But values aren’t just an internal tool. They influence how people perceive your brand. In fact, research shows that 82% of customers prefer brands whose values align with their own, and 75% have stopped buying from a brand because of a conflict in values.
This means that your brand values not only guide your team, but also directly influence customer choices and loyalty. When your values align with those of your audience, you create a genuine sense of connection.
So how can you put this into practice? While most companies document their values internally, an increasing number are also sharing them publicly as part of their employer branding or broader brand strategy.
To inspire you, I’ve gathered 15 examples of real-world brand values that you can explore online, sorted alphabetically. While the exact wording used interally may differ slightly, these examples show the many ways in which companies bring their values to life.
1. Airbnb
Airbnb’s brand is built around the idea of belonging, fostering connections and creating a genuine sense of community. This focus is reflected in the values listed in the careers section of its website. However, the wording is quite brief, and the message would be stronger with concrete examples.
For example, what steps does Airbnb take to actively foster a sense of belonging? This could involve encouraging hosts to personalise guest experiences with local recommendations or organising neighbourhood events and cultural exchanges to bring people together.
Values
- Champion the Mission: We’re united in partnership with our community to create connection, which enables belonging.
- Be a Host: We’re caring, open, and encouraging to everyone we work with.
- Embrace the Adventure: We’re driven by open curiosity, hopeful resilience, and the belief that every person can grow.
- Be a Cereal Entrepreneur: We’re determined and creative in transforming our bold ambitions into reality.
2. Aldi
Aldi is known for its focus on high-quality products at affordable prices. The retailer wants to offer customers a convenient shopping experience without compromising quality.
Aldi’s values reflect this—briefly and clearly.
Values
- Consistency: Consistency leads to reliability. We mean what we say. We are consistent in our dealings with people, product, price and all other aspects of our day-to-day professional life.
- Simplicity: Simplicity creates efficiency, clarity and clear orientation within our organisation as well as for our customers.
- Responsibility: Responsibility drives our commitment towards our people, customers, partners and the environment. We do the right thing by adhering to principles such as fairness, honesty and openness.
3. American Express
American Express understands that trust is crucial in building its brand as a financial institution.
Its core values prioritise people and emphasise the importance of trust in every interaction. It’s about fostering strong relationships with customers and employees, guaranteeing honesty, and maintaining transparency across all operations.
Values
- We deliver for our customers: We’re driven by our commitment to deliver exceptional products, services and experiences to our customers. We value our strong customer relationships, and are defined by how well we take care of them
- We make it great: We deliver an unparalleled standard of excellence in everything we do, staying focused on the biggest opportunities to be meaningful to our customers. From our innovative products to our world-class customer service, our customers expect the best —and our teams are proud to deliver it..
- We do what’s right: Customers choose us because they trust our brand and people. We earn that trust by ensuring everything we do is reliable, consistent, and with the highest level of integrity.
- We respect people: We are a diverse and inclusive company, and serve diverse customers. We believe we are a better company when each of us feels included, valued, and able to trust colleagues who respect each of us for who we are and what we contribute to our collective success.
- We need different views: By being open to different ideas from our colleagues, customers and the world around us, we will find more ways to win.
- We win as a team: We view each other as colleagues – part of the same team, striving to deliver the brand promise to our customers and each other every day. Individual performance is essential and valued; but never at the expense of the team.
- We care about our communities: We aim to make a difference in the communities where we work and live. Our commitment to corporate social responsibility makes an impact by strengthening our connections.
4. Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s is well-known for its commitment to social activism and responsible business practices.
With a strong focus on human rights, social justice, and environmental sustainability, the brand has become a symbol of conscientious consumerism.
Ben & Jerry’s core values echo this commitment to social responsibility and environmental stewardship.
Values
- Human Rights & Dignity: We are committed to honoring the rights of all people to live with liberty, security, self-esteem, and freedom of expression and protest, and to have the opportunity to provide for their own needs and contribute to society.
- Social & Economic Justice: We are committed to achieving equity, opportunity, and justice for communities across the globe that have been historically marginalized, recognizing that this is tied to fair livelihoods that enable individuals, families, and communities to thrive.
- Environmental Protection, Restoration, & Regeneration: We are committed to a positive, life-giving environmental impact that restores degraded natural environments and enables increased diversity and abundance of ecosystems.
