December 20, 2004
purpose-belief
For the benefit of one of my clients:
Take a look at these– Simple, easy-to-embrace beliefs, followed by companies who act on them:
“Air travel should be easy, exciting, stylish and affordable.” –Virgin Airways.
“Coffee should be properly brewed and somewhat romantic to drink.” –Starbucks.
“There is no experience as amazing as taking to the open road.” –Harley Davidson.
“Good ice cream totally rocks.” –Ben & Jerry’s.
We may argue with my exact word-choice or the exact semantics of each thought, but basically the ideas are in the ballpark.
OK, so what do these ideas all have in common?
Any guesses?
What these ideas have in common is: All the ideas can exist quite happily without their host companies.
If Ben & Jerry’s had never existed, “good ice cream totally rocks” would still be a valid point.
If Harley Davidson never existed, “There is no experience as amazing as taking to the open road” would also be a valid point.
We like good ice cream. We like the open road. These ideas transcend the companies. Their truths exist whether or not Harely or Ben & Jerry’s is there to put them into practice.
The ideas are… universal.
To understand your brand properly is to understand it beyond its own borders.
Earlier I talked about the purpose-idea of the company:
What’s your company for?
What higher belief is it expressing? Does it actually have one to express? Serious question.
Before you can have a “purpose-idea” you need what I call the “purpose-belief”.
A strong, concise belief about the world that, like the earlier examples given, your company doesn’t own, but acts upon.
Purpose-Belief. Exactly.
Any thoughts?
The idea is the product.
Hugh at gapingvoid refers to the following companies’ statements as universal. He calls them “purpose-beliefs”. “Air travel should be easy, exciting, stylish and affordable.” –Virgin Airways. “Coffee should be properly brewed and somewhat romantic to d…
There’s nothin’ like a little colourful insight
There’s nothin’ like a little colourful insight
Interesting that the first thought I had was that any of those ideas could also be applied to other companies.
When I read the ‘air travel’ line I first thought of Jet Blue.
Maybe the notion of a purpose-belief is shared — we all believe that air travel should be easy, exciting, stylish and affordable (don’t we?). But only a few companies (Virgin, Jet Blue) have figured out that it’s important to SHARE that idea-belief and even fewer companies can translate that into an idea — like ‘hey, let’s MAKE air travel easy, exciting, etc…’
Just rambling…
Heh. “Just rambling…”? Actually, I thought yours was a pretty good take on it, David
you should hear me after a few cups of coffee.…
What do you wanna do with your life?
Hugh’s right again.
“Your computer should be a pleasurable experience in and of itself, as well as a powerful tool.” — Apple
Though although I’m a Mac user I’m not actually a cultist. They’re kind of the fountain pen of the computer world, aren’t they?
Very excellent post!
Yeah, fancy fountain pens are equally annoying
“Your fingers should be covered in expensive ink droppings…” Mountblanc
sorry, couldn’t resist.
So, you’re walking into Plato’s Cave with your client. There’s the fire. There is you and him/her/it/client. There’s the shadow projected on the wall. Most client’s tend to look at the shadow, the projection, and start doing all sorts of shape-shifting and making hand shadows. Meanwhile, what you are really asking them to do is get them staring right into the fire, at the source of the heat.
Hugh, why is this so hard to do with clients?
Another fine Gaping Void University marketing class.
Thanks.
My company acts upon the purpose-belief that:
“Extravagance in love is priceless.”
Hmmm.
Will continue to cogitate.
Working on branding my standup comedy show as a lovemark.
“Basil White’s comedy ridicules commonly-held false beliefs to empower his audience with truth to destroy their enemies.”
In progress.
This will take a good lot of thought but it’s getting there: http://instantdocumentary.com
“…because a great party knows no bounds.”
Apropot of another post: Have always preferred the Enlightenment to Hobbes, but the older I get the more ruthlessness appeals.
The thing is, there are lovely ways in which to be ruthless. That is the challenge.
Hats off to Sir Richard
Hats off to Sir Richard