What's the Purpose of Purpose? Don't Ask Oscar Munoz.

By now, unless you have been living under a rock you've heard of United Airline's series of debacles that wiped a billion dollars in shareholder value off the books. Much has been written about the PR nightmare that was exacerbated by the initial tone deaf response by United's CEO, Oscar Munoz about 're-accommodating' passengers. Digging deeper it seems that response is symptomatic of a brand culture in which words are meant to create an illusion for shareholders and customers, rather than shape actual behaviors. 

One need only go to 'Shared Purpose and Values' on United's website to discover the disconnect between United's words and behaviors. Its purpose is stated as: 'Connecting People, Uniting the World', something that arguably any airline does. The statement of purpose is accompanied by a video in which United's beleaguered CEO and other United employees espouse the values of 'The New Spirit of United'. 

The video speaks of a 'family friendly community' that 'faces challenges head on' by (in an unfortunate choice of words) 'tackling' them. It espouses 'putting the customer first' by being 'warm and friendly', and 'treating others the way they want to be treated'...

But as hundreds of millions of viewers around the world saw with their own eyes, these words ring hollow in the face of reality. And while this incident may have been more heinous than other customer experiences, the fact is that United consistently ranks at the very bottom of airline satisfaction surveys.

United is not the only brand to confuse grand proclamations with real action. Stating your brand 'purpose' has been in vogue for a few years, as the next big driver of brand value. This has triggered a rush by companies and brands to 'discover' and articulate their purpose.

What's the Purpose of Purpose?

Which begs the question, 'what is the purpose of a brand purpose?'

It might be easier to begin with what it is not:

• It is not something to fill a void in the 'about us' section of a website in the hope that investors and potential customers will be impressed with your new social conscience.
• Neither is it a way to re-articulate or re-package your existing CSR initiatives to make them appear central to your business.
• Finally, it is not simply a description of the business that you are in, disguised in a broader societal context.

Rather: 

• It should live, not on the corporate website, but in the behaviors of every employee in the company. 
• It should go beyond CSR to inform every major decision that a company makes.
• It should reflect a unique and sincere commitment to improve upon something concrete that has heretofore been lacking...thus making a tangible improvement on category experience and societal impact. 

An Airline With A Purpose

And while true purpose is scarce in the airline industry,  JetBlue might be an exception. It was launched in 1999 with the commitment to 'bring humanity back to air travel'. In 2007, JetBlue let passengers sit on the tarmac for 10 hours in a snowstorm and faced a PR crisis as big as United's current nightmare. Instead of just issuing a press release, it drew upon its purpose to deliver a detailed, fully transparent 'Customer Bill of Rights' that includes predetermined monetary compensation for customers who are subject to an avoidable inconvenience. And it did so within one week of the incident.

This dedication to behaving its purpose is probably the reason why today, according to newly released ratings by Trip Advisor, JetBlue is ranked number 1 in the US and number 4 in the world.  

Source: Trip Advisor 2017 rankings

True Purpose Creates Value

Moving outside the airline category here are a couple more examples of how real purpose creates real value:

• In technology, Samsung makes the rather nebulous pledge to 'inspire the world, create the future'. In contrast, the original purpose of Apple, the most valuable brand in the world, was to 'remove the barriers of learning how to use a computer'. While that purpose may not seem as clear since Steve Jobs died, it is reflected in every successful product that Apple has ever created.
• In a category near and dear to my heart, most automotive companies are currently stating their 'purpose' in terms of 'mobility', which is essentially a generic description of the category. In contrast, Tesla's purpose is to 'accelerate the development of sustainable transport'. This purpose at once sets it apart from other automotive companies, provides a roadmap for product and service development, and articulates a greater societal impact  It may also help to explain how Tesla's market cap could surpass Ford's last week.

So the purpose of purpose is not to just answer the question of what you do, or even why you do it. The real purpose of purpose is to identify what the category and society would miss if you'd never existed.

Sadly, for United, the answer might be 'nothing'.