Building a Better Working World: Connect a Purpose Line with Questions People Can Use

Read the campaign story

EY announced its shortened global brand name, revised logo and Building a Better Working World purpose on 1 July 2013. The corporate release explicitly made the purpose central to the brand. Endpoint’s implementation account identifies BrandPie’s rebrand and describes adapting signage guidance for the new identity. Those production records document communication work, not a verdict that the organisation achieved the purpose.

A World Media Group entry shortlisted in 2017 describes the later Better Questions media programme, including a film and editorial partnerships intended to broaden understanding of EY’s services. Its award year is not treated as the origin of the 2013 platform. The purpose, identity and related questioning expressions remain one family here. Agency-entered reach and effectiveness figures are not adopted as independent causal evidence.

Editorial interpretation: an expansive purpose can provide continuity across many services, but it risks being too distant from the audience’s next decision. A question is a useful intermediate form because it can make uncertainty concrete without promising an answer before investigation. The question must be relevant enough to invite thought and specific enough that a reader can identify what evidence would help. Otherwise it is merely a headline with a question mark.

Editorial interpretation: a visual identity makes a changed organisation recognisable, while editorial content explains what the change means. These are related but different tasks. Consistent signage does not demonstrate service quality, and an interesting article does not prove that every office applies the stated purpose. A credible platform should make it easier to examine actual practices rather than allowing polished communication to stand in for them.

Turn the purpose into a question with a practical boundary

Start with a decision the audience genuinely faces, then identify the uncertainty that prevents a useful next step. Avoid questions so broad that any answer would fit or so leading that they merely disguise a sales claim. A small professional team can draft several questions and ask an unfamiliar reader what information would be needed to answer each one. Keep the question separate from the organisation’s preferred solution. The strongest editorial invitation helps the reader think more clearly even if they do not become a client.

Give the reader evidence rather than a performance of curiosity

A question-led article should do more than celebrate asking questions. Explain the relevant facts, assumptions and competing interpretations, and show where the evidence is incomplete. Attribute external ideas and distinguish sponsored material from independent editorial judgement. If a case example is used, obtain permission and keep the described result within what is documented. The reader should be able to challenge the reasoning. That makes the content useful in a professional decision rather than simply making the provider appear thoughtful through an attractive rhetorical device.

Connect the external promise with observable internal practice

Identify a small operational behaviour that would make the purpose credible, such as explaining scope clearly or recording unresolved assumptions before an engagement. Do not claim that a new visual system itself changes culture. Review whether different teams can describe the same practical commitment in their own work and where they need support to deliver it. For a campaign, distinguish a documented practice from an intended future improvement. An ambitious line can remain aspirational while the organisation is precise about what people can currently expect.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: an adult professional-learning group could compare two original one-page guides to choosing a meeting format. One begins with a broad statement about better collaboration; the other begins with a specific question about the decision the meeting must enable. Both contain the same facts, limitations and alternatives. Use a fictional scenario and no client material, employee assessment or claims about regulated professional advice.

Measure whether readers can identify the decision, describe missing evidence and choose an appropriate next investigation. Separate interest in the headline from confidence warranted by the guide, without claiming workplace or commercial improvement.

Stop if the question conceals an unsupported guarantee, the guide implies independent endorsement or readers confuse an aspiration with a verified service commitment.

• Make the question answerable with the information provided.
• Include an alternative that does not require the provider’s service.
• Label assumptions and one unresolved issue.