5. Ikea
By prioritising cost-consciousness, simplicity, and constant improvement, IKEA strives to make beautiful and functional furniture accessible to as many people as possible while minimising its environmental impact.
These values shape its products and guide its corporate culture, ensuring sustainability and affordability remain at the forefront of its operations.
Values
- Togetherness: Togetherness is at the heart of the IKEA culture. We are strongest when we trust each other, pull in the same direction and have fun together.
- Caring for people and planet: We want to be a force for positive change. We have the possibility to make a significant and lasting impact — today and for the generations to come.
- Cost-consciousness: As many people as possible should be able to afford a beautiful and functional home. We constantly challenge ourselves and others to make more from less without compromising on quality.
- Simplicity: A simple, straightforward and down-to-earth way of being is part of our Smålandic heritage. It is about being ourselves and staying close to reality. We are informal, pragmatic and see bureaucracy as our biggest enemy.
- Renew and improve: We are constantly looking for new and better ways forward. Whatever we are doing today, we can do better tomorrow. Finding solutions to almost impossible challenges is part of our success and a source of inspiration to move on to the next challenge.
- Different with a meaning: We are not like other companies and we don’t want to be. We like to question existing solutions, think in unconventional ways, experiment and dare to make mistakes – always for a good reason.
- Give and take responsibility: We believe in empowering people. Giving and taking responsibility are ways to grow and develop as individuals. Trusting each other, being positive and forward-looking inspires everyone to contribute to development.
- Lead by example: We see leadership as an action, not a position. We look for people’s values before competence and experience. People who ‘walk the talk’ and lead by example. It is about being our best self and bringing out the best in each other.
6. Innocent Drinks
Innocent Drinks is more than just a beverage company; it’s a lifestyle brand committed to increasing health, sustainability, and community.
Innocent’s core values reflect this holistic approach.
Values
- Commercial: Focus on what will help us win by knowing the part you play, getting results and celebrating along the way.
- Responsible: Keep your promises by thriving on accountability, and doing business in the right way by innocent, our drinkers, our partners and the planet.
- Natural: Know yourself and help each other grow by being authentic and self-aware, and asking for and giving feedback.
- Open-minded: Embrace change and learn quickly by adapting to the changing world and finding creative ways to solve business challenges. Be inclusive by asking for different opinions and listening with an open mind.
- Unified: Work as one team by doing what’s best for innocent, while being kind, straightforward, and respectful to each other.
7. Lego
The Lego brand was created to encourage children’s creativity and imagination through play.
This idea is expressed in Lego’s core values, which are clear and understandable, emphasising creativity, learning through play, and fostering imagination in children worldwide.
Values
- Imagination: Free play is how children develop their imagination – the foundation for creativity. Curiosity asks WHY and imagines possible explanations. Playfulness asks WHAT IF and imagines how the ordinary becomes extraordinary, fantasy or fiction. Dreaming it is a first step towards doing it.
- Creativity: Creativity is the ability to come up with ideas that are new, surprising and valuable – and it’s an essential 21st century skill. Systematic creativity is a particular form of creativity that combines logic and reasoning with playfulness and imagination.
- Fun: Fun is being active together, the thrill of an adventure, the joyful enthusiasm of children and the delight in surprising both yourself and others in what you can do or create. Fun is the happiness we experience when we are fully engaged in something that requires mastery, when our abilities are in balance with the challenge at hand and we are making progress towards a goal.
- Learning: Learning is about being curious, experimenting and collaborating – expanding our thinking and doing, helping us develop new insights and new skills. We learn through play by putting things together, taking them apart and putting them together in different ways. Building, un-building, rebuilding, thereby creating new things and developing new ways of thinking about ourselves, and the world.
- Caring: Caring is about our desire to make a positive difference in the lives of children, for our colleagues, our partners, and the world we live in. Doing that little extra, not because we have to – but because it feels right and because we care.
- Quality: For us quality means the challenge of continuous improvement to provide the best play material, the best for children and their development and the best to our community and partners. From a reputation for manufacturing excellence to becoming trusted by all – we believe in quality that speaks for itself and earns us the recommendation of all.
