Improve society through purpose-driven brands
This Inspiring businesses to improve society through purpose-driven brands toolkit covers the business case for and ways to embed purpose, with best practice examples shared throughout.
Although launched in 2016, this toolkit is helpful to inspire businesses to take this approach.
Business in the Community (BITC) believes taking a purpose-driven approach is the way to drive positive change. Purpose-led businesses move from a do-less-harm approach to one where they are a genuine force for positive change, create competitive advantages, while meeting changing customer needs and attracting, retaining and developing the best talent.
Businesses need a defined purpose, articulating why they exist, beyond making a financial return, and how that benefits wider society. The purpose needs to be embedded in strategy, decision-making and day-today operations.
Parts of the toolkit
There are three parts to the Inspiring businesses to improve society through purpose-driven brands toolkit.
- Why have a clear purpose? Drawing from existing research on topics including customer expectations, workforce trends and innovation, this section serves as a business case for why businesses and brands should assess having purpose. Use this material to aid discussion between different functional leaders inside your organisation, and consider the merits of adopting a purpose-driven approach to running your business or brand.
- What purpose should be about: Purpose is a feature in marketing, responsible business and boardroom conversations, but there is little available to help answer some of the basic questions people have, such as: What is purpose? What are good examples of purpose statements? What are the fundamentals of a relevant purpose? This section is designed to aid business professionals who are interested in harnessing the concept of purpose to discover and shape business or brand purpose.
- How to bring purpose to life: Much more than a clever string of words, a guiding purpose must be brought to life through commercial activities to create a win-win for the business and for society. Action, not words, is what it means to be a purpose-driven brand. The purpose checklist identifies nine hallmarks of purpose-driven brands, brought to life by brand examples. Use the checklist to review how embedded purpose is. Follow the actions listed, and check out the support that BITC can provide.
About this document
Inspiring businesses to improve society through purpose-driven brands was published in 2016, hence it uses our old branding. Despite its age, the document contains relevant and useful information. However, some specific links, case studies and statistics may be out of date.
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