Brand Meaning is the unlock meaningful sustained growth.
What your company already means and how to back it up.
Most companies treat meaning as a decision. Leadership goes into a room, picks three values and puts them on the wall. That’s backwards.
The answer is sitting in how you hire, what you won’t sell, what you fix when nobody’s watching, and who keeps coming back.
Research shows people don’t buy in a straight line. They move between what you stand for (values) and what you sell (value), and they check both.
Disruptors are intention about their product. Challengers are intentional about their brand. Brands Worthy of Trust™ are intentional about all of it.
You don’t get to decide what you mean to people. You decide what you do. They decide what it means.
Customers, staff, investors and your community won’t all read you the same way. So, trust meaning lives in context.
So let’s go look honestly and ame what’s true.
Exchange Journeys
Great Products
Relationship Journeys
Great Brand + Culture
Ecosystem Journeys
Great Products, Culture and Brand
Consistency is repeating yourself. Coherence is holding up from every direction at once.
Brand meaning is clarity on what you stand for, who you’re for, who you stand with, and what you should mean to each of the people who matter to your business. Not what you wish you meant. What your products and your actions can actually back up.
The eight drivers below are where to look. Your particular mix of them is your brand meaning, and it tells you who you’re not for, too. A position nobody could disagree with isn’t a position.
The goal: being sure to not ask stakeholders to trust it in ways it is not already worthy of having.
Each driver comes with two examples already living it: a brand and an ecosystem.
You don’t need all eight. You need the ones that are true.
Compass Driver
Description
Values
Scaling impact
Ecosystem alignment
Values expression
Tagline
Brand example: Patagonia
Their core mission—“Patagonia is in business to save our home planet”—has influenced their decision in manufacturing high-quality outdoor apparel with a minimum footprint on the environment, building model global supply chains that include worker fairness and environmental improvement as uncompromising standards.
Ecosystem Example: B Lab
B Lab is a nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. Our international network of organizations leads economic systems change to support our collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. There’s no Planet B.
Competency Driver
Description
Values
Building Aligned Teams
Shared vision
Design Thinking
Tagline
Brand Example: DYSON
Dyson focused on solving the problems that others have ignored; solving them first using our technology and ingenuity. In order to achieve this we need to pioneer technologies that are different and authentic. This is the core of what we do and who we are.
Ecosystem Example: G2
G2 is the largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 90 million people annually—including employees at all Fortune 500 companies—use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews.
Culture Driver
Description
Values
Creativity is competency
The arts
Emotional IQ
Tagline
Brand example: Better Up
BetterUp coaching offers support for in-the-moment specific needs, a personal 1:1 Coach for attaining goals both personal and professional, and a network of specialists that help individuals overcome challenges unique to their experiences.
Ecosystem Example: freelancers u
Freelancers Union is a non-profit organization serving as a support system for independents through advocacy, education, and services. So, whether you’re a creative, a solopreneur, or a founder, we’re working to secure a better future for you.
Degrowth Driver
Description
Values
Freedom
Human Scale
Circular Economies
Tagline
Brand example: Early majority
The VEJA Project. Since 2005, VEJA has been creating sneakers in a different way, mixing social projects, economic justice, and ecological materials. Fair-Trade, Ecology, Social Enterprise, Fashion, Footwear, Sportswear, Accessories, CSR, Supply Chain, Ethical Trade, and Transparency
Ecosystem Example: SMALL GIANTS
The Small Giants Community is a business community for purpose-driven leaders who want to share stories of incredible businesses and learn new practices and systems to implement in their own organizations.
Place Driver
Description
Values
Glocalization
Community regeneration
Tagline
Marcus Books
The Marcus Samuelsson Group was founded by award-winning chef, international restaurateur, and media personality Marcus Samuelsson and is led by longtime partner/ CEO Derek Evans. The Harlem-based minority-owned company is committed to creating outstanding culinary experiences, community support and thought-provoking storytelling that celebrates food, music, culture and art.
Ecosystem Example: AMIBA
A nonprofit membership organization of local business alliances, affiliates and supporters. AMIBA has been at the forefront of a national grassroots campaign to “Buy Local” and value their community’s uniqueness. Over the last two decades, nearly 100 Independent Business Organizations (IBAs) opened in cities and rural regions, large and small, nationwide.
Sustainability Driver
Description
Values
Environmental Policies
Eliminating Extraction
Supply Chain Transparency
Tagline
Brand Example: Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation are committed to providing effective, safe, bio-based products that are good for the planet and for your family. They believe that business can and should be a force for good. And are on a mission to create a more healthy, sustainable and equitable world for the next seven generations.
Ecosystem Example: Institute for local self-reliance
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we build local power to fight corporate control. We are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet.
Equity Driver
Description
Values
Lived Experience / Ancestral knowledge
Targeted Universalism
Eliminating Harm
Tagline
Brand example: Black Wealth Data Center
The Black Wealth Data Center is building a comprehensive repository for Black wealth data. Our Racial Wealth Equity Database aims to empower decision-makers with reliable data and raise the national standard for data collection and accessibility.
Ecosystem Example: Othering & Belonging Institute
The Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley advances groundbreaking research, policy, and ideas that examine and remediate the processes of exclusion, marginalization, and structural inequality—what we call othering—in order to build a world based on inclusion, fairness, justice, and care for the earth—what we call belonging.
Systems Driver
Description
Values
Systems Thinking
Investment
Technology and Tools
Tagline
Brand Example: Loop
LOOP is different. We’re building fair, equitable, and affordable insurance based on how and where you drive. We put people first, treating our members with respect and dignity—making sure they can chat with an understanding person, not a frustrating bot.
ECOSYSTEM EXAMPLE: IDEO U
IDEO is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company’s 500 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environments, brands, and digital experiences.