8. Microsoft
Microsoft aims to democratise access to its products and services, empowering every individual and organisation worldwide to achieve more.
However, with such a broad mission, the company could really benefit from clearly articulating its core values.
I mean, respect, accountability, and integrity are pretty much standard expectations for any company. Why not go deeper and define how these values play out specifically within Microsoft’s culture and operations?
Values
- Respect: We recognize that the thoughts, feelings, and backgrounds of others are as important as our own.
- Integrity: We are honest, ethical, and trustworthy.
- Accountability: We accept full responsibility for our decisions, actions, and results.
9. Patagonia
Patagonia is a prime example of a value-driven brand. I’ve come to think that maybe its success is also partially due to its detailed explanation and relevance of its core values.
The company has done a really good job, see for yourself.
Values
- Quality: Build the best product, provide the best service and constantly improve everything we do. The best product is useful, versatile, long-lasting, repairable and recyclable. Our ideal is to make products that give back to the Earth as much as they take.
- Integrity: Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes and meet our commitments. We value integrity in both senses: that our actions match our words (we walk the talk), and that all of our work contributes to a functional whole (our sum is greater than our parts).
- Environmentalism: Protect our home planet. We’re all part of nature, and every decision we make is in the context of the environmental crisis challenging humanity. We work to reduce our impact, share solutions and embrace regenerative practices. We partner with grassroots organizations and frontline communities to restore lands, air and waters to a state of health; to arrest our addiction to fossil fuels; and to address the deep connections between environmental destruction and social justice.
- Justice: Be just, equitable and antiracist as a company and in our community. We embrace the work necessary to create equity for historically marginalized people and reorder the priorities of an economic system that values short-term expansion over human well-being and thriving communities. We acknowledge painful histories, confront biases, change our policies and hold each other accountable. We aspire to be a company where people from all backgrounds, identities and experiences have the power to contribute and lead.
- Not bound by convention: Do it our way. Our success—and much of the fun—lies in developing new ways to do things.
10. Peleton
Peloton adopts a different strategy, presenting its core values as short phrases without explanations.
While the wording is precise, it should provide more depth and context needed to be actionable. These values would suit just as well to an advertising agency or a sneaker manufacturer.
Values
- Put members first
- Operate with a bias for action
- Empower teams of smart creatives
- Be the best place to work
- Together we go far
11. Salesforce
Salesforce is dedicated to transforming how businesses operate and engage with their customers. It has a strong focus on equality and people. These are the company’s core values:
Values
- Trust: We act as trusted advisors. We earn the trust of our customers, employees, and extended family through transparency, security, compliance, privacy, and performance. And we deliver the industry’s most trusted infrastructure.
- Customer Success: When our customers succeed, we succeed. So we champion them to achieve extraordinary things. We innovate and expand our business offerings to provide all our stakeholders with new avenues to achieve ever greater success.
- Innovation: We innovate together. Our customers’ input helps us develop products that best serve their business needs. Providing continual technology releases and new initiatives gives our customers a competitive advantage.
- Equality: Everyone deserves equal opportunities. We believe everyone should be seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed. Hearing diverse perspectives fuels innovation, deepens connections between people, and makes us a better company.
- Sustainability: We lead boldly to address the climate emergency. We are committed to bringing the full power of Salesforce to accelerate the world’s journey to net zero.
12. Samsung
Samsung’s brand stands for innovation, quality, and reliability across a range of products and services.
I like how Samsung’s core values convey the brand’s personality. The values sound inspirational and passionate, giving off a feeling of what it’s like to work at the company.
Values
- People: Quite simply, a company is its people. At Samsung, we’re dedicated to giving our people a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential.
- Excellence: Everything we do at Samsung is driven by an unyielding passion for excellence and an unfaltering commitment to develop the best products and services to the market.
- Change: As we have done since our foundation, we set our sights on the future, anticipating market needs and demands so we can steer our company toward long-term success.
- Integrity: Operating in an ethical way is the foundation of our business. Everything we do is guided by a moral compass that ensures fairness, respect for all stakeholders and complete transparency.
- Co-Prosperity: Samsung is committed to becoming a socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen in all of its communities worldwide.
13. Starbucks
The Starbucks core values seem a little wordy to me. When it comes to brand values, clarity takes priority over creative language. They should be simple and easy to understand.
