Finding A Better Why
This is the seventh entry in our 2018 series, Every Decision is a Brand Decision. So far, we’ve covered topics ranging from how to create brands, how to manage them, and how to help them grow. In this post, we’d like to go a bit deeper into what happens before all of that. This is where we ask the greatest question of them all:
Why?
What is a brand’s Reason to Exist? Why do you do what you do, and why should anyone care? And, how does continuing to ask yourself this question relate to the healthy growth and long-term survival of a company?
Some companies answer their “why” more simply than others.
Les Schwab was the founder of an eponymous Oregon tire and auto repair chain. Since 1952, the company has maintained a solid reputation for its incredible service, and for employing people who care. Their motto, “We’ll Come Running,” isn’t just an empty philosophy or marketing slogan. It’s something they actually do.
Picture this: you suddenly have a flat tire or your brakes have just gone out. You’re feeling anxiety about your car, your schedule, and the potential financial pain of a major repair. You also might feel like an uneducated consumer who now has to walk into the lion’s den and deal with the type of business that’s known for ripping people off. You pull into Les Schwab expecting the worst, and instead someone runs out to your car, opens your door, and asks how they can help get you back on the road. They deliver on the promise of their tagline. And they do that because helping the customer above all else is clearly their “why.”
A Mission Statement Isn’t A Reason To Exist
In contrast to Les Schwab, Uber is a company with a different kind of “why.” Uber’s mission statement is to provide “Transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone.” As rosy as that sounds, Uber seems more like it was created to disrupt a clunky, inefficient transportation infrastructure (cabs, buses, trains, etc.). As disingenuous as the company’s mission statement may be, the fact remains that there are a lot more Ubers out on the road now than before the company existed.
Uber demonstrates that, all too often, a company’s deeper “why” is very different from its mission statement. Uber’s behavior shows that its “why” is something more along the lines of “success at any cost.” Their “why,” it seems, is the same thing that continues to get them into hot water with consumers, employees and drivers. In this light, even their mission statement — comparing the need for car service to the need for an essential component of survival (like running water) — smells like the desire for a monopoly. And a monopoly’s Reason To Exist is to systematically destroy the competition, in order to reap the success that comes with no opposition.
How To Identify The Why
OK, so there are all sorts of nasty things that can be the “why” for some businesses. But what about the majority of folks who are driven by positive intentions? The more we look for the “why” at the core of an enterprise, the easier it is to discern who’s who and what’s what. The Advantage is a book we frequently ask our clients to read. In it, the author lays out the six main “motives” for starting a business. We interpret them as:
- Greater Cause — Focusing on the impact of what your business creates in the world.
- Industry — Being a leader in a given industry in which your employees love to work.
- Community — Making things better for a specific place or group.
- Customer — Enjoying the task of identifying and meeting the needs of the customer.
- Employees — Serving the needs of talented folks and maximizing their success.
- Wealth — Making money for the business owners (and sometimes the employees too).
If you can spot the motive that most resonates with you, then you’re well on your way.
The strongest motives are less about who you want to be in the end, and more about the proactive things you want to do now. If you’re solely focused on the end of your journey, you’re less likely to be aware of why it matters to be on it in the first place.
“It’s simple: We want to be the biggest! We want to win awards! We want to have Fortune 500 clients! We want to be THE BEST!”
These are all empty goals. They focus on the end result without digging into the deeper processes and motivation it takes to get there. Let’s say you actually do the work, and fame and fortune follow. Even in the best case scenario, what happens after that? And, more importantly: how do you feel about what happened along the way? If you truly devote yourself to the things that get you out of bed every morning, you’ll likely turn your brand into something that you’re proud of.
Turning the lens on ourselves for a moment, what do we actually do here at OMFGCO? On paper, we’re a “brand design studio.” We help companies to understand who they are and express that both internally to their own staff, as well as to the outside world. But in that capacity, we do a bit of everything. We don’t want to be limited to just logos, naming, and collateral. If there’s a new way to tell a brand’s story that makes it even more special and engaging, we want to explore it! Without being limited to just visual communication, we want our work to engage all of the senses: how it tastes, smells, sounds, and feels, along with how it looks.
We admit, it’s pretty ambitious. For us, the challenge is to communicate how much we care about these often overlooked details. Time and again, experience has shown us that without a strong “why” living at the core of every project we work on, we’re lost. That’s why it’s difficult for us to“refresh” a brand without a specific reason. We’re not great at just coming in with a fresh look. We need more. We actually want to help people — both our clients and their customers. Coming up with ways to help our clients really examine why they exist is a huge part of how we answer that question for ourselves.
Why Ask Why?
OMFGCO are here to “Find a Better Way.” This mantra is at the core of who we are, as designers and as people. It’s why our company was founded. It’s about being fundamentally excited about having the freedom to keep trying new things and to learn from what we’ve never done before. It’s our Reason To Exist.
For us, this means experimenting in areas where other creative studios may (or may not) have found success. These experiments extend from the work we do (working with visionary clients who want to try something new) to running our studio differently. We’re constantly experimenting with things like Agile methodologies, Value-Based Pricing, Flexible Work, unconventional hiring practices and much more. The point isn’t to find a “final” answer or to “set it and forget it” — the point is to keep learning, to keep growing, always deepening our relationships with our work and each other.
We know it’s our reason to exist because we’re willing to bear the sacrifices that come along with the risks we’re taking. We’re more likely to turn down work with non-visionary clients and the sometimes-larger revenue associated with them. We’re willing to tie our compensation to the performance of the brands we create, with the understanding that more of them may struggle for years than succeed overnight. We’re willing to constantly refine our internal processes, which can sometimes be a challenge for our employees. But as we push ourselves out of our comfort zones, we continue to discover, again and again, why that’s such a good thing to do.
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About Us
OMFGCO exist to Find a Better Way. We are a creative studio that shapes how brands are experienced through strategy, design, and storytelling. You can find out more about us at OMFGCO.com, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram.
Original illustration © 2018 OMFGCO
