Brand philosophy is not a term you come across often.
You’ve heard of brand purpose, brand values and brand promise no doubt.
Each of these terms have thousands of articles written about them and are part of the usual suspects when it comes to brand strategy elements.
But brand philosophy?
What’s it all about and why is it important?
That’s what you’re about to learn in this article.
What Is Brand Philosophy? (+ How To Create Your Ideology)
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What Is A Brand Philosophy?
The most iconic and most loved brands in the world all share a common characteristic.
They’re all abundantly clear “who they are” and are obsessive in shaping their audience’s perception so they are seen and experienced in that light.
These characteristics point to self-assured brands that have a clear understanding of the role they play in the lives of their audience and why they play that role in that way.
This understanding of self all plays a role in a brand’s philosophy, which can be described in the following way.
Brand Philosophy Definition
Brand Philosophy refers to the brand’s “Way of doing things” and the belief in that method.
It answers the question:
What is “Our Way” and why is that important to us?
Why Is Brand Philosophy So Important?
A brand philosophy is not something that’s commonly placed on a website or within a brand’s collateral as many of the other traditional brand element statements cover much of the brand’s philosophy.
That said, a well-developed philosophy can become a powerful internal tool that the brand representatives can come together on and get behind.
If you develop every suggested brand statement, you won’t have a shortage of statements your brand can use as a mantra.
Brand Purpose
Brand Vision
Brand Mission
Brand Values
Unique Selling Proposition
Value Proposition
In theory, any one of these statements could represent the brand’s war cry, however, the brand philosophy uncovers a little more.
When a brand is clear on exactly what “our way” is, it takes on a sense of pride.
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Brand Purpose vs Brand Philosophy
With all this talk of “believe” and “beliefs”, it would be easy to say “Right, so the philosophy is the brand purpose”, but it’s not.
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Brand Purpose
[Belief Of Existence]
Brand purpose is the brand’s “Why” beyond commercial intent.
It answers the question:
- “Why do we do what we do aside from commercial intent?”
The answer to this question provides a “reason for being” and a “belief of existence”.
Brand Philosophy
[Belief Of Methodology]
Brand Philosophy goes beyond the simple reasoning of existence and isolates the belief behind not just “why the brand does what it does”. But “Why it does it in that way”
- When a brand can confidently describe what “Our Way” is, it has a brand philosophy.
A Brand’s Philosophies Are Many
While your brand’s purpose is tied directly to the role you play in the lives of your audience (i.e. your shared beliefs), your brand philosophy shines a light on your brand’s approach.
It’s important to note here, that brands can have many philosophies.
When we think about our own lives, we may have a variety of philosophies for:
How we treat people
How we do business
How hard we work
Who we give our time to
How to spend our money
All of these individual philosophies shape “how we live our lives” and collectively they make up
“Our way”
or
“Who we are”
Likewise, your brand has many different philosophies, which are represented in the individual brand elements, which include
Purpose
Vision
Mission
Values
Differentiators
Market Position
Personality
Tone Of Voice
Message
These elements represent individual philosophies which shape
“Our way”
or
“Who we are”
How To Discover Your Brand Philosophy
Discovering your brand philosophy requires an important internal analysis into the importance of your brand’s individual philosophies.
Collectively, these make up our beliefs and some beliefs will be more important than others.
Step #1
Narrow Your Philosophies
Just as we are all individual people, the same is true for brands.
Some of our personal philosophies represent who we are more closely than others and would therefore better serve as “the philosophy we live by”.
This is how we need to approach the philosophy of our brand.
Step #2
Identify Your Method
Throughout the brand strategy there are many strategic elements all playing a role in shaping how the brand engages with its audience.
There are three elements however, that shape the brand’s “method”, more effectively than the others.
They are:
Brand Mission (Commitments)
Brand Values (Behaviours)
Brand Position (Difference + Value)
These elements define:
What the brand is committed to
How it behaves
How It’s Different
The Value It Offers
In other words, these elements define the brand’s “Methodology” or “How they do things”.
They answer the question:
What is “Our Way” and why is that important to us?
Step #3
Distill Into A Mantra
Each of these brand elements should already have individual statements, which are:
The Brand Mission
The Values Statement
The Positioning Statement
Distill these three statements into an individual statement that answers the question:
What is “Our Way” and why is that important to us?
A Philosophy Is A Way Of Life
Defining your brand’s philosophy goes beyond developing another brand statement.
It represents a sense of pride in what the brand is about.
Something the brand leadership is proud to share but will take as much value from it whether it’s shared or not.
A brand philosophy doesn’t just say, “This is what we do”.
A brand philosophy says, “This is Our Way”.
Over To You
Are you building a brand for yourself or a client?
Will you look to adopt a “brand philosophy” and put a stake in the ground that defines “your way”?
Let me know your philosophy on “brand philosophy” is in the comments.
We can philosophise together.
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