Why does your brand exist?
This is not a philosophical question, as it may appear on the surface. Instead, answering it concretely is now critical for brands to successfully navigate through today’s tumultuous, polarized, value-driven environment.
The fundamental question of “purpose” is on the minds of most consumers, employees and other key stakeholders as they evaluate their brand, product, and employment options. Is your purpose to make the world a better place through your products, policies, and actions? If so, how? And how is success being measured, both as a value to the brand and to society? How do I (the consumer) know progress is being made? These are core questions that need to be framed and addressed by brand leadership, as they touch on key areas including customer experience, product innovation, operations, reputation management, sustainability, and more.
Most current brand purpose measurement is based on what a company says and announces, and through news coverage of those announcements. While important, there has been until now, a critical gap in measuring perceptions; specifically how consumers react to, opine on, and share those brand initiatives, announcements and news.
This white paper will help brands develop substantive answers to these questions. We provide some guiding principles on brand purpose, its definition, its rise in importance, and how organizations can comprehensively understand, establish, analyze, and measure brand purpose in a world where opinions, needs, and demands can change in moments. We hope that this guidance will provide you with an accessible foundation upon which you can meaningfully manage your brand purpose, making brand purpose measurement essential to your organization.