Branding: Your Company Vision & Mission Statements

We’ve posted many conversations about the process of branding—from the how-tos of telling your brand’s story to the mechanics of leading productive brainstorming or strategy sessions in the ideation process. Whether you’re working at a startup or within a branded-orchestrated company, without exception, much of your time and energy is probably devoted to some aspect of a brand development and management.

The two most important elements of a brand are the vision and mission, the “why are you here” and “what do you do.” Do your research and you will find a number of methods and processes to help you craft a vision and mission.

We have our own unique method for envisioning how to frame ideas for these two statements. Use our America: The Brand example as a way to frame your brainstorming materials into a structured vision and mission. Generate ideas and work into content. Plug into the model and see if it works. Is the vision majestic? Is the mission ambition wrapped in a plan? For extra credit, plug in action items. Please share your feedback!

Thanks to Steiner Kierce for his extraordinary help and insight into the brainstorming process.

Client: The United States of America
America: The Brand

Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Mission Statement
Constitution
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Action Items
1. Establish justice
2. Insure domestic tranquility
3. Provide common defense
4. Promote general welfare
5. Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity

The key elements to keep in mind as you go through these exercises is that a mission statement describes what your company wants now, while the vision statement describes what your company wants to be in the future.