A manifesto is an integral component of brand branding. It allows you to share your values with the public and give them insight into what drives your business.
A powerful brand manifesto can help your company connect with customers and recruit top talent. It must also be memorable, stirring emotions within readers.
Create a Vision
A brand manifesto is a written declaration of your company’s vision, values and mission. This acts as the backbone for creating marketing campaigns that resonate with your target market.
A well-crafted manifesto is often key to a successful brand, as it conveys your company’s strong, clear and memorable message. Additionally, your manifesto allows customers to connect with your company and understand what sets it apart from its rivals.
Your brand’s manifesto should be designed in a way that exudes inspiration and communicates your values. This can be accomplished through various design elements such as large font size, bolding of key phrases, and ample spacing between paragraphs.
Start by considering what you value most in life and your company. These may include integrity, ingenuity, ambition, professionalism, loyalty or accountability. Then reflect on how you want to be known in the world and have an impact on people’s lives.
Once you have a clear goal in mind, begin brainstorming ideas for your brand manifesto. This doesn’t have to be an official exercise, but it may be beneficial to include all those involved in carrying out that vision – such as employees and stakeholders – in the process.
Ultimately, your manifesto must resonate with your audience’s hopes and challenges while offering clarity on how you plan to address these obstacles. You can do this through a compelling purpose and actionable strategy.
Brand manifestos don’t need to be long, but they should be concise and captivating for your audience’s attention. To truly inspire and elicit emotion from them, consider hiring a designer who can infuse some creativity into the document.
Brand manifestos that stand out are those that combine words and images, creating an impactful message that speaks directly to your target market and gives you a distinct identity within the industry. Successful brands often have strong messages such as Nike’s “Just do it” motto or Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, for example.
Create a Mission
Brands are created through a combination of physical characteristics and emotional cues that elicit emotions when consumers consider certain products or services. This distinguishes them from other brands in the market, though some people feel more connected to certain brands than others.
Brand manifestos are powerful documents that distill a company’s story, mission statement and values into one cohesive document that helps customers connect to the purpose of the business. They also captivate potential employees – which is why more brands are turning to manifestos as an outlet to share their beliefs with the world.
Crafting a successful brand manifesto begins by understanding the issue you are trying to resolve for your customers. Then, brainstorm ways that your business can assist them in solving that problem. Finally, pinpoint the core values you hold dear and explain how your product or service aligns with them.
Write your manifesto in an inspiring tone. Use either second or third person so your readers can visualize themselves taking the steps you suggest.
Crafting a brand manifesto doesn’t have to be daunting, especially if you take time to collect feedback from employees and other stakeholders. Doing this will guarantee your mission is carried throughout your organization and contributes to building an inspiring culture within the brand.
Additionally, make sure your manifesto is thoroughly researched and grounded in reality. Doing this will make the document more accurate, authentic, and persuasive to customers; ultimately, this can attract talent who shares similar values as your business.
Create a Values Statement
Value statements are an effective tool to communicate your company’s values and priorities to customers, employees, partners, and investors. Not only do they help attract top talent and foster a vibrant corporate culture – it’s essential to remember that a value statement doesn’t replace a mission or vision statement.
The initial step in developing your brand manifesto is to identify the most essential aspects and values. After brainstorming, narrow down the list until you have a manageable number of values that matter for your organization.
Constructing a values statement requires extensive collaboration among various stakeholders in your business. With employees actively involved in this process, you can guarantee that your statements accurately reflect your company’s core principles and objectives.
Start by considering what makes your company distinctive, what sets it apart from competitors, and why people should choose your brand over those of rivals. This can be an enjoyable and creative exercise that will result in the formation of core values essential to the success of your business.
Once you’ve made a list, it’s time to begin crafting your manifesto. This can be an exciting and creative process that will result in creating an inspiring statement that helps establish your brand identity and values among customers, employees, and partners alike.
When crafting your brand manifesto, be sure to include an example of a real-world company that exemplifies these values. Doing so will help others recognize the significance of these principles and make it simpler for them to apply them in their lives.
Finally, be sure to include a section that demonstrates how your brand utilizes these values to reach its objectives. Doing so can demonstrate to potential customers how your business solves problems and enhances the world around them.
Value statements can be an effective tool for companies of all sizes. Whether you’re a small business or an expansive corporation, having a value statement will help unite your team and foster an encouraging culture that will endure over time.
Create a Surprise
The brand manifesto is an excellent outlet to express your creative side and showcase your products. It also gives your business the chance to stand out from competitors and make a lasting impression on those whom it matters most.
