Brand purpose (and why you shouldn't worry about it)

Most successful creative campaigns go beyond facts and engage people with emotion. The Brexit vote in the UK was a classic case study of this in action. The idea of “taking back control” was much more powerful than boring financial figures.

By Steve Daniels, director, Big Torch.

To show you what I mean, let’s say you make baked beans.

This is the point where brands should get off the ladder. But several companies insist on going up another rung to purpose. They talk about gender equality and making the world a better place. Which is nice. But the question is, shouldn't they just make good stuff?

And that leads us to the biggest problem with brand purpose. You can't fake it. If you do, people will know about it. And what happens if your purpose doesn’t deliver a profit? Do you drop it and do something else? Do you do something that is irresponsible but makes more money?