Answering the big WHY: uncover the power of brand purpose with Brand Purist

Successful brands are more than just logos or taglines; they’re driven by a deeper purpose. At Brand Purist, we delve into the heart of what makes your brand truly resonate.

What is the brand purpose?

The brand purpose is the reason a brand exists beyond just generating profits. It’s the big WHY. It encapsulates a brand’s commitment to a higher goal, serving as its compass in creating meaningful connections with audiences and driving positive change in the world.

The brand purpose should be at the heart of everything you do. It’s the guiding principle that informs every decision, from product development to marketing. Living up to your brand purpose means that you consistently deliver on its promise.

Why brand purpose matters

Brand purpose matters because it goes beyond mere transactions. More than just a mission, it's the emotional and ethical anchor of your brand. It helps you inspire teams and connect with audiences.

An authentic brand purpose can help you instil trust in today’s discerning consumers. It can provide a clear direction for your brand’s actions, ensuring a seamless experience across all touchpoints.

Clarity of purpose is powerful. It influences everything you do: your written and verbal communications, visual identity, behaviour and so on. Your vision and mission statements are also derived from it.

Three outdoor advertising posters displayed on a brick wall, featuring Sorel Point branding and messages.
Posters showcasing Sorel Point’s purpose and other brand messages.

Brand purpose vs. mission vs. vision

Brand purpose is the reason a brand exists beyond making money. It often reflects the brand’s contribution to society and its commitment to improving people’s lives.

Brand mission is a clear and concise statement that defines the brand’s current objectives and how it plans to achieve them.

Brand vision is a forward-looking statement that outlines what a brand aspires to become in the future.

It’s good to disentangle these three facets of your brand. But keep in mind that there’s always some flexibility. The brand purpose can be mission-like, because not every brand wants to or needs to change the world. In the case of aspiring startups, the purpose can also be very future-oriented and blend with the brand vision.

How to uncover your brand purpose

  • Reflect on origins: dive deep into why your organisation was founded. What gap or need was it aiming to address?
  • Engage stakeholders: conduct interviews with employees, customers, and partners to gain diverse perspectives on the brand's impact and essence.
  • Analyse core values: identify the values that have consistently driven your decisions and actions.
  • Assess market differentiation: understand what sets your brand apart in the marketplace. What unique value do you offer?
  • Synthesise insights: combine all gathered information to craft a purpose statement that resonates, guides, and inspires.

Our approach to brand purpose

Brand Purist works directly with founders to understand what drives them. Why did you start the business? What gets you up every morning? What impact are you hoping to have on the world?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Sometimes it’s very practical and grounded. Other times it is bold and visionary. Uncovering the purpose is a collaborative journey but it’s Brand Purist’s job to steer you in the right direction. It’s often the personal stories that inspire the most authentic brand purpose.

Working with larger organisations, we prefer to involve team members across the business. Listening to their voices fosters trust and increases cohesion.

Brand purpose examples

Here’s a diverse selection of brand purpose statements that we’ve created with our clients over the years:

Poster designs showcasing the brand identity of business consultancy Shape Beyond.

Shape Beyond: business consultancy

It was really important for the founder and the Brand Purist team to create a business consultancy brand with a positive vision. It had to have a purpose that went beyond driving growth for businesses. It had to resonate with the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs. These must-haves inspired the brand purpose:

Create value for all by reshaping the business world.

Skill Trace: tech recruiters

Skill Trace’s straightforward yet effective approach is captured in a no-nonsense brand purpose:

Hiring the right people makes outstanding work possible.

Playfilled: people consultancy

The founders’ personal experiences of working in the demanding yet unfulfilling corporate world drove them to start Playfilled. They have a deep desire to reimagine the experience of work, fix broken systems and shift beliefs around play. This is captured in Playfilled’ brand purpose:

Heal the world by unlocking the power of play.

Laptop on a desk with a book and reading light. Reading Mate logo displayed on the screen.

Reading Mate: edtech startup

We distilled the essence of the brand to reflect an ambitious startup with an impactful social purpose.

Inspire a love of reading to give every child the best chance in life.

Photo of a young person, seen from behind, draped in a Glamp branded blanket, standing on a hill and gazing towards a distant range of mountains.

Glamp: marketing platform

The term ‘glamping’ is a combination of ‘glamorous’ and ‘camping’. It’s a way of enjoying the great outdoors without sacrificing the luxury and comfort of a hotel. The brand purpose is simple, aspirational and centred around community building:

We’re here for the love of glamping.

A strong brand purpose, just like a brand's name, can kickstart creative thinking and fuel the design process.

Frequently asked questions

  • The cost of developing your brand purpose depends on your organisation’s size and how long it’s been around. If you’re small and just starting out, the work involved can be streamlined. The cost starts at £1,650, but this will gradually increase with larger teams and how much existing brand recognition we’ll have to manage.

  • We don’t need much to get started. Brand Purist’s process will tease out the brand purpose through close collaboration with you. Having a clear concept of your business idea, competitive landscape, and target audience will undoubtedly help.

  • Just like the price, the timeline also depends on your organisation’s size and history. Brand Purist can deliver your purpose in just three days through our Brand Sprints methodology. However, larger organisations often demand a more considered and cautious approach, pushing the timeline to months.

  • Brand Purist considers a fully rounded brand identity to include the brand purpose, core values, personality descriptors, and statements on the desired positioning, future ambitions, and target audience. The term ‘brand identity’ is often used to refer to the design elements as well. But we prefer to use it specifically for the foundational values.

  • You can hire Brand Purist to develop your brand purpose on its own. Sometimes, tweaking the purpose of an existing brand is all that is needed to energise your team. If a complete branding exercise needs to be undertaken, it is better to hire Brand Purist to oversee the entire process rather than just the brand purpose development. We can support you after the initial project and help your brand evolve as your business grows.

Crystallise your organisation’s brand purpose with Brand Purist. Send us your details and we’ll help you get started.