Manifestos are an ideal way to communicate your brand’s values and beliefs. You can easily create one of these documents for free with services like Adobe Document Cloud or hire a marketing firm to create the ideal manifesto tailored for your business needs.
Make it a point to incorporate your manifesto into all of your marketing materials, including email newsletters, brochures and websites as well as business cards and hang tags. A well-crafted manifesto will remain memorable to customers for years to come and encourage them to spread the news of your business to their friends.
Brand manifestos that effectively communicate a purpose are the best. This could involve using innovative techniques like 3D printed manifestos or animated displays that will put a smile on your customer’s face and convince them why they should choose your brand over other options.
Craft a Brand Manifesto
To inspire your audience to be loyal to your brand, you need to have a core message that focuses on your brand’s purpose and shows why your brand is worth following. To do this, you’ll need to craft a brand manifesto that expresses your brand’s values.
A compelling brand manifesto will appeal to your audience’s emotions and show the “why” behind your organization.
But how do you discover the “why” behind your organization? How do you connect with an audience and inspire them to follow you? Here’s what you as a marketer need to know about brand manifestos, how to craft one, and examples of successful brand manifestos.
What is a brand manifesto?
Why a Brand Manifesto is Important to Your Business
10 of the Best Brand Manifesto Examples
How to Write a Brand Manifesto
Start with ‘Why.’
What is a brand manifesto?
A brand manifesto describes why your organization exists, its purpose, and why people should care about your brand. It’s typically an emotional story that captivates your audience, emotionally connects with them, and persuades them to support your brand.
Not only can it build a loyal customer base, but it can also attract top talent to your organization.
Why a Brand Manifesto is Important to Your Business
It’s not always enough to have quality products; consumers also care about a brand’s values. According to a 2022 study commissioned by Google Cloud, 82% of shoppers want a brand’s values to align with their own.
Furthermore, 75% of shoppers said they’ve parted ways with a brand over conflicting values.
A manifesto is an opportunity to assure your target audience that your values align with theirs, thus building trust and customer loyalty.
10 of the Best Brand Manifesto Examples
To give you some inspiration for your own brand manifesto, here are some examples to consider.
1. Poseidon Dive Systems
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Poseidon Dive System’s manifesto appeals to its audience thirst for curiosity, freedom, and adventure.
Essentially, the company’s manifesto gives the impression that its products are designed to help consumers on their journey to explore and deeper understand the ocean.
What We Like: The manifesto uses descriptive language like “beneath the sea” and “incredible creatures” to paint the picture of an underwater world worth exploring.
In doing so, the brand describes an enticing world and tells its audience that it’s products can take them there.
2. Under Armour
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Sportswear company Under Armour’s manifesto speaks to the competitiveness of athletes or anyone on their fitness journey. However, instead of insinuating its audience competes against others, the manifesto explains the brand’s goal is to help consumers compete against themselves.
The idea is to help consumers push their own limits and become the best version of themselves.
What We Like: The manifesto adds context to Under Armour’s simple motto — overachieve.
3. Nespresso
Nespresso’s manifesto makes its clear the brand believes everyone, regardless of status, should be able to enjoy premium coffee. The manifesto includes all the right words to set the tone for the brand — “premium,” “fancy,” and “luxury.”
However, the brand quickly establishes you don’t need to break out your best suit and tie or be a coffee connoisseur to enjoy its product.
What We Like: The manifesto gives the impression that Nespresso products are luxurious yet affordable and makes Nespresso’s values clear — the company isn’t elitist. It believes everyone should have access to superb coffee.
4. Moleskine
Moleskine’s manifesto captures the beauty and art of writing with phrases like “the solemn, thoughtful, and meditative gesture of the pen gelding across a blank page.”
Whether journaling, note-taking, or outlining — writing is a personal and artistic expression.
Highlighting this in its manifesto shows Moleskine is in tune with its audience.What
What We Like: Moleskine’s manifesto shows brand consistency. The company manufactures paper and writing products, and its manifesto reflects both its products and its consumers values.
5. LET
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KIA’s manifesto doesn’t include much vivid imagery, but it lays out in plain language the company’s goal. KIA’s purpose is to deliver innovative products that are convenient and respects its consumers most valuable resource — their time.
What We Like: If you’re not one for flowery writing and overly descriptive language, this manifesto shows it’s possible to clarify your values with simple prose.
6. Nike
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Even though Nike endorses some of the biggest names in sports, like LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Serena Williams, it never boasts about how the best athletes in the world use its equipment.
Instead, Nike sticks to what has skyrocketed the brand to the top of the sports equipment industry — emotional resonance.
