Modern consumers don’t want to just buy something, they want to know they are investing in brands that meet their values and make a difference to the world. We invited leaders from five forward-thinking organisations, including a natural skincare brand and a think-tank on the future of the home, to put their heads together over lunch and discuss the role that purpose plays in their work.
In The New Standard's inaugural publication, Nick Marshall, Senior Partner at Made Thought is featured in conversation with Jason Holley, Principal Director at Universal; John Wilson, CEO at Universal and Map Project Office; Helen Job, former Head of Research at SPACE10; and Jessica Gregory, Head of Design at Haeckels. Moderated by Kerstin Zumstein.
Today, business and purpose need to be interrelated at a brand’s core. Especially looking at how Gen Z and younger people view brands.
If the story doesn’t align, consumers won’t buy the product. I’ve been fortunate in my roles, at Universal Design Studio and Map Project Office, and previously at Burberry, to be heavily involved with defining purpose for brands, but I’m still learning. Ultimately, purpose must flow from the inside out, from the employees first, to make a business successful.
For us, it’s about creating an environment for people to do work that really pushes boundaries and challenges the norms, creating spaces and products that will define how we live tomorrow.
Our mission statement at Space10 is “a better everyday life for people and planet”, so everything we do fits under this overarching umbrella – with focus on the home because we are dedicated to Ikea.
When I joined as head of research, my first step was to define what “better” actually means. I came up with three goals that serve as our checklist: inclusive, healthy and regenerative.
And I agree, the key for genuine purpose is to replicate internally what you’re putting out externally. Space10, therefore, is a family-first organisation, with flexible, remote working. In the office, we sit at a big table together to share lunch, and we were the first company in Denmark to have a menopause and menstruation policy.
Whatever you’re saying as a business, you have to live it.
Exactly. Purpose is central to good business today. At Universal, that means contributing positively to people in the world. Not least since Covid, there’s been an acceleration of self-reflection.
As architects and designers, this is particularly important so we can shift from monolithic brands to businesses that lead from within.
There’s a drawing by Charles Eames that I’m obsessed with, where he was trying to describe the role of the designer. It has a blob, which stands for the interest of the design studio, and then another blob that intersects with it, that symbolises the interest of the client. A third blob represents the interest of society as a whole. And in that intersection between the three blobs, that’s where you can create truly meaningful work – that’s the space in which we operate.
When I look out the window, 95% of buildings are not fit for purpose on various levels, most notably because the human experience has been left out of the equation.
Many architects retreat into a safe place, saying: “I’m in control of everything and this is the perfect building.” But as a studio, we are about bringing humans into the centre of the architectural discussion.
At Haeckels, we aim to design for 10 years in the future, so research and development, experimentation and risk-taking are a huge part of our approach.
As there are no parameters for that, we accept that there will be mistakes and failure, but fundamentally, those learnings are what take us to the next stage. What’s special about our brand is that our customers are willing to learn with us. They understand that there is a bigger cause at the heart of what we do.
As a skincare brand, we started out promoting planet-friendly, sustainable seaside living, but over the past 10 years we have morphed into a biodesign business, innovating for the future because we
believe that’s how it should be done.
So, if the plastic-free packaging is a bit off, it doesn’t matter as the next one will be better.
Our followers believe in our mission and are on this journey with us, so a pioneering purpose doesn’t need to be perfect.
The key is to be authentic.
I always look forward to receiving my subscription box from Haeckels, with the letter clearly written from a person to a person. However, the larger a brand gets, the harder it is to stay pure. If you are a £2bn beauty brand, that form of messaging would be disingenuous, so you need to communicate differently. Focus is crucial here. Too often, companies try to tick multiple boxes and do everything but only on a base level.
It’s better to deselect words and ask yourselves: “What topic can we genuinely lead on?” “How can our business platform grow people’s awareness?”
That’s why it’s vital to have an external voice, a critical partner to weigh in and keep you on course. At Made Thought, our purpose is to create bold and beautiful futures for those who demand more.
The bigger the business, the bigger the critical lens.
Some external sustainability reports just list loads of numbers, when we want to help brands figure out what they can do on a day-to-day basis to improve the world.
The problem with purpose is that it’s become a buzz word. I used to work at MTV, and the brand purpose was unapologetic entertainment. It had nothing to do with social, environmental or economic purpose.
Then, it became very popular to align with a cause, slapping on CSR [corporate social responsibility] as an afterthought that had nothing to do with a brand’s values or ambitions. That’s where it falls down. Genuine purpose needs long-termism. In many big corporations, the decision-makers are only around for two, three years, so they are looking for return on investment straight away.
But if you think about it correctly, taking time to invest in something that will benefit people and planet will pay dividends in the end for everyone.
That is why we need to work collaboratively, across disciplines.
Architecture, for instance, faces a lot of silo-ing of ideas, when the best work comes from engaging different people in active dialogue. Within our team, the more diverse the better, but also with the builders, contractors, tenants, owners, people who are going to experience your space – they are all stakeholders and part of the building we are creating.
I actually think the uncertainty we are experiencing right now with the changing world around us, is pushing us to be more purposeful in finding new ways to create for the better.
Launched earlier this year, The New Standard inaugural namesake publication 'Collaboration' is brought to you by the creative collective of Universal Design Studio, Made Thought and Map Project Office. Residing under one roof in London and New York, together the three studios collaborate with a roster of renowned and game-changing brands across the world to redesign the future.