What is Brand Architecture

The brand architecture is one of the fundamental pillars of the brand strategy, through its development it is possible to facilitate decision-making, promote the growth of a company and create business opportunities.

The brand architecture is one of the fundamental pillars of the brand strategy and its objective is to define the structure of a brand portfolio, establish the relationships and interactions between the sub-brands and the parent brand.

The reasons why it is important to define a brand architecture can vary between internal structuring reasons or external brand perceptions.

For instance, a company may seek to restructure its brand portfolio to discover synergies that present cross-selling opportunities and find a more efficient way to structure its organization. In another case, a company may have observed that its customers express great confusion about its wide range of products on the market and the value proposition of each one, so it would seek to simplify the offer, eliminate duplicates and redirect efforts in order to strengthen the prevailing brands. The list of business solutions that a brand architecture can offer is extensive.

Brand architecture can also be a growth enabler for a company, as it can make existing brands more relevant, business operations more efficient, and at the same time provide clear guidelines for the development of new brands. But only a well defined and executed brand architecture can have an impact on an organization.

Effective brand architecture is the cornerstone of strategic growth, enabling businesses to streamline operations, enhance brand relevance, and seize new opportunities. By aligning brand structure with business objectives, companies can create a cohesive portfolio that drives long-term success.

Marta Soler

CMO & Business Developer

How do we build an effective brand architecture?

In the first place, we must consider the moment in which a portfolio restructuring is convenient. Times of corporate transformation are great to start a brand architecture project, taking advantage of the momentum and enthusiasm that transformations bring. It is the right time to assess the feeling, both internal and external, of people towards brands and understand how they relate to them.

Secondly, we must ensure that the brand architecture is rooted in the business strategy, following its purpose and vision, always with great clarity about the objectives that the company wants to achieve in the short, medium and long term.

Thirdly, the right people must be engaged: those who consume the products or purchase the services, those who are involved in operations as a matter of course, those who know the big picture, and those who make the final decision.

Finally, it is important to take the time to evaluate all the possible scenarios and the different factors that affect each one, since there will be some important decisions that will have to be made that may potentially impact the company's commercial strategy.

By defining a brand architecture, we manage to reduce inefficiencies, facilitate decision-making, generate economies of scale, promote company growth and create business opportunities. Defining a brand architecture implies a lot of work and can be a complex process, but it is a long-term investment that can multiply a company's assets and extract greater value from its initiatives.