Nike wants people to understand that success doesn’t mean becoming the greatest of all time. It means you did everything possible to become the best possible version of yourself.
What We Like: Nike’s manifesto perfectly expresses the “why” behind its brand — to empower every athlete, regardless of their talent or ability, to reach their potential and achieve their greatness.
7. Fiat
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Fiat isn’t just selling a sleek, Italian car. It’s selling a lifestyle. In its brand manifesto, you get a glimpse of the life it wants to offer customers — a life they can live with burning passion and thrilling excitement.
However, Fiat doesn’t want its customers to live recklessly. It wants them to treasure the little things in life just as much as the big things.
So the “why” behind Fiat’s brand isn’t really changing its customers’ lifestyle — it’s changing their attitude toward life. And that’s a compelling mission to have.
What We Like: The manifesto appeals to an emotion — love. The words “love” and “passion” are used multiple times throughout its manifesto.
8. The North Face
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Most travel equipment brands focus on how its products can enable you to travel and explore your surroundings, which is engaging on the surface. But, in The North Face’s brand manifesto, it goes another layer deeper by diving into why we explore.
What We Like: By describing how exploring helps us understand ourselves better, The North Face’s purpose is crystal clear — it not only want to help us explore more and help us change for the better, lead more fulfilling lives, and cherish what we have.
9. Apple
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Steve Jobs’ bitter disdain for the status quo compelled him to shatter conventional wisdom whenever he could, driving such a significant wedge between him and his colleagues that they forced him out of the company he founded.
Despite all his controversy, though, Steve Jobs’ ability to think differently fueled Apple’s innovation and transformed it into the most valuable brand in the world.
Steve Jobs’ story is the driving force behind Apple’s purpose. If Apple can inspire people to think differently and challenge the status quo, it can help propel society forward and change the world — just like he did.
What We Like: Apple’s manifesto tells a story of misfits and the hurdles they have to overcome due to their differences. Storytelling is an excellent way to appeal to emotion.
10. Levi’s
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No one wants to coast through life. But, often, we drift away — and we don’t even notice it happening.
To help catch yourself settling in life before it’s too late, Levi’s crafted a brand manifesto overflowing with so much purpose that it could convince Eeoyre from Winnie-the-Pooh to make his mark on the world.
Levi’s manifesto encourages its audience to make the world a better better place and says all they need is their gut instinct and the clothes on their back to make that impact.
What We Like: Levi’s conveys a brand purpose almost anyone would passionately follow for the rest of their lives — don’t ever settle.
How to Write a Brand Manifesto
- Identify your organization’s “why.”
- Write in second or third-person to place your audience into your story.
- Describe how your brand’s purpose will improve people’s lives.
1. Identify your organization’s “why.”
Your brand’s purpose drives your entire brand manifesto. Without a clear and convincing purpose, your manifesto will seem like an inauthentic, emotionally manipulative sales pitch.
Your audience wants to know why they should care about you — and your product’s “best-in-class” features have never been a compelling enough reason to support a business.
To uncover your organization’s “why,” ask your founders why they started the company. What problem were they trying to solve? Why did it bug them so much? And why do they want to keep growing the company?
You’ll most likely find your organization’s purpose within those answers.
2. Write in second or third-person to place your audience into your story.
In each of the brand manifestos above, you’ll notice that the copy pulls you in by including the words “we” or “people.” That’s because Nike, Fiat, and The North Face all know audiences primarily cares about how the brands can help them.
Using pronouns like “you,” “we,” and “them” (when referring to a customer base) can engage people on a personal level and place them in the narrative the brands are crafting.
3. Describe how your brand’s purpose will improve people’s lives.
Most people aspire to transcend their current identities and lives. Self-actualization is a universal goal that almost everyone wants to achieve. And the smartest brand marketers understand this about the human condition.
For instance, did you notice how each of the brand manifestos above is a life mantra that can improve your life? Nike — define and meet your greatness. Fiat — enjoy life to the fullest. The North Face — never stop exploring. Apple — think differently and challenge the status quo. Levi’s — don’t ever settle in life.
By describing each brand’s purpose in a genuinely selfless fashion, each company’s brand manifesto can prompt audiences to imagine a future with the brand’s product or service bettering their lives.
Start with ‘Why.’
Your brand’s purpose is one of the most challenging things to pinpoint and communicate. But if you want to craft a compelling brand manifesto that will engage an audience and persuade them to support your brand, you must be able to convey the reason you exist and why anyone should care.
Only then will you be able to build the loyal following that every brand craves.