Claridge Products is a leading manufacturer of whiteboards and office furniture. Good, solid, reliable stuff. They came to us with a vision for a new brand. A sister brand, if you will. A sophisticated, chic sister brand. A brand designed to change minds—and a lot of them. Specifically, the minds of high-end interior designers and architects. People who spec $20K whiteboards for the Fortune 100 set. An audience who, very rightly, sees Claridge products as better suited to schools than Salesforce.com’s new digs.

We put too much emphasis on “arriving at” a brand purpose—like it’s a finish line. When really, brand purpose simply articulates an idea to which your brand will be devoted. It’s not a finish line, it’s a starting line. And everything you do from that point on—everything you do to make your purpose a reality—is what will differentiate your brand. Purpose or no, brands differentiate themselves by what they DO. Purpose provides direction and gives meaning to what you do. But it does not replace the doing. It’s the doing that differentiates you.

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae.

There have been only two projects in my more-than-20-year career in advertising that have made me cry. This was one of them. I should say they were tears of joy, or pride, really. It’s rare in this line of work that an opportunity to do good comes along. Mostly, we’re here to help our clients make money. For this project, our client wanted to give it away.

As a father of three boys, I’ve been lucky enough to coach little league baseball in our hometown for more than a few seasons. So when the league was looking for a volunteer to freshen up its logo as part of a broader effort to increase participation, we were excited to step up to the plate. (That’s right, I went there.)