Foundations

Vision, Mission, Values

This consultancy is one component of the Total Brand Review.

There’s a good reason we refer to a company’s Vision, Mission and Values as the foundations. In our opinion, they’re the building blocks of a successful brand and should inform every strategic decision your firm makes. Getting this stuff right brings a focus, a crispness and a coherence to all brand communication: from internal messaging through to web and ad copy.

There are so many competing definitions, methodologies, and visual metaphors for organising brand information. Many of them are overly complex and won’t stand the test of time. Our process has been honed over 20 years and has been applied countless times to many clients over that period. So, although there are no absolute rights or wrongs, we know ours works.

Here’s how we go about it…

01 / Info Gathering

Pull together all the background information the business has in this space. From old marketing documents to previous iterations of Vision/Mission/Values and other similar exercises like purpose statements. We must start here, because the chances are there will be some useful stuff that can be repurposed. It may also be useful to run some one-to-one interviews with key stakeholders to broaden the context and deepen our understanding.

02 / Craft the Vision

Your vision should feel just out of reach – something that’s ever so slightly unattainable but stretches you as a business. But it shouldn’t be too lofty to appear ridiculous, or just plain abstract and meaningless. (We see this a lot with what we call ‘Buzz Lightyear Visions: To Infinity and Beyond’). We’ll help you craft something just right – aspirational but understandable – that sits above the values and mission.

03 / Build the Values

Nowadays values have been downgraded to simply describe basic characteristics of brands. We’ve all seen them: integrity, professionalism, and respect. But we think of values as much more than that. They should be motivational in their description and connect at a deeper, human level.

There are two key things we bear in mind when thinking about your values…

Firstly, we believe in the rule of three. We’re wired to remember things in three, so it makes sense to play to this bias and really focus on the three key values. If there are more than three, then I’d argue they’re not core: they’re peripheral

Secondly, to leverage meaning, memorability and ownability we like to tee up the value with a bit of a descriptor (or a modifier) which turbo-charges the meaning. For example, “straight up honesty” or “down to earth modesty” somehow just sound more relatable, powerful and memorable than their rather dull roots.

We’ll craft a set of values for your business that will be ownable and meaningful.

04 / Create a Clear Mission

This is the connective tissue between the (slightly) lofty ideals of your vision and the day-to-day behavioural guidance of the values. Without this link, there’s no explanation on how you’re going to achieve your vision outside of the way you act with your values: it’s left open to interpretation. So, the mission’s job is to close the gap and define how you’re going to achieve that vision.

We’ll work with you to make sure it’s clear, coherent and concise. There’s a danger of wanting to squeeze too much in here, which can render it meandering and meaningless, so there’s element of sacrifice required.

05 / Operational Details

Timing

Allow 4 to 6 weeks in total.

Deliverable

We will provide a PDF document that builds your brand pyramid through the phases and showcases the language chosen with full rationale.

Participation Requirements

Usually driven by a senior client lead with other contacts who can gather information / schedule interviews with stakeholders (if needed).

Location

This task can be completed remotely.

Cost

Starts at circa £20k ($30k).

Dig Deeper...

Explore more of our thinking and insights into brand foundations.