Goal: How to build a brand purpose
By Strategy & Insights team. Top image: Adobe Stock.
Actionable insights to help you define, articulate, and activate a brand purpose that resonates deeply with your audience and sets your brand apart
Why does brand purpose even matter? Here’s why:
A powerful brand purpose demonstrates that your brand stands for something other than profit. For example, your brand could become famous for championing innovation, or creativity, or community, or environmental stewardship…
By establishing that your brand makes a positive impact upon the world you can create:
Differentiation in competitive markets: In industries like tech and gaming, where innovation happens at breakneck speed, a brand purpose helps distinguish you from competitors by showing your deeper values and vision.
An emotional connection with customers: Brands with a clear purpose resonate on an emotional level, nurturing loyalty and advocacy. Customers are more likely to support brands whose values align with their own.
Greater employee engagement: A shared purpose attracts and motivates talent, fostering a committed and passionate workforce.
Future-proofing: Brands rooted in purpose can more effectively navigate market and societal shifts because they’re valued for more than just a functional service or fad that can be easily copied.
A strategic guidance tool: A strong purpose serves as a compass, ensuring your decisions and actions align with your overarching "why."
The most successful brands strike a balance between short-term sales and investing in long term brand building.
Adopting a purpose-driven approach sets your business on course for long-term success. It also opens the door to achieving the iconic status enjoyed by brands such as Apple, Nike, Nintendo, and Patagonia.
So that’s the case for developing a brand purpose. Now here’s everything you need to know about doing it:
1. What is a brand purpose?
A brand purpose is your brand’s reason for existing beyond making a profit. It’s the "why" that motivates your team, engages your customers, and shapes your long-term strategy.
A well-defined brand purpose answers two fundamental questions:
Why does this brand exist?
What positive difference does it aim to make in the world?
Note: the answer to your brand’s “why” is not “to make money.” That’s the happy outcome of your purpose.
2. Key elements of a strong brand purpose
Authenticity: Your purpose must align with your brand’s core values and actions. Any disconnect risks being perceived as insincere.
Relevance: Ensure your purpose speaks directly to your audience’s needs, aspirations, and values.
Simplicity: A concise and clear statement is more memorable and inspiring.
Scalability: A strong purpose sits above all your products, services, and verticals.
Enduring: Your purpose never changes. Consistency and unerring commitment to your purpose is critical to authenticity. You can’t build credibility if your purpose shifts with the wind.
3. Steps to define your brand purpose
Your brand’s purpose is found within the DNA of your organization, the motivations of your audience, and your organization’s capacity to solve problems in the wider world.
Step 1: Understand your brand’s DNA
Start by reflecting on what makes your brand unique. Dive into its history, culture, and values. Involve stakeholders across departments to gather diverse perspectives.
Key questions to explore:
What inspired the creation of this brand?
What values have consistently guided its decisions?
How does it improve people’s lives or solve their problems?
Step 2: Update your audience research
Your brand purpose should connect deeply with your target audience. Conduct research to understand their values, pain points, and aspirations.
Use surveys, social listening, and focus groups to gather insights.
Step 3: Identify a larger cause
Go beyond products to identify a broader societal or industry challenge your brand can address.
Key questions to explore:
What global or local issue aligns with your brand’s expertise?
How can your brand make a measurable difference?
Patagonia is an extraordinary example of a brand that serves a greater cause. Patagonia’s mission statement, "We're in business to save our home planet," guides every decision, from using sustainable materials to funding grassroots activism. Patagonia has gone so far as to dedicate profits to environmental causes, demonstrating authenticity and a commitment to their purpose.
4. Craft a purpose statement
Your purpose statement encapsulates your brand’s essence in a couple of sentences. It should inspire both internal teams and external audiences.
To help craft a compelling brand purpose statement, it’s useful to follow a framework such as Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle:
Start with your "Why": Why does the brand exist? Ask: What positive impact do we want to make in the world? What’s the problem we’re here to solve?
Define your "How": How does your brand deliver value or make a difference? This is your unique value proposition i.e. what sets you apart from the competition.
“What” is the easy part: It’s simply the product or service you offer.
Focus on emotional resonance: What message will inspire and connect with your audience when you consider them as a whole person (not just as a consumer or employee).
Keep it concise: Aim for a sentence or two that’s clear, relatable, and actionable. Avoid jargon!
You can chain the above elements together to deliver your first-draft brand purpose statement. The following prompts will help you organize your Golden Circle responses into a coherent purpose:
We exist to… (our Why)
We do this uniquely by… (our How)
And offer you… (our What)
Here’s a completed example:
We exist to inspire gamers to create, connect, and compete.
We do this uniquely by prioritizing our community and evolving our offerings in tandem with our audience.
And offer you the most immersive and accessible gaming experiences on the planet.
5. Involve internal stakeholders
Engage employees and leadership to ensure the purpose reflects the organization’s culture and ethos.
You can iterate brand purpose statements by splitting your team into small groups and working through the Golden Circle exercise above.
From there, you can meld the most inspiring ideas and themes into your final brand purpose. Hone it until your purpose is as relatable as possible.
6. Test for authenticity
Authenticity begins internally - your team must believe in the purpose to effectively communicate it externally.
Does your purpose align with the brand’s actions, culture, and capabilities?
Ask: Can we deliver on this promise consistently?
Avoid purpose-washing - claims must be backed by tangible commitments.
7. Activate your brand purpose
A brand purpose isn’t just a statement - it’s a commitment. Here’s how to bring it to life:
Align internal culture
Educate employees about the brand purpose and how their roles contribute to it.
Recognize and reward actions that reflect the brand purpose.
Communicate and integrate
Share the purpose across all touchpoints, from marketing campaigns to internal messaging.
Embed it into product development, customer interactions, and corporate decision-making.
Incorporate into marketing
Use your purpose as the backbone of campaigns and content strategies.
Share stories that highlight how your brand delivers on its purpose.
8. Build purpose-led partnerships
Collaborate with organizations, creators, or nonprofits that align with your purpose to amplify its impact.
For example, Epic Games supports educational initiatives to teach game design, reinforcing its purpose of empowering creators.
9. Measure and communicate impact
Track how the brand purpose influences customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and community impact. Share progress and milestones with your audience.
We select from a range of brand health KPIs including:
Brand mentions, reach, and growth: organic and paid.
Brand sentiment analysis including reviews, ratings, comment and feedback.
Follower counts.
Brand / product perception versus competitors.
Key messaging awareness.
Customer Loyalty Index measurement: likelihood of repurchase, willingness to recommend, new purchase intent.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and employee Net Promoter score (eNPS).
Cultural trend analysis: increases in related search and social trends, cultural relevance metrics.
Market share.
Employee engagement surveys.
The power of purpose
An authentic, clear and resonant brand purpose is a powerful tool for any business that seeks to set itself apart from the competition, and forge a deeper relationship with its customers.
By aligning your brand’s purpose with your audience values, activating it consistently, and measuring its impact, you’ll not only enhance your brand’s reputation but also foster the loyalty and advocacy that drive long-term success.
Next steps:
Start a workshop with your team to brainstorm your brand’s "why."
Research audience insights to validate your beliefs and chosen direction.
Draft and refine your brand purpose statement.
Activate your brand purpose and integrate it with everything you do.
Get in touch if you’d like expert assistance or an independent perspective on any part of this process. We have a strong track record in helping tech and videogame businesses strategically build out their brands to achieve the next level.
If you would like to discover more about our integrated approach and work together on a project, get in touch.
