non‑negotiable behaviours list. Unilever lists “safety” and “integrity” as fireable‑offence pillars; no exceptions.
Leadership Brand or Turning Ideals into KPIs
A leadership brand turns lofty ideals into board‑level metrics. Transparency, internal collaboration, performance management, stakeholder focus, and constant learning, shift the C‑suite from slogan writers to behaviour owners.
Tesco embedded “Every Little Helps” into career‑progression rubrics; executives lose bonuses if store‑level colleagues rate them poorly on “helpfulness”.
Quick litmus test: If employees can’t recall your values by the second drink on Friday, you don’t have values; you have décor. Worse, you have expensive décor.
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Business Strategy Meets Brand, Two Sides of the Same Very Valuable Coin
“Business and brand strategy are two sides of the same coin”. Treating them separately is like installing a sat‑nav and ignoring the voice prompts.
From Purpose to Vision | The Inverted Funnel
Strategy moves down an inverted funnel -from purpose to long‑term objectives to resource policies, always in plain language -no more than 15 words-.
When Aldi UK defined its purpose, “Everyday amazing”, the team re‑wrote purchasing scorecards, store layouts and recruitment advertising to test every decision against “amazing yet affordable”.
- Mission: the near‑term strategic intent 3‑5 years. LEGO’s 2025 mission: “Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow”.
- Vision: a vivid picture once the mission lands. Think of it as a movie trailer for your best possible future.
- Transformation & growth objectives: from strategic objectives to measurable leaps -e.g.: +5 pt market share, –30 % CO₂ per unit, 3× ARR.
In a sense, your company must walk the “purpose to strategy to tactics” path.
Risk of Misalignment
When WeWork’s business strategy, “space‑as‑a‑service”, outgrew its brand promise, “revolutionising work”, valuations imploded.
Moral: tie brand guardrails to strategic reality – or reality will do the tying for you.
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- “Business-Driven Branding: Building Brands That Go Beyond Marketing”
- “The Power of Branding in Business Transformation”
Ambidextrous Brand Strategy | Rigour & Imagination
Modern branding demands ambidextrous thinkers who blend analytical rigour with creative flair. In practice:
- Brand Strategy: The long term plan for building a successful brand -e.g.: Monzo Bank, customer led digital convenience + cheeky tone = 10 M users.
- Brand Architecture: The organisational structure of a company’s portfolio of brands -e.g.: Alphabet: Google, Waymo, DeepMind, endorsed not monolithic.
- Brands with a Conscience: Brands embedding responsibility into DNA -e.g.: Ben & Jerry’s activism; Body Shop refill stations.
Issues to be considered… and which will be part of another post
Positioning Framework in Action, e.g.: Dyson
- Functional benefit: 40× suction
- Reason‑to‑believe: Patented Root Cyclone™
- Stakeholder result: Exclusive machines and owner relationships
- Emotional benefit: “Feel smarter & cleaner”
Archetypes, Tone & Brand Voice, e.g.: BMW
- Once switched copywriters and lost its “Ultimate Driving Machine” edge overnight.
- Archetype: the Hero; Tone: confident, precise; Voice: engineering prowess. When any one pillar slides, the whole edifice wobbles.
- Story‑telling vs Story‑building: Story‑telling shouts; story‑building behaves. BMW’s “Stories of the Road”, highlighted personal stories of adventure, ambition, and self-discovery.
Internal Branding & Employee Value Proposition -EVP-, e.g.: Atlassian
- Your brand’s first audience wears your logo on their payslips.
- Atlassian’s “Team Anywhere” post‑pandemic remote policy matched its collaboration‑software promise, reinforcing sincerity.
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- “The Superpower of Brand Strategy, The Elegance of the Simple”
- “Branding Without a Safety Net, Or How to Stay Customer-Centric”
Creating the Brand | Broad-brush Verbal, Visual and Multisensory Expressions
A strategy is useless until it becomes sensory reality. Distinctive assets can boost short‑term sales as well as long‑term brand equity.
Verbal Assets:
- Name & tagline: Shopify’s two‑syllable noun + “Let’s make commerce better”. Memorable, benefit‑led, scalable.
- Messaging matrix: Core story, proof points, elevator pitch for each audience.
Visual Assets:
- Logo evolution: From skeletal Mercedes-Benz 1902 laurel wreath to 2023 2D star, simplicity for digital.
- Colour psychology: ING’s orange cues Dutch heritage & optimism; Santander’s red signals energy & trust (in Spain at least).
- Typography: Netflix developed Netflix Sans to cut licensing and improve recognition.
Multisensory & Sonic Branding:
- Mastercard’s “Priceless” sonic logo plays in 210 markets; recognition in 1.3 seconds.
- Singapore Airlines’ signature fragrance (Stefan Floridian Waters) lingers on hot towels – memory cue for comfort.
