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The Saturday email your competitors hope you never find. (One coffee. Zero fluff.)

Monday Morning Bonus: Why your mission statement isn’t working

Published about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Reader

Here's your Monday Morning Bonus:

Most mission statements are corporate word salads.

Truth: customers buy from someone who speaks like a human.

Instead, if you're like many companies,
you’re writing language committees approve of.

Not language customers remember.

The proof:

  • Oatly called the dairy industry liars.
    → $10B valuation
  • Liquid Death made water feel illegal.
    → $1.4B valuation
  • Gentle Monster built stores so wild
    people forgot they were buying glasses.
    → Lines out the door

None of them led with a mission statement.

They led with something people could feel.
​And instantly understand.

If your message needs a translator,
it’s not clear enough.

Your 5-minute bonus assignment:

Find one phrase on your site
that everyone internally agrees on.

Now, ask a customer what it means.

If their eyes glaze over, delete it.
​
Immediately. (And order some Lo Mein to go.)

—
David Brier
Making boring brands extinct

P.S. Customers don’t reward polished language.
They reward clarity they can feel.

Have great week.

The Saturday email your competitors hope you never find. (One coffee. Zero fluff.)

by David Brier, Bestselling Author and Rebranding Expert

I'm David Brier—the guy CEOs call when they've burned so much cash on marketing, their spouses think they have a coke habit. I'm like rehab for your brand, except instead of getting you clean, I get you profitable. Think of me as the Betty Ford Clinic of branding, but with better ROI and no group hugs. (Explains why I wrote the bestseller Brand Intervention that Daymond John calls "Genius.")

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