The Role of Purpose in Brand Strategy
The brand strategy term “purpose” is under fire. And some of the criticism is valid.
For years, companies have wrapped themselves in lofty mission statements and cause-driven campaigns without doing the harder work of building better businesses. Purpose became a marketing accessory, a way to signal virtue, win awards, or hide a profit motive.
But misuse doesn’t mean purpose is dead.
Call me contrarian, but purpose is always and will forever be necessary. Not in the sanitized, sloganized, awards-submission sense. Not as a quarterly campaign to appear more human. But as the reason a business exists—he value it creates and the problem it solves.
Every business must serve some purpose or it has no value. No amount of positioning, advertising, or storytelling can disguise that for long. The real question isn’t, “What purposeful thing can we say?” It’s, “What value are we actually creating?”
That’s where the conversation about purpose needs to go.
Because the problem with "purpose" isn’t that it exists. It’s that we’ve let it drift from the core of the business to the edges of marketing. It’s become a veneer, often applied after the fact, designed to make something look more meaningful than it actually is.
Real purpose isn’t cosmetic. It’s operational. It dictates how a company treats its customers, builds its products, and shows up in the market. It's not what you say. It's how you operate and why you exist.
Purpose should act as an internal compass, a decision-making filter, not a copywriting prompt. It should help teams prioritize what matters, clarify how to grow, and align around a shared understanding of who they serve and why.
When that kind of purpose is real, you don’t have to announce it. It’s felt. It makes the business more coherent, more differentiated, and more valuable. And yes, more effective.
So let’s not throw out purpose because it’s been poorly practiced. Let’s return it to its rightful place: not as a marketing idea, but as a business imperative.
So no, we don’t need less purpose.
We need less pretending.
Christopher Cureton is the creator of The United State of Brand Design Framework™ and a strategic partner to CEOs and Executive Leaders navigating go-to-market complexity. He helps executive teams align product, marketing, and sales around a shared vision—building strategic momentum, unified messaging, and brand-led growth.