Mission Vision Values Essence Promise

Over the years, many business executives have asked me what the difference is between mission, vision, values, essence, promise and other statements of strategic intent. Here is my summary of that.

Strategy Component	Definition	Form
Mission	The organization’s reason for existing	7 to 25 words
Vision	What the organization wants to become – forward looking, aspirational, inspirational	7 to 15 words
Values	What an organization believes in and how its people should behave	5 to 10 core values in words or phrases
Brand Essence	The “heart and soul” of the brand, its timeless quality	Three words in the form “Adjective adjective noun”
Brand Promise	The one or two things the brand promises its target audiences that is/are very important to those audiences and unique to the brand	In the form, “Only [brand] delivers [one or two benefits] to [target audience]”
Brand Archetype	The pattern or model that underlies the brand, especially regarding its motivations and behaviors	Choosing the brand’s primary and secondary archetypes
Brand Personality	Describing the brand as if it were a person	7 to 12 adjectives

© 2015 by Brad VanAuken

For more information on this and other brand management and marketing terms, refer to Brand Aid, available here.