You’re looking to create a brand architecture. How can you find the best tools for the job?

I refuse to answer these stupid AI generated pseudo questions, and just because some algorithm has selected me for my expertise, I remain unflattered. Ninety percent of these AI questions don't actually make sense anyway. Oh, And I don't value LInkedIn giving me a Top Brand Strategy Voice badge. I'm not at nursery school.

Einstein said that if he had an hour to solve a problem, he'd spend the first 55 minutes understanding the problem. It's quite amazing how little effort brands spend in properly identifying and understanding the problem. This could be because of fear of dwelling on whats perceived to be 'negative' or a 'weakness'. Well thats poppycock! Come without fear with a clear explanation of the problem - and you're much more likely to find a solution. Be like Einstein.

To find the best tools for creating brand architecture, consider platforms like Brandfolder, Frontify, or Bynder. Evaluate their features, usability, and customization options. Look for tools that support the organization, visualization, and consistency of your brand elements. Reviews, demos, and trial versions can aid in making an informed decision based on your specific brand architecture needs.

?? You don't "create" a brand architecture. You map out the relationship between current and future services/products to help the market understand how their arrangement and interaction work together. This is silly question. Please stop contributing to these AI generated questions. And LinkedIn, please don't algorithmically penalize me. ??

Creating a brand architecture helps you define your identity, communicate your value, and differentiate yourself from the competition. - Research your target audience and competitors. Understand their needs, preferences, and perceptions. - Choose a brand architecture strategy that suits your goals and vision. Such as monolithic, endorsed, or sub-branded - Use a brand architecture framework to organize your brand elements and relationships. Your brand name, logo, tagline to create a coherent and consistent identity. - Test and refine your brand architecture with feedback from stakeholders and customers. Make sure your brand architecture is clear, relevant, and appealing to your target audience and aligns with your business objectives.

Conduct market research to understand your target audience and competitive landscape. Consider various brand architecture models, such as branded houses, houses of brands, or hybrid models, and evaluate their suitability for your business goals and brand portfolio. Collaborate with stakeholders, including marketing teams, designers, and executives, to brainstorm and assess different strategies. Additionally, seek inspiration from successful brands across industries and analyze their approaches to brand architecture. Experiment with different scenarios through mock-ups, prototypes, or pilot programs to test the effectiveness of each option before making a final decision.

Evaluating brand architecture involves assessing how well it supports a company's goals & the clarity it provides to customers & consumers. Brand Managers must ensure the brand elements are consistent across all products or services. There's sufficient insights to see if the relationships between different products influences consumers purchasing decisions. Assess if the architecture aligns with the company's overall strategic goals and future plans.

A escolha entre a arquitetura de marcas a ser utilizada passa por quanto de budget há disponível para investimento em cada marca - uma arquitetura monolítica permite que uma única comunica??o beneficie todas elas, já a casa de marcas demanda comunica??o direcionada marca a marca. Outro ponto é saber a elasticidade da marca para extens?es, por exemplo, criando uma arquitetura que já considere isso, se aplicável

Manage the portfolio of companies as per their individual aspirations but also the keeping the thought of the parent brand in mind. Use something like an altered version of the Boston Box matrix/ BCG matrix and understand where each brand lies in their brand positioning top down. Be it diversification in a horizontal manner of brands or with a vertical chaining, it depends on the core objectives.

Choosing a specific architectural model significantly impacts resulting brands, affecting both development processes and subsequent brand management. For example: A 'house of brands' typically consists of 'marketing brands,' primarily developed and managed from a market perspective, with a limited or moderate impact on internal stakeholders, corporate culture, and overall corporate strategy. In contrast, the 'branded house' approach embodies a 'full brand' with substantial influence in the market and significant impact on corporate culture and strategy. This requires heightened involvement from top management.

