The Problem Solved

With the increasing momentum around business leaders wishing to capitalize on the concept of being a “Purpose Driven” brand, Simon Sinek's blockbuster Start With Why TED Talk and book has morphed over time from inspiration into a false summit of hope. For companies looking to establish a foothold of relevance upon which to scale, they need to take heed. There’s more to leveraging the idea of being purpose driven than simply unearthing one’s “Why.”

Sinek’s “Golden Circle” belies something more complex: one can’t simply devise a brand position based on the penning of one’s purpose and then prop it up with superficial taglines, mission statements, jingles, and vast investments in paid media support. In presenting the utopian state of a brand operating from its Why, Sinek has generated megawatts of boardroom browbeating and handwringing because one’s Purpose is only made into tangible value if the idea permeates every nook and cranny of the business, operationalized as a fully wrought consumer experience.

Mr. Sinek is right, of course. Differentiated, dynamic brands are clear and consistent because their principles and purpose are well defined. However, what Sinek does not explain is how then does one’s fundamental belief get woven into every aspect of the consumer’s experience, nay into every aspect of the organization itself.

The Problem

As companies mature—and add layers of specialization, process, and complexity—they risk losing touch with the simple, independent spirit of passion and performance that gave life to the business in the first place. The spark initially worthy of a loyal following was and is their molecular identity, the reason the brand exists, the “why.” Because the corporate veils of the past are vastly more porous than ever, being authentic to one’s purpose is also more important than ever. As one size fits all marketing has waned, branding as we’ve known it historically has all but died. Customers expect authentic, curated relationships with brands they use to facilitate their lives. Without understanding intimately the stuff that actually constitutes a relationship, finding your “why” is not the Holy Grail it may seem, but just the tip of the iceberg of realizing the value of being driven by purpose.

Board members everywhere will continue to be bewildered at the gap between the concept that Sinek espouses and the actual, operational quality of the businesses they manage until they uniquely understand their customers' intrinsic motivations for engaging with them and purchasing their products. The brand’s “raison d’etre” being the basis for the relationship. Only when your “why” connects with your customer at literally every touch point by permeating everything you do does your “why” matter.

The Solution

The practicality of all of this is that businesses need repeat customers. The key to generating those oh so valuable repeat customers is understanding what is resonating and what isn’t across the totality of the consumer experience. Our founder has created the means to do just that.

We also provide the numbers that measure the only thing (the efficiency of creating brand advocates) that foretells scale and profitability, relating what the brand does to customer behavior, to what the customer does, relating the numbers to strategy and tactics, and to organizational behavior, down to the job description.

The process has been honed for 20 years, vetted, critiqued, and optimized. It answers three questions:

1. What is my brand doing (spending) and what is resulting in terms of scale, profitability, and shareholder value?

2. What is my brand doing (creating) and what is resulting from that effort (content, GTM, distribution, merchandising, product roadmap, marketing outreach, etc.), again, in terms of shareholder value?

3. What do I do to improve?

What We Have Built

• A proven method for creating brand loyalty (Brand Compass)

• The curriculum to empower internal teams to optimize brand loyalty (Fierce Loyalty)

• A means to measure the efficiency creating Brand Advocates (CompassIQ)