Over the years, brands focused on how they could convince prospects that they could deliver a benefit that was worthwhile.

Brands took one of two routes. Either the rational route or the emotional one.

The rational route entailed regaling us with lots of details about the functionality of the offering. Truck commercials are prime examples. We get to hear about engine size, torque, and towing capacity.

With the emotional route, brands went beyond the functional attributes to illustrate how the sum of those attributes created some feeling for the prospect. In other words, the benefit. A few years back, McDonald's tagline was "You deserve a break today". The line demonstrated how the functional attributes (convenient, likable food) gave you an easy way to treat yourself or give yourself a break from the daily meal-making grind (the benefit).

Both of these routes are valid. Lots of brands don't reach any farther than these approaches. This means lots of brands are also missing the bigger opportunity.

Enter purpose

Purpose – or a Big Audacious Meaning as I call it – is the difference your brand can make in a life, a community, or even the world. When brands embrace a purpose, they create a deeper and more meaningful connection with those they hope to serve. It goes beyond the superficial benefit of the McDonald's example (giving yourself a break) to helping you feel connected to something that is making a difference for those around you.

I've always liked Starbuck's mission 'To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." Starbucks gives you the functional stuff (a well-prepared cup of coffee) and you get the benefit of feeling like you're giving yourself a treat (the emotional benefit). But the brand goes beyond that to an aspiration to foster something bigger. Here's the often-missed part. The brand invites you in to be part of that purpose. Maybe they show you how your purchase helps support ethically-sourced coffee. Or maybe how you help support improved wages for workers. The point here is that you have the opportunity to feel like you're helping to further the good work.

Transforming your brand

When a brand embraces a purpose, it elevates itself. The best way to explain this is me vs. we.

The functional or superficial benefit approaches appeal to our self-centeredness. They answer the question "What's in it for me?" And while that's fine, it's fleeting.

When a brand pursues a purpose, it recognizes our need for connectedness as well as our deep-seated desire to have meaning in our lives. To feel like we can make a difference for those around us. When a brand takes this approach, it answers the question "What's in it for us?" And creates deeper and more meaningful connections.

Understanding the power of this shift is what transforms a brand. Transforms it from solely serving our self-driven needs to serving our more powerful selfless desires.

Is your brand ready to make that transformation? Is it ready to answer "What's in it for us?"