I see a lot of people saying the classic generalized “data” as what you need. Whatever that means… I disagree. Start with what conclusions you’re hoping to foster in the minds of your customer profiles. Your company is here for a reason — what should these individuals expect from you? Your service? Your product? Start with your value propositions. Your brand architecture should replicate how your audience will experience your value proposition. Then expand and identify the emotions you’re striving to invoke throughout the entire lifecycle of one’s interaction with all touch points of your business. The architecture of your brand will need to be validated by your market anyway.

Tools for Brand Strategy: 1) Lucidchart 2) BrandMatters 3) Miro (my personal favourite) Tools for Research & Analytics: 1) SurveyMonkey/Typeform: For surveys and questionnaires. 2) Google Analytics: For data on website traffic, user behavior, and conversions. 3) Brandwatch: For social listening & tracking brand mentions, etc. Tools for Brand Management: 1) Brandfolder 2) Bynder 3) Frontify (my personal favourite) Tools for Productivity/Collaboration: 1) ClickUp: For organising and tracking brand architecture development tasks and milestones via boards, lists, and cards to manage workflows. 2) Slack: For real-time messaging, file sharing, and team discussions. Tools for CRM: 1) Salesforce 2) HubSpot

Brand architecture should reflect the way consumers interact with your category, not how your company organises its functions. These are the 3 questions you should ask: 1. How different are the audiences for the different products or brands you offer? 2. How different is the audience behaviour across brands? 3. What resources do you have? Building newer sub-brands/ endorsed brands requires additional investments, as opposed to building just one master brand

Utilize customer surveys, focus groups, and social media analytics to understand your audience's preferences and perceptions. Identify your brand's key attributes and values that resonate with your target audience. Then, map out a hierarchical structure for your brand portfolio, ensuring each product or service aligns with your overarching brand identity while catering to specific consumer needs. Regularly revisit and refine your brand architecture based on ongoing data analysis to stay responsive to market changes and consumer preferences.

Decisions on Brand Architecture must be based on data and insights. Brand Managers are encouraged to use market research to analyze market trends & competitor strategies to see if the current architecture aligns with industry standards & meets consumer and customers expectations. Also, sales data and performance metrics can be reviewed and analyzed for each product/service to see if the architecture is positively impacting business, and supports the future sustainable plans.

Indulge in stakeholder interviews or workshops to gather insights, perspectives, and expectations. Engage with them in discussions about your brand's mission, values, target audience, and positioning. Encourage open dialogue and collaboration to ensure alignment with stakeholders' interests and objectives. Incorporate their feedback throughout the brand development process to foster a sense of ownership and commitment. By actively involving stakeholders, you can leverage diverse viewpoints to create a brand architecture that resonates with your audience and reflects the collective vision of your organization.

Em minha experiência com projetos de arquitetura de marca encontrei algumas vezes marcas fantasmas. Sim, marcas que tinham um naming, mas que os funcionários usavam muito mais a forma contraída, chamavam por outro nome, davam apelidos. Já aconteceu de falar o nome oficial da marca e algumas pessoas nem saberem de que produto se tratava. Por isso, pontuo 2 situa??es: a primeira é conhecer esse cenário, fazer entrevistas, conversar com as pessoas da empresa para saber como chamam as marcas no dia a dia. A segunda é fazer uma boa ativa??o de marca internamente, principalmente quando há mudan?a de marca, para que a nova marca n?o se torne apenas um fantasma ou um projeto bonito que n?o deslanchou.

Stakeholders should always have a say in the future of a brand architecture. The stakeholders include not only the shareholder, but also the entire team, and also the core user group. Make sure that there is alignment before such an important decision.

Involving stakeholders in brand architecture is crucial because it grounds the strategy in human insights, not just data. By weaving in diverse perspectives from both internal and external stakeholders, the brand architecture becomes more than a theoretical framework—it evolves into a human-centric, actionable blueprint that resonates with the very people it aims to engage and inspire.

