Purpose, Insight, Connection
Bridging brand purpose with human insight through creative connection.
Great brands don't just sell—they connect. Purpose, Insight, Connection is Goodby Silverstein's model for building campaigns that bridge what a brand believes with what people actually care about. Purpose is your north star. Insight is the human truth. Connection is the creative spark that brings them together. Simple, emotional, effective.
Purpose
Why does your brand exist beyond making money? What do you believe about the world, your category, or your customers? Purpose is your organizing principle—the thing that guides every decision.
Example (Got Milk?): "Milk is essential to everyday life—not glamorous, but necessary. We believe in celebrating the ordinary rituals that hold life together."
Insight
A deep human truth about your audience. Not what they say they want—what they actually feel. The emotional reality that your brand can address.
Example (Got Milk?): "You don't appreciate milk until you need it and it's not there. The absence is more powerful than the presence."
Connection
The creative idea that brings Purpose and Insight together. The campaign platform. The moment where what you believe meets what they feel—expressed in a way that's memorable and unexpected.
Example (Got Milk?): Show moments of desperate need—eating a peanut butter sandwich, chocolate chip cookies, brownies—without milk. Make people feel the absence.
Purpose without Insight is just mission statement fluff. Insight without Purpose is just observation. Connection is where brand strategy becomes human storytelling. Goodby Silverstein understood that the best work lives at the intersection of what brands stand for and what people actually care about.
Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein founded Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco in 1983. The agency quickly became known for emotional, human, unexpected work—California storytelling with strategic rigor underneath.
In 1993, the agency created "Got Milk?" for the California Milk Processor Board. The campaign became a cultural phenomenon—spawning parodies, merchandise, and over 350 licensed variations. It ran for 20 years and increased milk sales in California for the first time in a decade.
The Purpose, Insight, Connection framework emerged from how Goodby Silverstein approached strategic planning. They weren't interested in dry briefs or feature lists—they wanted to find the emotional truth that connected brand purpose to human need.
1990s San Francisco: The Bay Area was becoming a creative center—not just for tech, but for advertising. Goodby Silverstein brought West Coast sensibility to brand strategy: more emotional, more human, less corporate than New York or London shops.
The Milk Problem: Milk consumption was declining. Everyone knew milk was healthy, but no one cared. Traditional advertising focused on benefits—calcium, vitamins, strong bones. It wasn't working. Goodby Silverstein flipped the script: instead of showing why you should drink milk, they showed what happens when you can't.
Deprivation Strategy: The insight was brilliant—milk's value isn't in its presence, it's in its absence. The campaign made people feel that absence viscerally. A guy with a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich, desperately reaching for an empty milk carton. Pure emotional truth.
Why It Endures: Purpose, Insight, Connection works because it forces alignment between brand belief and human reality. Too many campaigns start with product features or business objectives. This framework starts with why the brand exists and who it serves—then finds the creative idea that bridges them. That's timeless.