Every brand wants to make a difference these days.

Better for people. Better for the planet. Better for the future. Wonderful things to be working towards. But when every brand is saying something similar, how do you make yours stand out?

And while plenty of businesses are doing genuinely brilliant things, their branding doesn’t always do them justice. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d all been working from the same creative brief.

The trouble is, having a purpose doesn’t automatically make your brand distinctive.

So, how do you build a purpose-driven brand that people understand, believe in and actually want to buy from?

A purpose-driven business should approach branding by getting clear on what it stands for, understanding what makes its approach different and finding a way to communicate that through its identity, messaging and customer experience. 

And importantly, making sure the promises it makes are reflected in what it actually does.

1. Start with what you do, not what you believe

“We care about the planet.”

A lovely sentiment. But these days, you’re hardly the only business saying it.

What makes a purpose-driven brand interesting is the thinking, decisions and actions behind those words.

Take Abel & Cole. Its approach to organic food, responsible sourcing and packaging gives customers something tangible to connect with its environmental commitments.

That’s the difference between having a purpose and building a brand around one.

Before developing your brand strategy, ask:

• What are we genuinely trying to change?
• What are we doing differently from everyone else?
• What can we actually show people to back it up?

If you removed your logo from your website, would your story still sound unmistakably yours?

If not, there’s probably more digging to do.

And there’s something else worth remembering. People might admire your environmental commitments, but they’ll still want a product that works, a price that makes sense and a business they can trust.

Your purpose should give customers another compelling reason to choose you, rather than asking them to overlook everything else.

2. Sustainable doesn’t have to mean green

Sustainable brands have developed a bit of a signature look.

Earthy colours, botanical illustrations, beautifully minimal packaging. You can usually spot one from the other end of the supermarket aisle.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. The trouble comes when every business trying to do something positive starts looking near enough the same.

Take Method. Its colourful packaging, distinctive bottle shapes and playful personality make its cleaning products instantly more interesting in a category that isn’t exactly famous for its excitement.

And it manages to communicate environmental responsibility without looking like every other sustainable product on the shelf.

Your brand should communicate what you believe in, but it should also give people a reason to remember you.

That’s why your positioning, visual identity and tone of voice need to reflect what makes your business different.

3. Make your purpose easy to understand

Take our work with The Future Forest Company.

The team was doing brilliant things for nature restoration, but its brand and website hadn’t quite kept pace with everything the organisation was becoming.

The challenge was communicating that purpose to different audiences, from individuals wanting to support restoration projects to businesses and landowners looking to get involved.

So we spent time understanding the people and ambitions behind the organisation, then refreshed its identity, clarified the messaging and designed a website that made sense for the people visiting it.

We also made it easier for individuals to support restoration projects online, taking some of the manual work off the team’s hands.

Because an inspiring mission deserves a website that helps people do something about it.

And if sustainability is part of your business’s purpose, it’s worth considering the website itself, too. We’ve explored how thoughtful design and development can make a difference in our guide to sustainable website design.

4. Show your working

Sustainability claims deserve a little scrutiny.

Words like eco-friendly, ethical and planet-positive can sound reassuring. But without evidence, they’re mostly decorative.

The UK’s Green Claims Code requires environmental claims to be clear, accurate and backed by credible evidence.

So get specific. Explain how your products are made, where your materials come from or what progress you’re making.

You don’t need to pretend everything’s perfect, either.

Sometimes being open about the things you’re still working on says considerably more than another sweeping promise about changing the world.

Here’s a useful exercise. Go through your website and highlight every environmental claim you’re making. Then ask whether you could confidently explain and substantiate each one if a customer questioned it.

If not, it’s worth revisiting the wording.

Purpose-driven branding

What is purpose-driven branding?

Purpose-driven branding is about building your identity, messaging and positioning around something your business genuinely believes in, then making sure those beliefs show up in what you actually do.

How is sustainable branding different?

Sustainable branding puts environmental responsibility at the heart of how a business presents itself. But it still needs to do what any good branding should: make people understand, remember and want to choose you.

Good intentions deserve good branding

Doing something good for the world is worth celebrating. But if your brand isn’t communicating what makes your business different, people might never discover the brilliant things you’re doing.

Doing something genuinely worthwhile deserves a brand that does it justice. At Giant Peach, we help purpose-driven businesses bring their ambitions to life through strategy, branding, websites and marketing. Got something good going on? We’d love to hear about it.

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