What is Brand Vision?
Brand vision refers to the ideas behind a brand that help guide the future. When the brand vision clicks, it reflects and supports the business strategy, differentiates from competitors, resonates with customers, energizes and inspires employees and partners, and precipitates a gush of ideas for marketing programs.
Brand vision is intention. It can be a single-minded intent, or a group of goals and objectives — typically no more than one, two or three.
The Difference Between Brand Purpose, Vision and Mission
Brand vision is the brand's philosophy or its guiding principle. It should be a big idea that informs the brand and its actions but is never actually achieved. Good examples of this are:
Nike: Everyone who has a body is an athlete
Google: The PERFECT search engine
These are aspirational and inspirational. They help attract like-minded people to become advocates, customers and employees.
The brand mission statement is how brand's actually deliver against the brand vision. They are much more specific and tactical and describe the operations of the brand:
Nike: To develop products that help athletes of every level of ability reach their potential.
Google: To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Purpose : The Why
What’s your brand’s ultimate reason for being? If you went away tomorrow, what gap would there be? These are foundational questions that your purpose statement needs to answer.
David Packard described this beautifully in a speech he gave to Hewlett-Packard’s training group in 1960, saying, “I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place. In other words, why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being.
Vision : The What
If your purpose statement is your ‘why,’ then your vision is ‘what’ you want to accomplish as a result of it. If you remain committed to your purpose, what will be the outcome of it? When Unilever is able to make sustainable living commonplace, then they see their vision of what will happen as doubling the size of the business, while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact
Mission: The How
This is where most brands start and stop, by just describing how the work gets done. Both executives and marketers have an easier time getting their head around tactical things. But unless you know ‘why’ you’re in business and ‘what’ you expect to accomplish, how you get there won’t mean a thing. The first two steps are hard to work through but you can’t have a believable company mission without them.
Examples : Brand Vision
IKEA // To create a better everyday life for the many people.
The chances are that when you think of Ikea, you think of a place that offers versatile, cheap furniture. However, the vision behind the company is to “create a better everyday life for the many people” for everyone. In other words, their focus isn’t on delivering attractive and affordable furniture to the masses, although that’s certainly part of their mission. IKEA wants to make your life easier, and they’re using their unique store to do that.
IKEA believe that they’re serving their vision by making decent furniture available to as many people as possible – regardless of their budget. This vision resonates perfectly with the voice and personality of the company, which remains consistently friendly and devoted to its customers.
Amazon // To be the world’s most customer-centric company
Amazon.com is probably one of the best-known online marketplaces in the world today. They say that their vision is “to be the world’s most customer-centric company”. Amazon also wants to “build a place where people can discover anything they want online”.
As brand vision examples go, this is a great one. Amazon not only define their values and mission in their statement but they also clearly define it as a “vision” statement on their website too. Their idea of the future links back to their values of being a “customer-centric” company, while highlighting a lofty goal of a future where everything can be found on a simple, connected marketplace.
Southwest // To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.
From its very beginning, Southwest Airlines has been a maverick in the airline industry, that boast very concise and clear vision statement.
On its about page you can read that Southwest is dedicated to doing the right thing and with love for both its employees and customers.
Southwest is one of those brands that stand out as a perfect example of how visual identity can support the brand strategy.
What we can learn from Southwest is that a vision statement should provide employees and other stakeholders with inspiration to achieve a higher purpose.
It should also instill a sense of belonging and identity to the employees.
Something that motivates them to work harder in order to achieve success.
Life is Good // To spread the power of optimism
If you do a quick search for brand vision examples online, you’ll find countless references to the company “Life is Good”, a retail store that thrives on the power of optimism. Life is Good sells clothing and apparel for men, women, and children, but the most appealing part of its offering is its brand vision “to spread the power of optimism” around the world.
To bring its vision to life, Life is Good has used its mission to spread optimism around the world in many different ways. From creating inspirational slogans for their t-shirts to getting involved with countless community and charity campaigns, this is a brand that lives and dies by its brand vision.
sweetgreen // To inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food.
Notice that sweetgreen's mission is positioned to align with your values — not just written as something the brand believes. We love the inclusive language used in its statement.
The language lets us know the company is all about connecting its growing network of farmers growing healthy, local ingredients with us — the customer — because we're the ones who want more locally grown, healthy food options.
The mission to connect people is what makes this statement so strong. And, that promise has gone beyond sweetgreen's website and walls of its food shops: The team has made strides in the communities where it's opened stores as well. Primarily, it provides education to young kids on healthy eating, fitness, sustainability, and where food comes from.
Patagonia // We’re in business to save our home planet.
Patagonia's mission statement spotlights the company’s commitment to help the environment and save the earth. The people behind the brand believe that among the most direct ways to limit ecological impacts is with goods that last for generations or can be recycled so the materials in them remain in use.
In the name of this cause, the company donates time, services, and at least 1% of its sales to hundreds of environmental groups worldwide.
If your company has a similar focus on growing your business and giving back, think about talking about both the benefit you bring to customers and the value you want to bring to a greater cause in your mission statement.
Warby Parker // To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.
