What Is The Creed In Primal Branding?

All communities declare shared principles. ?

French philosophers phrased it as the raison d’etre. Your reason for being.

Why are we here? Why do we exist? Why do we come to work in the morning?

Communities rally around a central idea that everyone wants to be associated with. These shared beliefs are usually defined in words:

Just do it.

Think different.

The ultimate driving machine.

Semper fi.

E pluribus unum.

These words are aspirational. People gather, congregate, and cluster around them. Some people even die for them.

Agreements on why you come to work in the morning may differ, but most people believe in what they are doing. And they value the fact that friends, co-workers and allies share those beliefs.

Sometimes this motivational force is frayed or splintered.

When we worked with a well-known streaming video game franchise, we spent over three hours discussing why the company existed. The interesting thing is that they had already built a billion-dollar franchise that attracted millions of players. Yet the half dozen key stakeholders all had different ideas about who they were and what they wanted to become. Someone wanted to great the best fucking games on the planet. Someone else insisted that, since they already had swag, books, and annual player events, that they branch into movies, theme parks and action figures. Other people had other ideas. They sorted it out.

Another billion dollar company had acquired so many ancillary companies that the conglomerate had lost its reason for being. Rather, they had about ten reasons for being, depending upon who you asked. The problem? Customers would get a different version of the company every time they spoke with another member of the team. The confused do not buy.

While large enterprises might lose their way, smaller organizations need to find their way. Sometimes pivoting and adjusting just to stay alive, startups find themselves lost in a maze. Their original reason for being was dropped on the corner as they made a turn and now they can’t find themselves. Why not?

Specifically, you need to be intentional. Ask what core beliefs or values drive you? If you are a creator, Why do you create? Are you driven to make art, or driven to become successful? (The former works, the latter does not; both joined together become secret sauce.)

More specifically,?What makes you different from everyone else?

Why this is important.

When you believe in what you are doing, rather than just working at a job, it’s better for the organization and it’s better for you. We’ve all had jobs we didn’t want and know how much better it is to work at something you love. Believers not only feel purpose, they feel that they belong, which becomes the glue that makes organizations stronger and more efficient.

When people love working together, they love being together.

“When people are actively engaged in a cause, their lives have more purpose,” declared psychologist H.A. Lyons way back in 1979. “With a resulting improvement in mental health.”

Others claim that a business without social impact will never be sustainable. “A company does not belong to itself, but to those it serves,” says Emmanuel Faber, CEO of Danone.

What you believe is central to your belief system and takes some working out. Often, it is handed off ?in an advertising theme line, whittled into a few words by a series of copywriters. It can be derived from hundreds of consumer interviews. It can even be borrowed from an old Clint Eastwood movie.

“Just do it.”

Finding your Creed helps you become intentional, committed and believable.

As Phil Knight, founder of Nike declared, “Believing is irresistible!”

END NOTE: The Creed is the second piece of Primal Code? in your Strategic Brand Narrative When bundled with your creation story, icons, rituals, lexicon, nonbelievers, and leaders, it creates a system of belief that attracts others who share those beliefs.