En todo proceso de creación de marca y/o producto es vital la comunicación con las partes intervinientes o interesadas para determinar las condiciones finales en cuanto a especificaciones de adaptación a la idea conceptual y publico o mercado objetivo. Todo proceso de construcción requiere de altos niveles de comunicación y compromiso de todas las partes para que el producto final sea de acurdo común y que nos acerque al ideal propuesto.

Iterate on your solution based on the insights gained from feedback from customers, stakeholders, and experts through surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Analyze the data collected once again and conduct A/B testing or pilot programs to assess different variations. Continuously iterate until you achieve a brand architecture that resonates with your target audience and effectively communicates your brand values.

Hoy en día la marca tiene que tener claro su propuesta y posicionamiento para lo que es importante la definicion de su identidad antes de impleme tarla pero es posible cierta evolución para lo que la escucha es importante pero no hay que cometer el error de perder lo que hace a una marca lo que es, su esencia.

Testing and refining are the final, critical steps in my approach to brand architecture. It's about bringing my vision to life, albeit in a controlled environment first. Prototypes and mock-ups serve as my sandbox, allowing me to see the brand architecture in action across various contexts and channels. But I don't stop there. Feedback loops and A/B testing become my compass, guiding me toward the most effective and efficient version of the brand architecture. This iterative process isn't just about meeting goals; it's about exceeding expectations, ensuring that when I finally unveil the brand architecture, it's not just ready for the market—it's ready to lead it.

Prototype. It's important to test your solution. Find a Beta environment that can test your solution with rigor. Within a real life context. There is no replacement for that ever.

The refinement of brand architecture must be a continuous process, responding to evolving markets, competition, and consumer needs. Establishing mechanisms for regular updates ensures the brand stays relevant and aligned with strategic goals. Engaging stakeholders—employees, partners, customers, and suppliers—provides critical insights, fostering a cycle of improvement. This approach, emphasizing ongoing adaptation and inclusive feedback, helps brands maintain their market position and strengthen connections with their audience, ensuring long-term success and resonance.

Prototyping. it allows for the tangible visualisation of brand concepts and elements before full-scale implementation. Whether they are visual mock-ups, digital simulations, or physical models, brands can test and refine their architectural elements, ensuring they align with the overall brand strategy and resonate with the target audience. This will no only save you time and resources by identifying potential issues early on but also foster innovation and creativity, leading to a more cohesive and impactful brand architecture. Making things real makes them important and helps people engage more.

In my mind, chapter 0 would be to ground the thinking in the Brand Strategy! I worked on the portfolio of a stunning champagne brand and rooted everything in the strategic work which had been done prior. I was lucky to have inherited some powerful wording which proved very inspiring to create coherent segments within the ranges and the wider brand universe. In terms of stakeholders, talking to people in the field proved invaluable - they were the ones struggling to talk about the business with clarity and simplicity - and were finding it hard to comprehend the rhyme or reason behing some upcoming innovations. The result was a portfolio structure truly ownable, easy to grasp & explain and which set the scene for the future.

Curating a distinctive brand architecture demands tailored tools. Airbnb chose Frontify for cohesive asset management, ensuring unity across diverse offerings. Meanwhile, Spotify embraced Brandfolder to harmonize varied visual elements, exemplifying the impact of strategic tool choices in crafting memorable brand identities. Explore platforms aligning with your brand nuances to make an impactful choice.

Brand architecture organizes a company's brand portfolio, enhancing clarity and market targeting. It enables efficient brand management and leverages brand equity. Apple adopts a Branded House approach, linking products like the iPhone and MacPro closely to the Apple master brand, strengthening brand identity. Marriott uses an Endorsed Brand Architecture, with hotel brands like Ritz-Carlton and Courtyard linked to Marriott, capitalizing on its reputation.

Manage the portfolio of companies as per their individual aspirations but also the keeping the thought of the parent brand in mind. Use something like an altered version of the Boston Box matrix/ BCG matrix and understand where each brand lies in their brand positioning top down. Be it diversification in a horizontal manner of brands or with a vertical chaining, it depends on the core objectives.