Anchor Brand Purpose in Business Reality not Campaigns.
Ground Brand Purpose In Operational Reality Over Marketing
Purpose Fatigue Demands Operational Authenticity
Pepsi's 2017 Kendall Jenner protest commercial transformed brand purpose from strategic advantage into cautionary tale. Fast Company's February 2024 survey of 20 leading CMOs reveals the evolution: purpose succeeds when embedded in product experience and business operations rather than imposed through marketing campaigns. The fundamental question persists—what does brand purpose actually mean when divorced from performative activism and connected to tangible business outcomes?
Purpose Defines Why Your Brand Matters to People
Morgan Flatley, McDonald's Global CMO, positions purpose as the organizational "why" that creates positive impact in customer lives. McDonald's shifted from transactional selling to emotional connection, making every touchpoint an opportunity to reinforce brand values. Manu Orssaud, Duolingo CMO, describes purpose as organizational heartbeat—the rallying principle guiding both strategic decisions and daily operations. Duolingo's mission to provide universal access to high-quality education requires inspiring lifelong learning commitment. The challenge lies in balancing brand control with acknowledging that consumer perception ultimately shapes brand identity. Duolingo's community creates storylines around mascot Duo that inform authentic brand work reflecting actual user perception.
Unilever's Purpose Trajectory Exposes Risk and Reward
Paul Polman launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in 2009, anchoring corporate strategy on improving one billion lives, cutting environmental impact by half, and advancing workplace equity. The USLP designated 28 Sustainable Living Brands that delivered eight years of topline growth and returns double the FTSE index. By 2020, these purpose-led brands grew 69% faster than Unilever's remaining portfolio. Investor sentiment reversed by 2022. Terry Smith of Fundsmith Equity Fund criticized sustainability focus for underwhelming 2021 performance. Ben & Jerry's West Bank boycott triggered a 9.4% share drop. CEO Hein Schumacher admitted in October 2023 that Unilever had been force-fitting purpose into brands, announcing 7,500 job cuts and ice cream division divestiture to restore growth momentum while maintaining that purpose remains essential for talent attraction.
Purpose Must Tie Directly to Business Bottom Line
Sofia Colucci, Molson Coors CMO, defines purpose as the reason organizations exist, demanding authenticity that resonates with actual consumers. Purpose must drive business bottom line—benefiting customers, communities, and the world while generating commercial returns. Organizations that treat purpose as brand exercise rather than business imperative face budget deprioritization during economic uncertainty, breaking consumer trust through inconsistent commitment. Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard CMO, distinguishes brand purpose from cause marketing. Purpose serves as organizational North Star. Cause marketing represents the roadmap for reaching that destination. Purpose drives business success when sustainable and tied to growth objectives.
Authenticity Requires Alignment with Core Competency
Andrea Brimmer, Ally Financial CMO, emphasizes that purpose must authenticate what organizations do and what customers seek. Purpose cannot exist tangential to business operations. As a bank, Ally centers purpose around financial services that genuinely serve customers, helping people transition from apathy about money to emotional engagement with its real importance. Jeff Pillet-Shore, Allegash Brewing Company Marketing Director, asserts that organizations don't choose purpose—purpose emerges as inevitable conclusion from all previous company decisions. When the equation doesn't calculate to desired brand identity, consumers detect the misalignment immediately.
Culture-Based Purpose Delivers Competitive Advantage
Hilton Barbour identifies culture as the most sustainable competitive advantage available to organizations. Culture either accelerates or impedes strategic execution. When purpose doesn't start with culture, external brand manifestation will always register as superficial. Andrew Oosterhuis, VP Marketing at Labatt Breweries Canada, operationalizes AB InBev's purpose through annual culture days exploring team implications, quarterly partner engagements discussing business results, and weekly Monday morning emails recognizing individual performance while reminding teams that if not them, who else will dream big on their behalf.
Purpose Misfires When Disconnected From Brand Essence
Bud Light's 2023 Dylan Mulvaney collaboration exposed consequences of cause-based activation misaligned with brand essence. While diversity and inclusion represent legitimate organizational values, Bud Light's core purpose centers on broad accessibility—positioning as the beer for everyone. Significant customer segments interpreted the partnership as narrowing brand identity, triggering backlash that eroded sales and market share. Doc Martens' ongoing LGBTQIA+ support aligns with longstanding brand values—30% of employees identify within that community. When the brand offered custom boots designed by LGBTQIA+ artist Jess Vosseteig, attacks followed, yet activation remained consistent with authentic organizational culture rather than opportunistic cause marketing.
Cultural Relevance Builds Through Community Co-Creation
Morgan Flatley emphasizes creating a culture of creative bravery. Starting with fan truths to celebrate what audiences love most, then sharing creative control with community, transforms brands into borderless forces. McDonald's Grimace birthday celebration generated 160,000 hashtag GrimaceShake TikTok videos and 9.7 billion impressions by knowing when to speak and when to let fans control narrative. Manu Orssaud stresses that authentic audience connections require marketing teams representing communities they're trying to reach. Organizations cannot market effectively to Gen Z without Gen Z team representation.
Modern CMO Role Demands Cross-Functional Fluency
Andréa Mallard, Pinterest Global Chief Marketing Officer, advises CMOs to become the product team's best friend. Marketing leaders need product literacy matching their functional expertise. Cultural relevance transcends viral catchphrases, requiring consistent delivery of brand-authentic experiences. Sofia Colucci emphasizes that Finance and Sales leads represent CMO best friends. Thriving requires understanding marketing levers driving success through deep collaboration across functional areas. Balancing commercial and creative business dimensions proves critical for CMO success.
Recommendations
Define purpose authenticity by asking if actual consumers would believe brand claims rather than pursuing causes disconnected from core operations.
Anchor purpose in product experience and operational decisions before external marketing communications to earn the right to tell broader stories.
Integrate purpose systematically through quarterly reviews, weekly communications, and annual culture assessments rather than treating it as campaign theme.
Measure cultural relevance through organic impressions and community-created content rather than paid reach to validate authentic brand flywheel momentum.
Bottom Line Purpose Succeeds When Product Position Precedes Marketing Position.
Organizations that derive purpose from authentic product experience and operational culture create sustainable competitive advantage through internal alignment and credible external positioning. Those applying purpose as marketing tactic to chase consumer sentiment accelerate fatigue and erode trust. The distinction between doing purpose and performing purpose determines whether brands matter to people or merely attempt to matter.
