brand architecture

When we design a certain brand or carry out any branding project, we often find ourselves with the need to devise it with the greatest possible care and organization. For this reason, many of the designs that we usually find in the brand market are distributed according to their more physical or psychological characteristics.

In order to distribute them well, a plan or a way of locating them was devised according to what each of them reflected, that is why in this post, we come to talk to you about brand architecture and how it has influenced the graphic design and digital marketing sector.

We start

Brand architecture: what is it?

Brand architecture is defined as the representation of the logical order that a brand can impose on the minds of its consumers. In this way, it is possible to structure a company in the market and position it in the most exemplary way possible.

It is also defined and known as a strategy or a creative plan, since in this way, we managed to better position our brand in a much faster and easier way. Likewise, we not only manage to grow, but also that our target audience knows our objectives better.

For this reason, it is very important to keep it in mind every time we carry out an identity project. Since many times, we design brands without any context to highlight, without objectives, without previous functions, without an image to offer to others. All this changes for the better when we use the brand structure as the main mechanism.

General characteristics

There are a series of levels, to summarize it better, there are a total of 3 levels that help brand architects to differentiate and order brands and projects within a specific organization:

• Trademark: When we talk about trademark, we are talking about a series of products and services offered by a company once we have designed the brand. For this reason, whenever we talk about a commercial brand, we take into account aspects such as the public we are going to address, and the visual image that we are going to offer to our specific sector.
• Corporate brand: This is where the whole part of the design and development of a brand comes in: logo, isotype, imagotype, graphic elements, fonts, corporate colors, brand inserts, etc. Other aspects such as products or services also enter.
• Product brand: These are brands that have been designed exclusively for a certain sector or service, as its name indicates. They deal with a universal product and are designed with a unique prior strategy. 

In conclusion to everything mentioned above, brand architecture has not only tried to relate brands corporately speaking, but also takes care of distribute all the financial and economic operations of a certain company.

Likewise, it is important that you remember and understand what the existing brand architecture models are. Therefore, below we explain them in a much shorter and easier to understand way.

The different models

Monolithic models

monolithic models. They are also models known as Brand of the House. When we talk about this type of model, we refer to, and emphasize, a unique and different concentration and management of the most detailed and important functions of a company. In this case, the monolithic model tries to concentrate this structure much better and develop it in a more orderly and simple way.

A clear example of a brand is the famous FedEx parcel brand. Where the different values ​​that are represented, are linked in such a way that the brands offer their own unique personality. In other words, this model tries to concentrate a single brand in all its areas and products that exist in the entity in which it is located.

Advantages and disadvantages

• It only works with unique and commercial brands that deal in this way with similar products, services or businesses.
• By being made up of original brands, the growth in the market and its development increases. Since it is a very important element in the market.
• It generates large economic scales, in this way, they increase and facilitate the entry of large incomes into the company.
• Risks are undervalued and brands tend to spread less.

endorsed model

In this case, the brand acts as the main element of each of its products, achieving a much broader audience. It is a much more complex model to understand and manage than the others, since it is generated through brands and sub-brands. What makes the scheme can be opened in a much broader way and the possibilities are tripled. One of the brands that leads this development is Danone.

Advantages and disadvantages

• They combine some values ​​such as the brands from which they are born, such as the mother brands or those from which they receive recognition or support in the market.
• They are brands that denote growth and work better in a group. Thus supporting cooperation and collective work.
• It also has a risk when it comes to financing, but it is less than that of other models.

Independent brand model

They are models that work with brands where they act with a certain independence and autonomy in the market and in their objectives and work as a company. with this model greater segmentation in the market is achieved, where you compete with other distributors and competitions that coexist in the same medium.

Advantages and disadvantages

• They can compete with different brands that are in the specific market and thus generate different proposals or ideas.
• Brands often compete with each other, since the product or service is similar and is an endorsement product for consumers.
• It is usually a model widely used by companies that generate diversity and understand a different status from the rest.
• There is maximum flexibility in the purchases and sales of companies or brands and thus also includes a more independent action.

In short, each model competes with a different structure.

Reasons to create an architecture

There are different points to take into account in order to create an architecture as we have known it at the beginning of the post. That is why it is important to take into account some points, since they can help you better organize your brand. and to know how to manage it from a more economic and financial point of view.

Organic growth

When we design a brand and a company, we must take into account that at the moment we position it in the market it can grow or decline on a large scale. That is why it is important to take this point into account, since many companies they launch into the adventure without taking into account the most serious aspects.

This is where different divisions are created, business units are used, the first product lines etc. They are some elements that, if good architecture is not taken into account, can take their toll and never better said to your business.

The market

The market has always been a necessity and an importance that has never been presented to it when we have designed a brand. It is not very difficult to know that, whenever you create a business from scratch or start one, your business will move through the market and the procedures that you impose on it.

For this reason, it is important to take into account the use of a certain brand architecture, since it will help you better understand the reason for many problems and will give you the necessary solutions to continue growing.

The expansion

It is another of the key points when we embark on an adventure and decide to start a new business. Expansion can be national or international and is defined as developing and distributing your business in different countries or cities.

It is another of the elements that many entrepreneurs or designers fear, since they always they tend to grow their business in a specific area and they are afraid to leave the comfort zone for fear that the business will be destroyed. And what many do not know is that a good expansion and management of the business helps a large audience, extensive economic values ​​and an extensive and improved distribution of the company and the product.

This is what happened with blockbuster brands like McDonald's. Who started in a small town in America and grew into one of the largest fast food industries in the world.

Conclusion

Brand architecture has generated great developments in many of the brands we know today. And it is not to be expected that they have become the best brands in the market, since behind a beautiful or good design, there are a series of elements that help to better distribute the company and position it satisfactorily in the market.

We hope you've learned more about this useful resource for businesses large and small and brands yet to come. It is undoubtedly the best way to ideate and design.