Brand Guidelines vs Brand Book:
- The dusty coffee‑table brand book is dead. The living design system (Figma components, code snippets, motion rules) wins.
- Airbnb’s “Design Language System” saved 1000+ design hours in 2024 alone.
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- “From Purpose to Presence, How to Build a Brand That Lives Your Business Strategy”
Activating the Brand Across Journeys & Experiences
Activation is where strategy meets perspiration. Customer journeys span See to Think to Do to Care stages.
Offline & Online Touchpoints:
- Apple Store: Cathedral of Curiosity; Genius Bar consultations convert at 50%.
- Patagonia Worn Wear Pop‑ups: drive CSR story + resale margins.
- Duolingo’s Owl on TikTok: brand personality leaps off the app into culture.
Service Design & Moment‑of‑Truth Mapping:
- Map emotional highs and lows; dazzle in the highs, fix the lows.
- National Rail UK added “quiet coaches” to long routes after journey map revealed noise fatigue – satisfaction +18 points.
BX, CX, UX & PX
- Brand Experience -BX- frames Customer Experience -CX- which frames User Experience -UX-. Overlook Partner Experience -PX- and your ecosystem frays
- Remember when Uber alienated drivers with surprise fare changes? Brand trust fell 27 % in six weeks.
AI Cameo
- AI can magnify authenticity if humans stay pilots. Lush cosmetics trains GPT chatbots with its ethical‑sourcing database, ensuring advice stays on‑brand and ingredient‑truthful.
- Smart tip: Audit your AI prompts through the brand lens. A snarky GPT reply might be on‑trend but off‑brand.
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- “Brand-Led Experience, Synchronising Strategy, Service & Culture”
- “Business-Driven and People-Centred Branding in Times of AI”
Measuring What Matters | The Common‑Sense Edition
Skip 400‑question trackers; track what matters and link to money – free cash flow to be precise.
Examples:
- Fame: Unprompted awareness; Share of Search Predicts market share shifts
- Feeling: Net Preference vs Top 3 rivals; early warning churn flag
- Fluency: Asset recall -logo, colour, sonic tag-; drives recognition
- Financial Flow: Price elasticity; margin uplift; proves CFO’s pet hypothesis
- Future proofing: ESG perception score; correlates with cost of capital
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- “Driving Breakthrough Business Growth Through Your Brand”
- “Measuring Your Business and Brand Consciousness”
Last but not Least | Building a Brand with a Conscience
Consumers increasingly judge brands by total value: functional + emotional + social impact.
This decision tree helps firms climb from transparent business -ESG reporting- to brand with a conscience -purpose‑driven impact-.
Decision Tree in Practice
- Transparent business: publish data -e.g.: CO₂ footprint-.
- Responsible business: minimise harm – e.g.: Fairtrade sourcing-.
- Purpose‑driven brand: proactive societal role – e.g.: Tesco removing 1 Billion pieces of plastic-.
- Conscience brand: systemic transformation – e.g.: Ørsted pivot from fossil fuels to renewables-.
Eventually, it should be borne in mind that the tension between growth and awareness must be managed.
When Gillette launched the “We Believe” ad tackling toxic masculinity, sales and brand affinity rose among Gen Z yet dipped among Boomers –proof that conscience pays if the audience match is right.
You may also be interested in:
- “Everyone Has a Purpose, Few Have a Conscience”
- “Businesses with a Conscience”
- “How Business Can Do the Right Thing and Be Profitable”
- White-paper “Brands with a Conscience” -PDF-
Glossary of Key Terms | In Plain English
- Ambidextrous Branding: Running today’s business while inventing tomorrow’s. Balances ‘exploit’ & ‘explore’.
- Story building: Acting in ways that create stories. Opposite of mere story telling.
- Design System: A toolbox of reusable components & rules. UI, motion, voice, code.
- Fluent Device: Distinctive brand asset that triggers memory. Think, The Energizer Bunny.
- Share of Search: % of category Google searches featuring your brand. Early lead indicator of share.
- Paint Job: Inconsistent visuals, zero purpose. Run Brand Audit, find gaps.
- Marketing Led: Flashy ads, weak experience. Map customer journey; close pain points.
- Business Driven: Cohesive brand + business. Scale distinctive assets; track metrics.
- Conscience Leader: Brand shapes industry norms. Formalise impact council; publish targets.
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Isn’t it time we sat down over a cup of coffee and explored what your company, your business and your brand could become? Maybe it is!
Let’s talk about your business and your brand
Learn more about transforming and growing through your brand, people and experiences while raising its conscience. Read our other cases, visit our blog, subscribe to our newsletter, or join us for a good cup of coffee as we discuss the possibilities of helping you build your business towards sustainable growth in value, results, and positive impact.
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