Differentiating Brand Purpose In The Eyes Of Consumers: A New Method
From Brand Purpose to Brand DNA
Brand purpose had become one of marketing’s dominant conversations—but as more brands embraced purpose, a new problem emerged: how can purpose remain distinctive, authentic and genuinely connected to what a brand is?
Purpose can easily become something constructed from the outside: a fashionable societal theme, an emerging consumer trend or a statement of what a company would like its brand to represent. But if emotions drive choice, the deeper question is different: what fundamental human motive does the brand already embody—and how can that motive become the foundation for what the brand stands for and does?
In this article, Barbara Pederzolli of Barilla explores THE WHEEL OF MOTIVES® as a methodology for answering that question. Drawing on biology and the science of human behaviour, the framework gives emotional meaning a structure through 12 Fundamental Human Motives, helping uncover the deeper motivational DNA already embedded within a brand.
Once identified, that motive can move upstream into strategy, purpose and positioning. Purpose is no longer an isolated statement: it becomes an expression of a deeper emotional territory the brand can authentically and distinctively own.
But discovering the motive is only the beginning. Its real value comes from making that meaning tangible. The same motivational core can guide communication, concepts, visual identity, products, packaging, sponsorship, experiences and activation—connecting what the brand stands for with what consumers actually encounter.
Barbara brings this progression to life through a craft beer brand. Identifying CREATE as its dominant motive transformed the strategic perspective: the opportunity was no longer simply to sell beer, but to sell creativity, self-expression and inspiration through beer. CREATE could then become a compass for the positioning and for the different ways the brand expressed itself.
She also highlights Coffeeway, where the same fundamental motive generated a very different expression. Rather than simply selling coffee, the brand was positioned around helping people unleash their creativity. The example demonstrates an important distinction: the human motive may be universal, but the way a brand owns and expresses it must be distinctive to its DNA and category.
The article therefore shows how purpose can become part of a much larger system: from uncovering the fundamental human motive within the brand, to defining the strategic territory it can own, to systematically bringing that territory to life through everything the brand says, makes and does.
Trends change. Campaigns change. Consumer language changes. Fundamental human motives endure.
Brand purpose becomes more powerful when it is not invented for the brand, but discovered within its DNA—and then transformed from a statement into an experience.