Don’t just talk purpose - Put Purpose into Practice (PPiP)®
Purpose-driven companies evolve faster and outperform competitors
Future focused leaders know the value of being purpose-driven - Fortune, Forbes, McKinsey, and Harvard Business Review have all validated this approach. But purpose only achieves significant results if you put it into practice.
For the last 18 years, Brand Council has been guiding leaders and their teams in the development of their purpose strategy using our proprietary approach - Putting Purpose into Practice (PPiP)® - to achieve transformation. We have seen impressive and tangible results for high-profile clients such as DuluxGroup, Goodman Group, Nippon Paint Holdings, Workwear Group, Fire and Rescue NSW, and Aruma.
Purpose only achieves significant results if your brand is truly living and breathing its purpose.
Leading M&A Strategy Support
Putting Purpose into Practice (PPiP)® is about using your brand purpose to align what you do across every facet of your organisation - from how you behave to your products and services, business practices, processes and systems, staff and structure, culture, branding, messaging, and ESG.
Anyone engaging with your purpose-led brand should have a strong sense of who you are, and how you are genuinely living your brand purpose. They should feel it in every interaction and experience that they share with you.
A failure to embody your brand purpose can work against you
If a purpose is merely emblazoned on the office walls or advertised to align with the zeitgeist, it can actively work against the organisation. Customers, employees and stakeholders will notice the difference between the talk and the walk – and the last thing any organisation wants is to be seen as inauthentic, opportunistic or even deceptive.
This is exactly why it’s so important to first identify and then strengthen the genuine common purpose that is most likely already threading through the organisation. Here’s one example.
Although Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) was delivering on the front line, the organisation was suffering from an identity crisis. Staff had low engagement, and there were misperceptions about the organisation’s role and purpose amongst the public, communities and stakeholders.
Through a series of purpose-driving workshops, strategies and research, we guided FRNSW to identify and realign to the purpose that underpins everything they do: Protecting the irreplaceable. The next step was implementing this through a comprehensive framework which included communications materials and key messaging, team and stakeholder engagement, and change management support for the Executive Leadership Team.
Ensuring this authentic, common purpose was put into practice helped Fire and Rescue NSW to unite its employees, encourage engagement at every level and deliver cohesive messaging, and impact to communities and the public.
What’s clear is that true purpose-driven brands work to first understand their purpose, and then enact it, in order to create lasting value and growth.
Brand Council’s Proprietary Putting Purpose into Practice (PPiP)® Approach
Putting purpose into practice will look different for every organisation. Our proprietary approach considers all aspects of your business holistically. We first work to bring clarity if the organisation’s purpose is unclear, and then guide the implementation of this purpose through a tailored strategic roadmap. Doing so ensures your organisation lives and breathes its purpose in an authentic and sustained way.
How Brand Council Can Help You Put Your Purpose Into Practice:
- Developing a powerful and engaging purpose
- Diagnostic studies: internal, external, stakeholder, community
- Developing aligned values, employee value proposition (EVP), behaviours, and culture strategy
- Preparing a clear plan to achieve the purpose-driven behaviour
- Constructing ESG and purpose goal setting, measurement, and reporting for C-suite and Board
- Developing the Putting Purpose into Practice (PPiP)® strategy, inculcation plan, roadmap, and measurement system
- Provision of frameworks for official reporting on culture, purpose, and brand strategy
- Long term transformation, alignment, merger and acquisition strategies
Putting Purpose into Practice
Examples and Case Studies
What our clients are saying…
“I could not be more grateful for the partnership, expertise, approach and outcome we have had working with Brand Council on our initiative to unearth our company purpose. The combination of clear strategic thinking (and proven experience) ensured every step and milestone was planned from the outset, including ongoing engagement and alignment with key stakeholders. This included taking a truly global and people centred approach, uncovering our purpose in a way that was uniquely tailored to our organisation, perfectly reflecting the essence of TWE’s heritage, brands and culture.
Their approach brilliantly linked strategy and people with consideration and care, all while executing the project efficiently, effectively, and within budget. And we could not be happier with the result.”
Katie Hodgson
Chief of Staff and Chief People Officer, Treasury Wine Estates
“Brand Council has been instrumental in developing the DuluxGroup core purpose. They methodically and strategically worked across all levels of the organisation to capture – who we are; what we stand for; and why we do what we do – into a unifying core purpose ‘Imagine a Better Place’. The true test of their work is that, almost a decade later, our Core Purpose has endured, strengthened and is ingrained into the psyche at all levels of the organisation.”
Pat Houlihan
CEO & Chairman DuluxGroup, Chairman MCRI
“Brand Council have helped us clarify our brand architecture, reinvent Hard Yakka and KingGee, and provided strategic guidance on two additional brands. This has resulted in significant tangible results for our business. We enjoy working with Trudi and Peta and value their opinion and expertise.”
Doug Swan
Group General Manager, Workwear Group
“The key to Brand Council’s success is their process. They took the time to understand the market in which we operate, where we wanted to position the fund, and what we needed to do to reach that position. In this way, Brand Council encouraged us to discover our brand by finding and telling our own story. The most important element in Brand Council’s process is proof. They have not made any recommendations without evidence. Brand Council are genuine partners on the ‘brand journey’.”
