Why Brand Purpose Lost Its Plot—and How To Fix It
How brand purpose lost its plot and why it’s up to CEOs, not CMOs, to fix it
Brand Purpose ≠ Marketing Idea
Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” TEDx talk in 2009 sparked a decade-long obsession with brand purpose.
Starting around 2010, many touted “purpose-driven branding.” The advertising and marketing community celebrated purpose-driven brands and associated work with awards and accolades.
The brilliance of Sinek’s talk was its easy-to-understand and repeatable “Why/How/What” framework. He called it “the world’s simplest idea—the Golden Circle.” Naming and visualizing an idea is an effective technique in presenting and selling.
This framework was and still is useful in organizational and leadership contexts, providing clarity and motivation to members and employees.
The curse of this framework, however, was that it was presented and adopted as an inspirational marketing idea that could help attract customers.
Sinek, given his advertising background, knew how to sell an idea. With the “Start with Why” talk, which has over combined 100 million views on TED.com and YouTube, he ascended to stardom. He became a professional “thought leader who gained fame as a single-idea merchant,” says political science professor Daniel Drezner in his 2017 book The Ideas Industry.
To illustrate his point, Sinek used Apple as the example “because it’s easy to understand and everyone gets it,” and the most overused reference in marketing and branding.
He titled his talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” but conflated it with selling stuff. It should have stayed a leadership talk, not a marketing one.
Millions believed it was the way to market and sell stuff. Thousands of corporate executives bought into it—the name “Apple” is hard to resist—and adopted it as a marketing and branding idea.
Until they didn’t.
By 2020, some called the approach “the biggest lie the ad industry ever told.” To borrow journalist Anand Giridharadas’ words, it was “the brand charade of changing the world.”
Now we see more brands and CEOs deemphasizing their brand purposes as they receive pressure from investors, capitalists, and the public. For many, “doing good” became a publicity tactic when it was never their business approach.
The problem now is that the pendulum may be swinging too much toward capitalism and individualism.
Major companies, including Walmart, the biggest employer on the planet, are dialing back their DEI and purpose-driven initiatives.
We have also seen one of the world’s richest billionaires defend his decision to interfere with journalism ten days before the 2024 presidential election and stop the media he owns from endorsing a candidate to protect himself and his wealth.
That’s individualism at its worst.
Big Tech was never about humanity or “making the world a better place.”
As Kara Swisher puts it, it was capitalism after all.
Welfare of Others
“No, our vision isn’t to be the best in the world.”
These words came from Mr. Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).
I heard them in a meeting with Woven by Toyota, a TMC subsidiary focused on building the future of mobility and a client of ours.
It was peculiar to hear from the man who led Toyota to be the world’s No. 1 car manufacturer during his 14-year tenure as President of TMC.
“It’s to be the best in town.”
When Mr. Akio, grandson of the Toyota founder, took over the company in 2009, he had to apologize before the US Congress and issue recalls of over 8.5 million vehicles worldwide. This was the largest setback in Toyota’s recent history.
“Toyota had pursued business growth in North America at a speed greater than the speed at which it was able to develop its people and organization,” said Mr. Akio at the hearing, deeply bowing and holding back tears.
Since then, he has pledged to prioritize safety and quality over volume. He has also put forward three mantras to his employees around the world.
1. “Let’s make better cars.”
2. “Let’s do work for someone other than ourselves.”
3. “Let’s aim to be the best in town, not No.1 in the world.”
On Jan 6, 2025, Mr. Akio unveiled Woven City’s first phase at CES 2025. It’s a city being built in Japan as a test course for mobility. It was designed by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group, with my brother Yu Inamoto as one of the leads.
In recent years, I&CO worked with Mr. Daisuke Toyoda, son of Mr. Akio, and his team at Woven by Toyota on articulating the team’s purpose, vision, and mission.
When it’s clear that it was capitalism, not purpose, driving many business titans of our era, it’s a reminder that there are still big companies and leaders on Earth who care for others.
He means it when he says “for others.” In 2023, his total compensation package was $10.2 million. In contrast, Elon Musk’s pay package at Tesla was valued at $56 billion in 2018.
And here lies the opportunity for brands to save their souls.
Unless the leader—the CEO—is willing to demonstrate through their actions, the purpose will be meaningless.
Mr. Akio and his company are proof that business growth can happen while caring for others, not just ourselves.
One doesn’t need to sacrifice purpose for growth.
In Part II of this essay, I will explore where this stark difference between brands and business leaders comes from.
Genius assessment. Looking forward to Part II.