Create a Brand with Purpose

This is a topic I’ve been wanting to write about for a long time. The focus of my job is working with entrepreneurs and companies to establish their brands. When thinking about "branding," most people envision logo, font, colors, etc. What most don’t consider are the less tangible concepts of community, reach, and influence.

Branding has the profound ability to influence the masses. The idea that a symbol can be easily recognized and establish lasting meaning, is powerful. It’s what allows companies to leave their literal mark on the world.

I’ve found that without a strong mission statement, you can’t create a brand that resonates. A mission statement acts as a brand’s north star for how they will be positioned in consumers’ minds. An example I always like to give is Coca-Cola’s mission statement: "To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions. To create value and make a difference." Notice how their mission statement doesn’t mention what they sell or what they do. Instead, they focus entirely on sparking an empathetic connection with their consumers.

Try to recall the last Coca-Cola commercial you saw and consider whether it fits their mission statement. The answer will probably be "yes." The reason being is that Coca-Cola has done a great job of establishing a north star for its brand and marketing.

Here’s an ad I love that really showcases their mission of inspiring moments of optimism and happiness:

This is a company that has been around for over a century, yet has managed to stay the most recognizable brand in the world due to their actions. It’s a clear testament to how building a purposeful brand helps a business stand the test of time.

With so much noise in the market, we’re used to getting bombarded by ads from all sorts of brands. Can you think of the last time an ad made you want to buy something? Brands that can invoke emotion are the ones that nurture brand loyalty with their customers. It’s the main reason why Apple holds keynotes before they launch new products. They want their customers to understand and empathize with the work that went into creating their products, emotionally enticing them to buy it.

If you’re a startup founder, solopreneur, or an executive at a company, I urge you to really dig deep to understand your core beliefs and see how you can transfer that to your organization. Start by writing down what you or your company does. This should be a 1-2 sentence elevator pitch and come instinctively. Once you’ve done this, start asking yourself why you do the work that you do. Keep repeating this exercise at least five times to get to the root of your "why." You know you’ve found the right answer when you genuinely can’t dig any deeper.

Here’s an example of this:

Joe is the founder of a pizza shop.

What Joe does: Sells NY-style pizza in a cozy, friendly environment. 

Why Joe does this: He wants to bring a piece of NY to his hometown.

Why does Joe want to bring a piece of NY to his hometown: He wants to bring the best pizza experience to people in his community.

Why does Joe want to bring the best pizza experience to people in his community: He cares about his community.

Why does Joe care about his community: He wants to make them happy.

Conducting this exercise, Joe uncovers the "why" behind his company and can apply it to his pizza shop’s brand. Joe realizes his core motive is to deliver happiness to his community with every pizza slice he serves. Now that he’s unearthed a strong, personal ethos for his brand, Joe can authentically differentiate himself from his competitors.

This exercise was adapted from Toyota’s "5 Why’s." Toyota’s former EVP and pioneer of the Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno, saw "having no problems is the biggest problem of all." Whenever a new challenge came up, he encouraged his staff to explore it first-hand until the root causes were found. His method was simple: ask "why" five times about every matter.

Ohno used an example of a welding robot stopping in the middle of its operation to demonstrate the usefulness of his method, finally arriving at the root cause of the problem through persistent inquiry:

1. Why did the robot stop? "The circuit has overloaded, causing a fuse to blow."
2. Why is the circuit overloaded? "There was insufficient lubrication on the bearings, so they locked up."
3. Why was there insufficient lubrication on the bearings? "The oil pump on the robot is not circulating sufficient oil"
4. Why is the pump not circulating sufficient oil? "The pump intake is clogged with metal shavings."
5. Why is the intake clogged with metal shavings? "Because there is no filter on the pump."

Source: Toyota’s Global Site

By applying this methodology to brand building, you can extract the "why" behind your business and use it to build a brand with purpose.

This statement by author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek drives the idea home: "People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it." When you buy a pair of TOMS, you help a less fortunate person. When you buy from Nike, you show support for gender and racial equality. When you buy from Patagonia, you contribute to conservation efforts.

Because this is a simple, easily overlooked concept, people often don’t consider why they start a business or enter their professional field. If every businessperson or entrepreneur thought like Steve Jobs, it’d be a nightmare buying products because we would not be able to pick a brand and stay loyal to it. Steve Jobs had an ingenious marketing mind and understood investing in branding was just as important as the R&D that goes into Apple’s products. Apple’s original mission statement in 1980 was "to make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind." Such a powerful mission statement is what allows Apple to create ads that continually inspire us to "think different."

Whether you’re part of a humble startup or sprawling enterprise, crafting a strong mission statement is vital to standing out amongst your competitors and forming a close bond with your customers. At my company - 4am - this is the bedrock of what we do and believe. Our mission statement is "we evolve brands for tomorrow’s world." It embodies our passion for helping founders, entrepreneurs, and executives uncover the "why" behind their visions- so that they too may create a brand with purpose.

We work with businesses one-on-one to craft their mission statement and develop their visual identity and content strategy to carry out their brand. If you’d like to schedule a consultation or learn more, please email me at [email protected].