Clarity is key to building brands – across target groups and stakeholders, over time, geographies and from corporate to product levels. Developing a relevant, distinct and attractive brand identity derived from a strategic positioning is the fundament for translating a concept into brand touchpoints and actual experiences.
A well thought-through brand architecture guides stakeholders to understand and find the value potential for them. Internally, it guides teams to work ‘customer-first’ instead of ‘product first’.
Ideally, the brand architecture is developed based on a full brand mapping and considering the company’s strategy as well as competitive field and most importantly the customer / consumer perspective. In addition, as many corporations are transforming, brand architecture needs to make visible what’s new and different. Therefore, new and exciting portfolio areas such as wind power, circular products or cloud based solutions need to be integrated and highlighted through structures, programs, naming systems and design elements.
However, especially in global, huge and complex B2B corporations, often grown via M&A, you need to take confident assumptions and shape an architecture based on general directional decisions. Most importantly brand architecture transformation needs to be seen as a long-term game and not a quick fix. Hybrid architecture structures between House of Brands and Branded House co-exist in most organizations.