What comes first; the chicken or the egg? This well-known paradox can be argued as a causality dilemma or as plain fact. The same could be said for brand and purpose: what comes first? Our theory at Bright Space is purpose precedes brand. But just because brand follows, it doesn’t mean it plays second fiddle.
What comes first; the chicken or the egg? This well-known paradox can be argued as a causality dilemma or as plain fact. The same could be said for brand and purpose: what comes first?
Our theory at Bright Space is purpose precedes brand. But just because brand follows, it doesn’t mean it plays second fiddle. Let’s thrash out the reasoning together.
Purpose should come first because it ensures you understand the value you deliver. It guides operations, products, services, environmental and social programmes and initiatives, and leads behaviour.
Bright Space’s way of articulating purpose means we can uncover the value a business offers to all its stakeholders. Our work with fusion energy company Tokamak is a great example of this.
Once that is nailed down, your brand will have something to say and it allows the brand to make promises the business can keep.
Many clients come to us needing to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. We begin with purpose at the apex of their narrative and at the heart of the business.
To get it right, we created a step-by-step process. It’s as follows;
Once steps 1-3 have been ticked off, a strong brand then acts as a bridge between a company's purpose and its stakeholders. And a well-executed branding strategy facilitates effective communication and encourages meaningful engagement. It’s a powerful tool to convey the organisation’s narrative of values, mission, and commitment to delivering value.
Our experience in delivering brand identities for clients who have ignored purpose and focused on branding, is that the brand ultimately struggles to deliver for the business effectively because there’s a chasm between the two.
Another challenge we often see is businesses working in a siloed fashion when it comes to developing an overarching narrative. ESG will have one approach, HR will work on EVP, corporate comms take on brand and IR take care of reporting. Somewhere along the way the story becomes disjointed, diluted and just plain confusing.
Purpose needs to be the overarching theme that connects these together. By developing a brand with purpose, it creates consistency across all areas of communication now and into the future. Our recent work with law firm Plexus practises what we preach.
For us, this causality dilemma is no dilemma at all. It’s purpose before brand; your purpose is the value you create; your brand is how people experience it.
Find out what the Director of Global Branding at a FTSE 100 company and a CEO at a law firm, among others, said when we asked them the same question in Edition 12 of our Friday Five at Five newsletter.
If you need help placing your chickens and eggs in the right order, contact us at letstalk@brightspacecomms.co.uk.