Purpose – what a very hot topic.

As we watch companies withdraw from DEI commitments and banks step down from the Net Zero Banking Alliance, does this mark the demise of Purpose?

Purpose is being reframed as woke inefficiency and as a distraction from shareholder obligations to deliver investment return. Brands are being tested, as are practitioners.

But are they really?

In our view, it completely depends on your terms of reference and what you mean by Purpose.

When we at Circus talk Purpose, we use the construct as a driver for the whole business. We mean Purpose as Proposition, as proof. Our objective – sustainable profit and growth, together with mutuality for people and planet. Not either/or, but both.

In the recent past, Purpose had become the voguish wrapper of CSR and ESG, or the justification for communications positioning, packaged up by agencies of all complexions – many now hurriedly erasing any mention of Purpose in their menu of services.

To Circus eyes, this seemed rather transactional and modish. At one point, we found ourselves agreeing with Terry Smith when he said that he didn’t think that mayonnaise could have a Purpose. We disagree with his broader rhetoric, but we do agree that much of the work undertaken by FMCG brands has been issue-based campaigning, not what we mean by Purpose.

To be clear on the Circus position. We applaud brands who campaign to change opinion. We admire organisations who advocate inclusive colleague rights.

But only with integrity and longevity. If brands fall at the slightest lobby from Robby Starbuck or elsewhere, they probably didn’t mean it in the first place. Or the initiative was not hardwired into business strategy. It was tangential to the commercial game and therefore vulnerable, at risk.

For Circus, Purpose is most effective as a long-term business driver, informing both the commercial and the social ambition. Purpose should be distinctive and differentiated, bespoke and robust. Such clarity of intent removes hypocrisy and the grey fog of corporate confusion.

Purpose is systematic and instructive. Not puff, not posture, but hard edged and meaningful.

Written by Dilys Maltby 

February 2025

Film produced by MOO