Brand purpose isn’t just a slogan or a mission. Just as the subprime mortgage crisis was turning into the Great Recession, I was asked to remake the iconic This Old House, the original home improvement brand, which included television shows, websites, a magazine, and other businesses. By the time I got the keys, This Old House had been around long enough to be satirized on SNL and in the New Yorker and have its various hosts appear on Saturday morning cartoons and Sesame Street.