Michael Dwyer AM
Former CEO First State Super, Chairman UNHCR, Board Director
“Together they are a great team who are hands on, taking full responsibility for the work – it is rare to find an agency as experienced and professional who will actually get in and do the work at grass roots level themselves.”
Alison Brink
GM Marketing & Communications,
Goodman Group
“Over many years, Brand Council have led three brand strategy projects for Redkite. What has been consistent throughout is a highly effective approach to brand strategy and a level of care and passion that you don’t often see. Trudi has become part of the fabric of our organisation and a trusted adviser. She puts her heart into making the Redkite brand what it needs to be so that no family faces their child’s cancer alone.”
Monique Keighery
Chief Executive Officer, Redkite
“Our staff’s enthusiasm, energy and ideas have been amazing. We have a single set of Beliefs, Values and one common Purpose – and it’s all come directly from our staff.”
Andrew Richardson
Aruma CEO
“Brand Council has continued to work with us in an ongoing capacity to define the purpose strategy for our individual businesses, including Selleys, B&D, Lincoln Sentry and Yates. They are a trusted advisor and provide sound counsel.”
Pat Houlihan
Chairman and CEO DuluxGroup, Chairman MCRI
“I have been the leading executive on a number of engagements with Brand Council including IAG, BOQ & AIM. I subscribe to Brand Council’s philosophy that alignment between the brand message and brand experience is essential for business success. It is through their refined process that I have seen the cultural and behavioural change required to not only ensure this alignment is possible, but more importantly that it is implemented. I am pleased to endorse the people and process at Brand Council and commend them to any business looking to re-engage staff and customers.”
Daniel Musson
CEO and C-suite client at BOQ, IAG & AIM
“The Brand Council team were fantastic. Our project involved months of extensive in-person and virtual engagement across the organisation – from the exec team to our staff and franchisees. Throughout the project, Peta and Trudi provided an unmatched level of strategic guidance and insight, while remaining flexible and pragmatic. It was a real joy to work with a company that matched our own high standards and absolute focus on moving beyond the ordinary to develop something truly unique. The depth of consultation completed mean our franchisees feel true ownership of and pride in our DNA, guiding principles, vision and purpose. This work will act as a guiding light for our organisation for years to come.”
Sally Chadwick
Executive Manager Corporate Communications, Events & Franchise Marketing, REA Group
“Working with Brand Council to develop our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) has been an incredibly positive experience. As a trusted partner, they took the time to understand our people, our culture and our business aspirations. The process was highly consultative, with thoughtful discussions and valuable insights that guided us every step of the way. The final outcome is something our people feel connected to and inspired by - an EVP that reflects our purpose and values, and positions us uniquely to attract top talent in a very competitive market.”
Jodie Bate
General Manager People Services & Reward
Frequently Asked Questions
Purpose should be embedded for the long term, but activation efforts must be regularly assessed. We recommend:
- Including purpose metrics in employee engagement
- Reviewing purpose during regular stakeholder diagnostic
- Reviewing alignment annually during strategic planning
- Conducting pulse checks and qualitative interviews across teams.
It brings purpose to life in an effective and focused manner and ensures it is actionable and authentic. PPiP works when it:
- Links purpose to real decisions and experiences
- Is visible in leadership and culture
- Includes clear governance and reinforcement
- Involves everyone, not just leadership or comms
- Is measured and celebrated.
Ownership must be shared across the organisation. And owned within the C-Suite
- CEO and executive team : Sponsor and role model purpose
- Strategy, Brand, HR leads : Enable implementation
- Leaders and line managers : Reinforce and embed behaviours
- Culture councils or champions : Sustain momentum and belief.
The PPiP model follows a staged approach:
- Audit alignment between purpose and current state
- Identify key activation levers across systems, comms, and leadership
- Co-create purpose behaviours and messages with teams
- Build governance, rituals, and measurement tools
- Track impact and evolve continuously.
It starts with strategy and structure, then cascades to people and systems - see the model below. Steps include:
- Audit current purpose alignment across the business
- Define what “living the purpose” looks like
- Map key activation points (communication, HR, CX, leadership, operations, products and services)
- Co-create practical actions with staff
- Build in clear language, reinforcement, and rituals.
Because a stated purpose means nothing unless it’s lived within and across the organisation and all business units. PPiP ensures:
- Staff and leaders align around meaningful action
- Purpose influences daily decisions and systems
- Trust and reputation are enhanced
- Purpose delivers value for people, planet, and performance.
PPiP is Brand Council’s proprietary methodology, grounded in:
- 20+ years of real-world client experience
- Dozens of purpose-led consulting engagements - in ANZ, Asia and Globally
- NPF, Charity, commercial and ASX listed companies
- Deep understanding of leadership, human behaviour, and systems.
It was designed to ensure purpose isn’t just a statement, but a lived reality across the business, directly contributing to organisational change, growth and outcome.
It means activating purpose at every level of the organisation, not just articulating it. Purpose becomes real when it shapes:
- Decisions leaders make
- Behaviours and values teams live by
- Employee experience and policies
- Culture, service, and communications
- The strategy and actions across products, services and operations.
Putting Purpose into Practice® (PPiP) is a proprietary framework developed by Brand Council. It’s a structured approach to embedding purpose into strategy, leadership, operations, and culture. PPiP:
- Translates purpose into measurable, daily action
- Ensures internal alignment and external credibility
- Builds systems, behaviours, and communications around purpose
- Turns intent into impact