SCIENCE AND MAGIC BEHIND BRAND ARCHITECTURE

 

Brand Architecture maybe the most misunderstood concept in branding.

As a business professional, you’re probably familiar with the term “Brand”. You may also be conversant with the expression of a brand through your “Brand Identity.” But we find that many professional services leaders are far less familiar with “brand architecture” and all that it implies.

If brand architecture is a blind spot in your firm, it can cost you big time. In this post, I cover the basics so you can be prepared to navigate these tricky waters and make better decisions for your firm.

Brand Architecture Defined

Brand architecture is essentially a blueprint. It refers to the structure of brands within an organization. Think of it as a hierarchy, a way of considering the relationship among brands and sub-brands. Brand architecture provides structural clarity and helps both employees and clients better understand the most important components of your brand and how they interrelate.

Companies typically have a main brand for the overall organization. They may also have related sub-brands or one or more independent brands. How these various entities fit together and are positioned in the marketplace is the essence of brand architecture.

Brand architecture is about managing change. It has both internal and external implications. From the outside, it can help people make sense of a multidimensional organization and differentiate a firm’s key services. Internally, brand architecture has value as a business strategy tool. For example, brand architecture usually comes up in the context of a transition, such as:

·         The launch of a new product or service line

·         A merger or acquisition

·         Firm rebranding or repositioning

·         Preparation for a liquidity event

Brand architecture is an important value driver in these kinds of common situations, so it deserves strategic attention. In this post I’ll examine the basic approaches to brand architecture and the advantages of each as well as key considerations in choosing a Brand Architecture Strategy that’s right for your professional services firm.

Brand Architecture and Your Growth Strategy

The true role of brand architecture may not be obvious at first to many professional services management teams. That’s because it affects so many areas of your growth strategy.

For example, brand architecture impacts a firm’s organic growth strategy and firm profitability. Of course, your firm’s ability to grow and its profitability impact the value of your firm.

There are other strategic considerations as well. For example, your decisions can affect your ability to leverage a new acquisition or sell a subsidiary. These have a profound effect on the success of your merger and acquisition strategy.

Before we get into the three basic brand architecture options, let’s take a closer look at some key brand architecture terms and concepts:

·        Firm Brand

·        Sub-Brand

·        Product Brand

Developing Your Brand Architecture

·        Business Strategy

·        Audience Overlap

·        Brand Positioning

·        Brand Permission

·        Brand Building

How Brand Research Drives Brand Architecture — and More

The answer is brand research. Studies show that firms that conduct brand research grow faster and are more profitable, on average, than firms that do not. Brand research can give you solid answers to questions you were guessing at before — the differentiators that matter most to your clients, say, or the services they would most like to see you offer. In short, brand research can inform what services to offer and how to offer them. Better understanding your brand positioning goes a long way toward helping you develop the right brand architecture.

But wait, there’s more. Brand research can improve the go-to-market strategy for all your brands. A thoughtful, well researched go-to-market strategy will help you better connect with potential clients, offer a compelling value proposition, clearly distinguish your firm from the competition, and deliver on everything you promise.

By now you should have a pretty good idea why effective brand architecture is important. The benefits it can provide contribute directly to the bottom line. And it can even be the difference between success and failure.