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the individual values and vision
take the brand from an idea on a
piece of paper to a commercial
reality. The vision for the company
reflects where the founders or
directors want to take the idea. The
vision of the furniture store IKEA,
for example, is to create “a better
everyday life for the many people.”
The business idea that supports this
vision is to offer good-quality
furniture at affordable prices. IKEA
has become a global brand because
all aspects of their business support
this idea, from the unique layout of
the shopping environment—such
as family-oriented restaurants and
children’s play areas—to
advertising. Today IKEA is the
world’s largest furniture retailer.
What kind of brand?
Values are another subtle element of
the brand, and summarize what the
brand stands for. It is important that
companies don’t just state their
values; they should be reflected in
the way the company operates.
The three founders of the fruit-
smoothie company Innocent,
which started life at a British
music festival in 1999, decided
they wanted one of the key values
of their innovative company to be
openness. Each fruit drink carries
a label inviting customers to “call
the bananaphone” with their
views, or to drop in to the company
headquarters, Fruit Towers, at any
time. The Innocent website also
invites visitors to join the Innocent
“family” and make suggestions for
what the company should do next,
“as we sometimes get confused.”
Their chatty, informal approach
suggests that the company
prioritizes openness and dialogue
with customers, whose values and
opinions it respects. The tone ofCREATING A BRAND
language, informal website, and
quirky offices at Fruit Towers also
help create Innocent’s personality,
conveying a bold, irreverent brand.The third place
Howard Schultz, who built Starbucks
into a global brand, had the idea of
a coffee company with a distinctive
personality that could create a
sense of connection. When Schultz
joined in 1982, Starbucks was a
single store in Seattle selling fresh-
roasted, whole-bean coffees. The
name, taken from a character in
Melville’s Moby Dick, evoked the
seafaring tradition of early coffee
traders. Schultz traveled to Italy the
following year and observed that in
Italian coffee bars, coffee was more
than just a hot drink: it was an
experience that sparked daily
exchanges. He decided to bring the
Italian coffeehouse tradition back
to the US, where he had seen
limited casual social interaction.
The concept of the “third place”
was born—a place between work
and home where you can enjoy
conversation and a sense of
community. This idea became an
essential part of the brand and was
carried through in the café design:A brand that captures your
mind gains behavior.
A brand that captures your
heart gains commitment.
Scott Talgo
US brand strategistAnita Roddick Born to an Italian immigrant
couple in an English seaside town
in 1942, Anita Roddick described
herself as a “natural outsider.” She
started The Body Shop, a retail
cosmetics and beauty business, in
1976, with one store in Brighton.
Drawing on her own diverse
experience and travels in Europe,
Africa, and the South Pacific, she
created natural cosmetic products
in recyclable bottles. The Body
Shop went on to shape ethical
consumerism because of Roddick’s
personal drive and the campaigns
that were promoted within her
stores. Roddick’s firm belief wasthat businesses have the power
to do good, and she pioneered
the prohibition of animal testing
for cosmetic products, pushed
the adoption of fair trade, and
lent business support to political
causes such as Greenpeace and
Amnesty International.
In 2000 she published her
autobiography Business as
Unusual, followed by a series of
activist publications. She was
made Dame Commander of the
Order of the British Empire in- In 2006 The Body Shop
was purchased by US giant
L’Oreal. Roddick died in 2007.