What is a Brand Mission Statement?
A brand mission statement clearly communicates a brand’s purpose, objectives and how it plans to serve its audience. It is action-oriented and gives readers an idea of what your business does and what impact it wants to make. This statement may shift over time as the company grows and redefines its goals.
Asana’s mission statement is a great example of how a brand mission can be broad yet specific to the company’s goals.
Its mission is “to help humanity thrive by enabling the world’s teams to work together effortlessly.”
The message gets straight to the point and is descriptive enough that defines what Asana stands for. The brand missions incorporates the larger impact the brand wants to make as well as the more practical role it plays in its user’s lives.
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Keep it concise
Your mission statement doesn’t need to be long. A few concise sentences will suffice. You can have a longer and more robust internal business plan for employees. But the mission statement you share with the public should be succinct.
Why are Mission Statements Important?
Defining a clear mission for your brand will help you identify your target audience. Once you have a clearly defined mission statement, you can tie everything your brand does to that mission. It can act as a perfect elevator pitch when presenting your brand to a new audience. It can also be an excellent barometer for determining whether new projects align with your overall brand mission.
Your mission statement should be a defining factor for both your audience and your employees. A brand mission statement should also be a framework that your employees can follow when making decisions or speaking on behalf of the organization. Lastly, the mission statement can be an important factor to present to potential partners and investors and easily convey the value that your brand brings.
Examples : Brand Mission
IKEA
Ikea’s mission and vision statements give people good insight into the purpose of their brand and the impact they want to make in the world.
Below are Ikea’s mission and vision statements:
Mission statement: Offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.
Vision statement: To create a better everyday life for the many people.
Note the use of the words, “wide range,” “well-designed,” “functional,” and “prices so low.” If you’ve ever been to IKEA you’ll know how well they’ve managed to embody these attributes.
IKEA’s vision statement focuses their mission statement into one singular purpose: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”
Both statements use inclusive phrasing that solidifies IKEA’s commitment to being accessible to “as many people as possible.”
TED.
TED, which stands for “technology, education, and design,” managed to boil down their entire mission into two simple, yet powerful words: “Spread ideas.”
With such a simple, highly focused mission, it’s easy to see how the TED brand has become a global phenomenon in recent years.
It’s a truly great mission statement that focuses all of their efforts.
“Everything we do – from our Conferences to our TED Talks to the projects sparked by The Audacious Project, from the global TEDx community to the TED-Ed lesson series – is driven by this goal: How can we best spread great ideas?”
Amazon
Mission statement: We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience.
Vision statement: To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.
Amazon’s mission statement sums up the three things that have made them loved by millions: low prices, a huge selection, and incredible convenience.
Like all great mission statements, it shines a light on the values that bring success.
Amazon’s vision statement brings these elements together into one unified goal: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company.”
Southwest Airlines
Mission statement: The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.
Vision statement: To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.
Southwest Airlines is all about customer service.
Their mission statement summarizes this dedication to customers and highlights the importance of one-to-one interactions between staff and customers.
So it’s no surprise that Southwest’s vision statement is “to become the world’s most loved, most flown airline.”
However, although they heavily emphasize customer service, they don’t forget to mention the thing which allows the company to exist in the first place: profit.
Google
Mission statement: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Google’s mission statement perfectly summarizes what they aim to do.
Take note of the last word: “useful.”
Google understands that it doesn’t matter how well organized or accessible information is if it can’t be readily applied in life.
Their mission statement is brilliant.
But unfortunately, Google doesn’t seem to have a vision statement that clarifies the reasons why they want to organize the world’s information for everyone to use.
ASOS
Mission statement: Become the world’s number-one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings.
In what could be considered their vision statement, they go on to say, “We focus on fashion as a force for good, inspiring young people to express their best selves and achieve amazing things. We believe fashion thrives on individuality and should be fun for everyone.”
The addition gets a little vague in places, such as wanting young people to “achieve amazing things” – I mean, don’t we all?
However, it successfully showcases their brand image and their passion for individuality and expression.
Loreal
Mission statement: To provide the best in cosmetics innovation to women and men around the world with respect for their diversity.
Loreal’s mission statement comprises two key parts.
The first lays out their dedication to providing the best in cosmetics innovation. The second is all about inclusivity.
This is key.
They aim to include people from all over the world, “with respect for their diversity.”
And despite most companies marketing cosmetics solely to women, Loreal is looking to the future as gender stereotypes break down.
This type of sensitivity and awareness will position Loreal for long-term success.
Starbucks
Mission statement: To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.
Another short and sweet mission statement that tells a lot about the company.
Starbucks doesn’t use big sentences or fancy words to communicate its goals. It uses clear, simple, and direct language to express what the company wants to be and for whom.
They aspire to be known for more than just coffee by creating a culture of warmth and exclusivity.
In other words, Starbucks wants to ensure that anyone who comes through its doors feels welcomed and at home.
Passionfruit
Mission statement: To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.
Another short and sweet mission statement that tells a lot about the company.
Starbucks doesn’t use big sentences or fancy words to communicate its goals. It uses clear, simple, and direct language to express what the company wants to be and for whom.
They aspire to be known for more than just coffee by creating a culture of warmth and exclusivity.
In other words, Starbucks wants to ensure that anyone who comes through its doors feels welcomed and at home.
Nike // To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.
The mission statement adopted by Nike reflects exactly what the company has been known for since its beginnings in 1964.
Despite changes and rebranding, the goal of Nike remains unchanged—to lead in manufacturing products that bring out the best in athletes.
Nike projects an image of the ultimate manufacturer of what athletes need to compete at the top level.
The Nike's mission statement focuses on the extent and scope of influence the company would want to have in the sports sector.
And thanks to clearly defined mission and vision statements, the brand was able to stay true to its DNA over the years.
What we can learn from Nike's examples is that your vision statements should communicate the purpose of your brand to the employees and other stakeholders alike.
The statements provides them with the inspiration to achieve that purpose.
How To Develop Your Brand Mission
A mission statement is different from a vision statement in that a vision statement imagines the desired state of your company, customers, or the world, in an attempt to inspire a sense of greater purpose, while your mission statement explains the strategy you are using to get there in order to motivate action.
A great mission statement doesn’t need to be lengthy or incredibly detailed. Your mission statement should concisely communicate your company's purpose and allow customers to see themselves within a brand. Follow these simple steps to create your own business mission statement that will impact your employees, investors, and customers alike.
- Write a sentence that explains what your company does, in basic terms.
- List some of your core values. Keeping those core values in mind, write a sentence that explains how your company does what it does.
- Write a sentence that explains why your company does what it does. Take a look at the three sentences you’ve written, and then try to combine and condense those ideas so your mission statement is as straight-to-the-point as possible.
💥 Take Action
Develop Your Mission Statement
1. What is our brand committed to, in order to achieve our vision of the future?
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Next Step Step 4 ⇒ Core Values