Bringing a brand’s purpose to life is a challenging and complex endeavor. In fact, it can take years for a global organization to get a purpose strategy right across regions and countries, regardless of industry or business sector. "While the potential of brand purpose is game-changing, it’s also a minefield if you get it wrong," admits Andrea Brimmer, chief marketing and public relations officer at Ally Financial.
Activating a Purpose Program, the second in a series of playbooks from the ANA Center for Brand Purpose, provides valuable advice for iterating and acting on an authentic and well-aligned purpose. Based on in-depth interviews with numerous purpose-driven marketers and other industry leaders, the 41-page playbook will help you address some of the difficulties that often hinder purposeful efforts.
You will learn how to:
- Drive the purpose process
- Make purpose a priority
- Participate in the purpose process
- Integrate purpose into the corporate culture
- Ensure the endurance of purpose-led initiatives
Key Lessons
- One of the biggest mistakes any organization can make when looking to infuse purpose into its narrative is to assume it’s only a marketing initiative. If the first time that sales or HR hears about company purpose is during the rollout, there is a significant problem.
- Ask employees what matters to them. Their stories tell key truths about the company and their expectations of a changing world, as well as their personal desires to succeed within an organization, make a difference, and even leave some legacy, large or small.
- Involving customers in the purpose process is important. It allows brands to build stronger customer relationships by providing opportunities for meaningful contributions that matter.
- Passion plus relevance equals purpose-led. That’s the formula for true customer focus, which must be genuine and truly meaningful to the customer. When purpose-led, an organization has a big opportunity to leverage its purpose in a way that lasts a lifetime.
