One of the core parts of a framework I use with my clients is the Brand Purpose Blueprint.
To bring this to life, I’m going to share an example of a client who undertook our full Path to Purpose Program: Blooms The Chemist.
Blooms The Chemist is an Australian retail pharmacy network that started in 1980 with a group of passionate pharmacists. Now with over 2000 team members across more than 100 stores nationwide, it is a proud community pharmacy business.
As of recently, Blooms The Chemist’s purpose strategy has just been enthusiastically approved by its leadership team. Here is what the CEO, Phil Smith, had to say about it:
We are facing one of the biggest paradigm shifts I’ve seen in my career. The work we have been doing in the corporate social responsibility and brand purpose space has brought us to the realisation that we have two options – we can lead or we can follow.
Blooms The Chemist is choosing to lead.
Blooms always had a strong brand; yet the brand had a missing piece.
That missing piece was purpose.
As Phil Smith expressed, steering your business to adopt a higher purpose beyond profit is absolutely a paradigm shift. It’s a fundamental change in how you see the role of business.
For this very reason, it can take time to get to your brand purpose articulation. It’s important to allow that time and flexibility so that the statement that invites you to step into your true and full potential can emerge.
Blooms The Chemist’s purpose articulation took three stages of evolution over seven months. The Blooms working group outputs were always high quality. Each statement that the group articulated over time reflected the authenticity of who they were.
What drove the evolution was the confidence the group gained over the course of the program.
As they were able to recognise initially what they were already doing that aligned with their purpose, and what further actions they could take to deliver on it, they grew bolder and more excited. This allowed them to step into their role as gamechangers. The brand positioning they came up with reflected that.
Let’s look at Blooms The Chemist’s vision statement:
A world where everyone has access to good health and wellbeing.
If we were to deconstruct that, we can see that it’s bold and ambitious – it goes well beyond the organisation’s remit in pharmacy retailing, while still being very relevant to the business it is in, which also makes it believable.
It’s simple and clear.
The word ‘access’ is very specific. This will start to guide the organisation in the actions it takes in service of its purpose.
When Blooms The Chemist defined its mission, it mirrored its vision statement:
We exist to help build a future where everyone, everywhere has access to good health and wellbeing.
Blooms The Chemist’s brand promise is:
To help you make good health choices.
Think about that for a moment, in relation to its mission.
Its promise connects to a belief that is core to who Blooms The Chemist is: a belief in the power of people to change lives. This isn’t just about its people, its employees. It’s about the people it serves in its pharmacies every day. It’s also about every single stakeholder in its business.
We are all interconnected. If someone at Blooms The Chemist can help a customer make good health choices, there is a ripple effect. That person can influence their family, their friends, neighbours and colleagues. Good health choices can flow through a community so that everyone, everywhere is able to access good health and wellbeing.
You can have a listen to my interview with Pamela Bishop on the For Love & Money Podcast here...