This "objective" statement from Warby Parker uses words that reflect a young and daring personality: "rebellious," "revolutionary," "socially-conscious." In one sentence, the brand takes us back to the root of why it was founded while also revealing its vision for a better future.
The longer-form version of the mission reads: "We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket," which further shows how Warby Parker doesn't hold back on letting its unique personality shine through. Here, the mission statement's success all comes down to spot-on word choice.
Honest Tea // To create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages.
Honest Tea's mission statement begins with a simple punch line connoting its tea is real, pure, and therefore not full of artificial chemicals. The brand is speaking to an audience that's tired of finding ingredients in its tea that can't be pronounced and has been searching for a tea that's exactly what it says it is.
Not only does Honest Tea have a punny name, but it also centers its mission around the name. For some time, the company even published a Mission Report each year in an effort to be "transparent about our business practices and live up to our mission to seek to create and promote great-tasting, healthier, organic beverages."
Google // To provide access to the world’s information in one click.
Google’s corporate vision is “The PERFECT search engine” The company’s nature of business is a direct manifestation of this vision statement. For example, Google’s most popular product is its search engine service. This product enables people to easily access information from around the world. The company applies its vision together with the mission statement to maintain dominance as an Internet technology, software, and hardware business
The Value of Vision
At this point, you should have a good idea of what a brand vision is, but you may not understand how your vision can help to differentiate your company. At the end of the day, there are companies throughout the world that resonate in the marketplace, and connect with their customers. These are the brands that know what they stand for and know where they want to be in the future. Ultimately, if you aren’t aiming for something in business, then you’re not going to achieve anything.
There are plenty of companies out there that know their Unique Selling Point, and not much else about their brand. These organisations are content with simply being present in the marketplace. While they focus on using content marketing and other common methods to advertise themselves, their efforts are somewhat hollow, because they’ve got no intention to change the world. All they want to do is make a profit.
There’s nothing definitively wrong with conventional companies that concentrate on putting cashflow first – we all want to make a profit, after all. However, without a vision, there’s nothing in your business that can motivate your customers, inspire your workers, and earn you the long-term loyalty that comes with things like word of mouth marketing and brand loyalty.
If you want to be a truly unforgettable company, then you need to be willing to change the world, just like:
- Harley Davidson did with motorcycles.
- Starbucks did with coffee.
- Apple did with personal computing and communication.
- Google did with online search.
These companies aren’t just successful because they introduced something new and innovative to the marketplace. They’re successful because they pushed the envelope to bring their vision to life. They imagined what the future could be like if they were to solve the pain points and problems of their target audience.
If you want to be the kind of business that sets the standard for your industry, inspires your customers, and changes the world, then you need a vision statement – and not just any old brand vision will do. A brand vision is about thinking big, striving to make the world a better place based on what you know about your customers and your competitors.
A great brand vision isn’t a kitchen-sink statement that’s designed to appeal to everyone. Your vision needs to say something unique about your company, focus on the future, and clearly define what you can offer your community.
How To Develop Your Vission Statement
Creating the perfect vision statement may seem like an overwhelming task, but it does not have to be. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to develop a powerful vision statement. Instead, use the information you already have to guide your work, suggests Alison Brehme, founder of Virtual Corporate Wellness, a provider of employee health and wellness programs.
"A company's mission, purpose, goals and values are all involved in the creation of a company vision," Brehme said. "Weave these concepts and beliefs into your vision statement."
Lindenmuth advises also looking at the vision statements of your competitors to determine how you can differentiate your business from theirs.
Don't be afraid to dream big once you gather all the information and get down to writing. Don't worry about practicality for now – what initially looks impossible could be achieved down the road with the right team and technologies. Work on shaping a vision statement that reflects the specific nature of your business and its aspirations.
A vision statement should be concise, no longer than a sentence or two. As Falkowski says, you want your entire organization to be able to quickly repeat it and, more importantly, understand it. However, a vision statement needs to be more than a catchy tagline. "[It] can be smart and memorable, but this is for your team and culture, not for selling a specific product," Falkowski said.
Tips for a stronger brand vision statement
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Easy to identify
Because vision statements can sometimes be confusing, they’re often lost within the various documents that identify your company or form your brand manifesto. Unfortunately, a vision statement can’t really work for your company until it becomes something that your team members can use as a sort of mantra for success. Your vision statement needs to be something that both your customers and your company know by heart. Make it clear, concise, and easy to recognise.
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Easy to understand
A vision statement can be, in part, a grandiose dream of the future. However, it still needs to be something that your people can see in their mind’s eye. Make sure that you don’t use any vague statements or terms that might go over the heads of your customers and employees. Your brand vision is an idea of what the future could be like if your customers advocate on your behalf, and your employees stand for your brand. If your people can’t really see what you’re all about, then they can’t feel connected to your vision statement.
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Short and sweet
Finally, while you want people to be inspired and moved by your brand vision definition, you also want to make sure that they remember it too. When it comes to improving your chances of industry-wide understanding and recognition, less is more. Try to bring your vision statement down to a couple of sentences when possible.
💥 Take Action
Develop Your Vision Statement
1. What does our brand aspire to be? Where does it aspire to go? What does it aspire to achieve?
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Next Step Step 3 ⇒ Brand Mission