Values
- Craft: We delight in the rigor of the details—no matter what our job is. We learn and teach in the pursuit of growth. We deliver excellence with passion and creativity.
- Courage: We embrace the difficult conversations, with respect, to make us better. We pursue audacious ideas beyond our comfort zone. We do the right thing, even when it’s hard.
- Results: We consistently achieve our goals with focus, integrity, and drive. We continuously innovate to stay ahead. We exceed the expectations of the people we serve.
- Belonging: We actively listen and connect with warmth and transparency. We recognize every person for who they are. We treat each other with dignity and care.
- Joy: We take pride in our work and have fun while doing it. We celebrate each other and our wins. We create great vibes to bring the best out of others.
14. The Guardian
The Guardian’s display of its core values reminds of Peloton’s, but it feels more appropriate and understandable in this context.
Values
Our values were set out by CP Scott in his centenary leader in 1921. They are: honesty, integrity, courage, fairness, and a sense of duty to the reader and the community.
Our values and behaviours provide the basis of how we work together, how we communicate and what we should expect from each other.
- We foster a supportive and open culture
- We are curious and innovative, prepared to fail and willing to learn
- We embrace diversity, champion inclusivity and treat everyone with respect
- We strive for excellence to pursue the best interests of our audience and our colleagues
- We stand up for what we believe is right, not what is easy
15. Volkswagen
Our final example is Volkswagen. It’s an intriguing one, especially considering its emissions scandal.
Despite this, the company maintains a strong focus on sustainability. I think that, in combination with “community,” its core values sound quite inspirational and actionable.
Values
- Sustainability: Every mile counts on the road to carbon neutrality. We’re committed to increasing our use of renewable energy and reducing our carbon footprint.
- Community: We see citizenship as a verb. That’s why we aim to play an active role in making every community safer, smarter, and more fun to live in each year.
Summary
Now for the exciting part! Below, I have compiled a table summarising all brand values mentioned, neatly sorted from A to Z, along with the corresponding companies.
Here we go:
| Value | Companies |
|---|---|
| Belonging / Community | Airbnb, Starbucks, Volkswagen |
| Responsibility / Integrity | Aldi, American Express, Microsoft, Patagonia, Samsung, The Guardian |
| Simplicity / Clarity | Aldi, IKEA |
| Cost-consciousness / Efficiency | Aldi, IKEA |
| Creativity / Imagination | Airbnb, Lego, Starbucks |
| Fun / Joy | Lego, Starbucks |
| Caring / Respect | Airbnb, American Express, IKEA, Lego, Innocent Drinks |
| Environmental sustainability | Ben & Jerry’s, IKEA, Lego, Patagonia, Salesforce, Samsung, Volkswagen |
| Justice / Equality / Diversity | American Express, Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, Salesforce, The Guardian |
| Excellence / Quality | American Express, Lego, Patagonia, Samsung, Starbucks |
| Openness / Curiosity | Airbnb, American Express, Innocent Drinks, Lego, The Guardian |
| Teamwork / Togetherness | American Express, IKEA, Innocent Drinks, Peloton |
| Accountability / Responsibility-taking | Aldi, Microsoft, Innocent Drinks |
| Innovation / Change | American Express, IKEA, Salesforce, Samsung, The Guardian |
| Courage / Adventure | Airbnb, Starbucks, The Guardian |
| Leadership / Empowerment | IKEA, Peloton |
| Customer focus | American Express, Salesforce, Peloton |
| Social responsibility / Community impact | Ben & Jerry’s, American Express, Innocent Drinks, Samsung, Volkswagen |
Last words
Reflecting on the 15 brand values we’ve explored in this article, it’s clear that some brands articulate their core values more clearly than others.
Integrity and sustainability are among the most common values. But ultimately, what matters is what they mean to the company specifically.
Crafting your brand’s values involves more than listing couple of traits. It’s about creating a compass that will guide, inspire and motivate your team towards shared goals.
So, make your values meaningful. Use clear language and real examples to bring them to life and make them actionable.
When I develop brand strategies for my clients, I always include practical ways to live out those values, ensuring they become behaviours, not just words.
If you’re ready to refine your brand strategy and core values, let’s talk.
Title image by Min An
