This is the session deck for Reimagine, the fourth bi-weekly Zoom in the IRG program run with the Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative. Its subject is the aspirational role of business, and it moves from what purpose has become to what leaders have to do to make it real.
Key findings
- The deck traces an evolution in what companies claim. Brand positioning rests on product benefits, purposeful positioning on emotional benefits, and purpose on the positive impact in the world.
- Pride in a company’s purpose is widespread, but it does not carry through to decisions. The deck contrasts 90 percent against 26 percent on being proud of the company’s purpose, and 71 percent against 7 percent on whether purpose guides all strategic decision-making.
- The session states plainly that the idea has been damaged in use. Purpose is described as misunderstood, misused and abused.
- The working definition offered is purpose as value creation for all stakeholders, rather than as a statement about the company.
Three places purpose can come from
The deck sorts the aspirational role into three types. Competency-based purpose grows out of what the company is good at. Culture-based purpose grows out of how it works. Cause-based purpose starts from the cause itself.
It also uses purpose as a strategic filter, which is the test the second statistic measures. A purpose that does not filter decisions is not doing the work the deck asks of it.
The leadership implications
The how of it has three parts: making strategic choices, living it from within, and integrating it into strategy.
Embedding follows a sequence of four steps. Build awareness, build belief, make it real, and form a coalition.
The deck asks leaders to lead by behaviors and example, naming leading change, building talent, collaborating and influencing, acting strategically and driving results, with attitudes that are courageous, open-minded, optimistic, authentic and future-focused.
How the session runs
The ninety minutes are split between IRG’s own learning, a practitioner account, a coached breakout and a debrief. Alessandro Manfredi and Nicolas Maitret are listed as contributors, with Jonathan Knowles and Cindy Tervoort appearing on the closing slides.
The session sits in the develop phase of the program year, between the connect meetings in New York and Oxford in January and the launch at Cannes in June. The next session moves on to building holistic strategy, and participants leave with key take outs and implications for their own plan.
Scope and limitations
The deck is teaching material for a closed cohort. The percentage pairs are shown as contrasts without the underlying base being stated on the slide.
Source
This page summarises Zoom Session 4: Reimagine – Aspirational Role of Business, by IRG, Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative, 2025-03-19.