Your Brand and Company Purpose in 2020

We all know 2020 is not in the running for the “Best. Year. Ever.” It has served a purpose for many of us, however--we’ve all seen a lot of learning, evolution and hopefully growth in one way or another. Has your purpose served a purpose, though? What can we learn from 2020 when it comes to brand purpose, beyond just survival, and its importance in the business world? Well, you may have lost revenue, you may have lost some staff, you may have lost connection with your team by working remote, but if you came into 2020 with a company brand purpose that is true to who you are as an organization, you have not lost your way. And that is no small feat. Earlier in the year, we talked about the importance of brand principles (core values) as a guiding light in tough times. The importance of a brand purpose is even more important. We believe it’s at the heart of any company’s brand strategy, because if you don’t know “why” (TED Talk on the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek you’ve surely see) you do what you do—what gets your organization out of bed in the morning—none of the rest of your business or brand is going to hold up over time. If your team doesn’t know why the company does what it does, they can’t unite and rally behind a common purpose. Instead, each team member will rally behind their own personal “why,” or what they perceive as the company “why,” which could potentially send everyone headed in different directions, killing culture, making progress hard and making it hard for customers to connect. And it’s so important that your purpose is genuinely rooted in your truth. What do we mean by that? We mean it passes the “bullshit test”--an eloquent and technical brand strategy term we like to use. Meaning your brand purpose statement wasn’t crafted because it’s a trend to do so or as a marketing ploy. It means you defined your brand purpose from a place of authenticity, because it’s truly what motivates and inspires your team day in and day out. It means something to you, and it resonates with every person at every level in your company. When your company is bought into your purpose, it brings it to life outside your organization and your brand begins resonating with people you are looking to connect with. People are drawn to companies and organizations that stand for something. It’s inspiring. It’s admirable. And it’s endearing. Because it’s clearly meaningful and true. And if a “why” has that meaning to your company, a few bumps in the road (even when they are 2020-sized boulders) will not stop you. They may slow you down. They may reroute you a bit. But you’ll keep going, because you know why you’re still pressing ahead, even when it’s hard. We know without a doubt that our Noble Studios brand purpose, “to be better every day,” has served us extremely well in 2020. We want to be better as an agency, a team, as partners, professionals and as people--every day. And we want others to be better for having interacted with us and vice versa--every day. So when the “2020 S-Storm” started swirling around us, we popped our “S-Storm” umbrellas open and leaned back against our purpose, letting it prop us up. We asked ourselves immediately, “How can we be better because of this? How can we be better for our clients who are struggling? How can we be better for each other in these wild times?” There was no time to worry or fret. No time to think about how much worse 2020 was going to be than we thought it would be when we rang in the New Year. There was only time to be better. So, here’s to 2021(Yes, please). But also, here’s to a strong brand purpose you believe in.