SYNOPSIS
What book are we doing?
Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, by Jim Stengel
Why are we doing it?
Because it’s a good framework for what a purpose-driven brand is and the power it can have
How can we use it?
To understand the strengths and flaws of Grow and other brand-related studies
To make informed decisions about whether your brand is a good candidate for being purpose-driven
To help guide brands that want to be purpose-led in framing and living a legitimate brand purpose
Brand Ideal (aka brand Purpose): “A business’s essential reason for being, the higher-order benefit it brings to the world.” – Jim Stengel
Grow is a polarizing book. For all its advocates, there are plenty of critics with valid critiques.[1] The research methodology and data integrity behind the book are far from perfect – it’s not a randomized controlled trial; nor is it peer reviewed. But if we’re going to dismiss Grow based on imperfect research design, it seems only fair to dismiss all studies that don’t meet the standards of rigorous scientific research.
Binet and Field’s often-cited work[2] in The Long and the Short of It[3], for example, is far from perfect. While the analysis may be excellent, the dataset behind it (the IPA Effectiveness Awards Databank)[4] is a collection of self-selected, unaudited cases written by individuals and agencies who want to win awards, written favourably with the objective of winning awards,[5] and evaluated by judges who may or may not be blinded and/or unbiased in the granting of said awards. This is not good science. But it’s not unique. Much of the evidence we rely upon and state as fact on the topic of brand doesn’t hold up to rigorous scrutiny.
On its own, Grow is not great. But taken in context with other research,[6] case studies,[7] and major shifts in culture,[8] Grow helps support the case for brand purpose.
Whether one believes or doesn’t believe in the value of brand purpose isn’t the bigger problem – a dogmaticadoption of either belief is. Evangelists of Grow use The 400 Percent Advantage, rooted in far-from-perfect research, to conclude that because purpose-driven brands outperform the S&P 500 by 400%, all brands must have a brand purpose.
As brands flock to define the brand purpose they must have, some will do it well. Most will miss the mark in one of two ways:
1 Aiming too low
One of the criticisms of Grow is the subjectivity and breadth it allows for what qualifies as a brand ideal. Stengel claims brand ideals are rooted in one (or some combination) of the five fundamental human values:
- Eliciting Joy
- Enabling Connection
- Inspiring Exploration
- Evoking Pride
- Impacting Society
Critics argue that these values or so broad that a brand can rationalize almost anything to fit into at least one of them. Fair point. But if we look at these five values in concert with the brand ideal definition – “a business’s essential reason for being, the higher-order benefit it brings to the world,” – and, as planners, through the consumer’s point of view, the range of what qualifies as a true purpose narrows significantly. A brand may believe they’re spreading joy with their nutritious cereal. Unless they’re doing something much more than the product they put in the bowl, as a consumer, I don’t believe that at all.
2 Aiming too high
In his debut novel, Last Acts, Alexander Sammartino tells the story of a gun shop in Arizona that becomes a “mission-based weapons dealer” because “Consumers want to know that, like, their purchases mean something.” The gun shop decides to work on solving the opioid crisis, with a brand purpose of “shooting addiction dead.” It never occurs to the owners that they’re trying to solve one societal problem by fueling another. Much like in real life, their early success inspires other brands to follow, including a Vape shop that contributes to a charity “looking into pulmonary issues and stuff.”
As some brands claim purposes that are too easy to live up to, others (like the gun shop) choose a purpose they can’t possibly live up to – whether it’s not feasible culturally or operationally[9] or it’s disconnected completely from where the brand has a right to play.[10]
The source of these issues may be one of the book’s greatest problems – its title: Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies. Focusing on the financial superiority that brands can expects from ideals and promoting them as the “secret source of profit and growth” has fostered both issues noted above:
- Skeptics: Some find the idea that purpose drives such superior growth is counter-intuitive and, therefore, impossible to believe. They find flaws to justify their pre-determined conclusion. Others look at the study design through a rigorous lens and highlight its clear flaws. As a result, most skeptics discuss the book outright, and possibly miss out on any of the value that it may hold.
- Faux followers: Many who are sold on brand ideals as the magic bullet that leads to financial success haven’t really bought into brand ideals – they’re looking for its associated payoff. Because they’re creating ideals out of obligation rather than conviction, they aim too high or aim too low in defining and delivering their ideals.
Must brands, as Stengel implies, have a brand purpose to maximize profit and growth? We don’t have a good study that proves it. We also don’t have a good study that disproves it. In the absence of unequivocal evidence, it seems misguided to adopt a binary position. A more useful question may be, “What brands (if any) should have a brand purpose?” or, more specifically, “Should ours?”
Brands can each ask themselves:
- What kind of brand do we want to be?
- How will we measure success?
If you want to be a brand that focuses solely on maximizing profit and near-term growth, brand purpose might be useful, but there are many other options that seem like more effective and efficient paths to reaching your objectives. If, however, your interest is not only financial, but as even the Business Roundtable[11] now acknowledges, you recognize a broader responsibility as a corporate citizen and want to have a positive impact on the world in which you operate, brand purpose is a good anchor in which to root your business – a way of “connecting the core belief of the people inside the business with the fundamental human values of the people they serve.”
Like any strategy, brand purpose is only as valuable as a brand delivers and lives up to it. Whether you use brand purpose or not, decide on a clear strategy that’s true to you and deliver it deliberately, consistently, efficiently, effectively, and intentionally – on purpose.
[1] https://medium.com/@rshotton/why-was-jim-stengel-s-grow-so-popular-when-it-s-so-flawed-61f7cdd9df02
[2] Which I value, as I do Stengel’s work, despite their imperfections
[3] https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/publications-reports/the-long-and-the-short-of-it-balancing-short-and-long-term-marketing-strategies
[4] https://ipa.co.uk/awards-events/effectiveness-awardsv1/ease/
[5] i.e., In a biased light, skewed heavily toward the positive
[6] e.g., Firms of Endearment, Start with Why
[7] e.g., Patagonia, Dove
[8] e.g., in 2019, even the Business Roundtable finally stopped defining the purpose of a corporation as solely to “maximize shareholder value” and committed to their broader-reaching responsibility to the world)
[9] Like friendly, human-connection brands who make it difficult for customers to communicate with them
[10] Like insurance companies (who are in the prepare-for-the-worst business) who espouse optimism
[11] https://purpose.businessroundtable.org
. . . because it’s a good framework for what a purpose-driven brand is and the power it can have.
