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Elements of Brand Identity Planning Models
All 429 elements of 51 models in one list, with the Brand-Building Canvas as the grid
Brand Identity Model Atlas
Introduction
Why This Page Exists
Every brand identity model names its own elements, and the same idea often travels under several names: what one model calls the brand essence, another calls the core, a third the brand code. This page collects all 429 elements of the 51 models documented in the Atlas and turns them into one complete list. Every element was read in its own definition, the idea behind it was written down, and ideas that mean the same thing were merged into one entry; everything else stays separate. The list has 46 entries that are brand identity content and 41 entries that occur in the models but are not brand identity, such as market analysis, brand image or brand architecture. Each identity entry is then placed on the grid of the Brand-Building Canvas, so that one can see which ideas the Canvas carries, which it carries only in part, and which not at all.
Behind every entry stand the original elements with a link to the model profile, so that every merge can be checked against the originator. Tier A are the sixteen models with full profiles in the Atlas; Tier B are the models with short profiles.
Element List
46 Brand Identity Elements and 41 Elements Outside Brand Identity
The goal of this list is completeness: every brand identity element used in any of the 51 models is here. Each of the 429 original elements was read in its own definition; elements that mean the same thing under different names are merged into one entry, everything else stays separate. One row per entry: what it means in plain words, whether and where the Canvas has it, and which models carry it; click the count to see every original element behind an entry. The second table lists the elements that occur in the models but are not brand identity elements by the three tests that stand above it.
Opens an overlay with every model, its own grouping and the full definition of each element.
| Brand Identity Element | In the Canvas | Models |
|---|---|---|
| Guiding Philosophy: Mission, vision and values as one package The guiding philosophy is the brand's foundation written down as one set: the reason it exists, the direction it is heading in and the values that guide the way. Together they give every later decision a reference point. Telefónica, for example, states that it wants to improve people's lives with new communication services and then lists the values it works by. A brand inside a larger company must not contradict that company's own mission and values. | partly in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision Add a fit check: does the brand identity sit within the mission and the values of the company behind it? |
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| Brand Purpose: Why the brand exists beyond money The brand's purpose is the reason it exists beyond making money. It is written as one statement that changes little over the years and should still inspire people decades from now. Tony's Chocolonely, for example, exists to end exploitation in cocoa farming. | in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Purpose |
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| Brand Mission: How the brand delivers its purpose The brand's mission says what the brand does today to bring its purpose about. It describes the path, while the vision describes the destination. I feel Slovenia, for example, says it moves forward with nature, which names both what it does now and where it wants to go. One model asks for a short mission with a verb, a target group and a measurable outcome. | partly in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Mission The Canvas has the mission; add a format rule: a verb, a target group and an outcome that can be measured. | |
| Brand Vision: The future state the brand works toward The brand's vision describes the future state the brand works toward in the long run. It should be bold enough to feel slightly daunting, yet realistic enough that people believe in it. IKEA has held one vision for decades: making everyday life better for the many people. | in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Vision |
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| Brand Ambition: A concrete goal the brand wants to reach The brand's ambition is a concrete goal, such as becoming the hero of a niche or the leader of the world market. One model uses it in place of a vision and gives it a deadline; another calls a clear goal one of the most important guides for the brand's direction, because focused measures need it. SIDES, for example, states the year by which it wants to be a key digital transformer of its industry. Urde's two matrix models state the ambition as the standing the brand wants in its market and in the minds of its key stakeholders, kept inside the identity as the reference point for later positioning; the Nobel Prize, for example, wants to be the world's most prestigious award. In a company with several brands, the identity should say whether the goal belongs to the brand or to the company. | partly in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Ambitions Add a prompt: are the goals stated here those of the company or of the brand? | |
| Rallying Cause: What the brand fights against and for The rallying cause is the single point a brand gathers people around: what it fights against and what it fights for. It must belong to the brand alone, and it gives people a reason to want a relationship with the brand, since such bonds grow where who the brand is meets who its audience wants to become. A small bank, for example, might rally people against hidden fees and for plain, fair prices. | partly in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Purpose Add a line next to Purpose: what the brand fights against and wants to change. | |
| Brand Essence: The identity in a few words The brand essence is the whole identity condensed into one word, a few words or one short sentence, so that a team can decide from it and pass it on. BMW's essence, for example, is driving pleasure. It names the central value or idea that only this brand owns, rests on real strengths, stays simple and promises a clear benefit. Because one word means different things to different people, the brand also notes the meanings it wants the word to carry. The essence may stay empty when no convincing phrase emerges, and the core elements lead instead. Some models write it not as one phrase but as a short list of six to twelve chosen associations or attributes, sorted into groups that are each summed up in a few words. Other models call the same thing the core identity: a small set of two to five elements that do not change across time, markets or products, while the rest of the identity may adapt. A few models put the identity as a whole at the centre of their figure: the picture the company has of what its brand should be, which steers all the work around the brand. | partly in the Canvas 08 Brand Essence Allow Block 08 to stay empty when no convincing phrase emerges; allow a short list of chosen associations instead of one phrase; add a line for what the essence should and should not evoke. Mark each canvas element as core, which never changes, or adaptable. |
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| Brand Culture: The organisation behind the brand Brand culture is what the organisation behind the brand is like today: its people, values, beliefs and ways of working. It reaches customers through the staff, and unlike a product it is hard to copy. 3M, for example, is known for innovation as a company, not for any single product. Where the lived culture differs from the intended one, the gap has to be named and closed. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Add two columns to Brand Culture, intended and lived, with the gaps to close, and check whether staff can explain the brand. |
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| Brand Values: What the brand believes in Brand values are the few basic beliefs that guide how the brand behaves toward customers, staff and other groups. They show in what the brand does, not in advertising lines. Each value needs a short line that says what it means in behaviour: IKEA defines cost-consciousness as getting more out of less without losing quality. A short list of about three values in rank order shows which one wins in a conflict. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Require a line for each value that says what it means in practice, and rank the values so it is clear which one wins in a conflict. |
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| Social Responsibility: What the brand commits to toward society and the environment Social responsibility is what the brand commits to toward society and the environment, such as ethics, care for nature or support for culture. These are principles the organisation adopts as a member of society in order to earn trust. One model moves sustainability into the core of the brand, so that its mission and its offer state the commitment and the brand lives up to the values it promotes. The Body Shop defines itself mainly through such commitments. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Add a Social Responsibility field: what the brand commits to, such as ethics, environment or culture, beyond its purpose. | |
| Brand Point of View: Where the brand stands on issues its target group cares about The brand's point of view is where it stands on topics its target group cares about. A brand should only take positions it can credibly hold, and a clear stand may divide opinion. Harley-Davidson stands for a freedom with almost no limits, which is not for everyone but is loved by its riders. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Add a Point of View field: on which issues the brand takes a stand, which stand, and how far it may divide opinion given its target group. | |
| Corporate Behaviour: How the organisation acts, inside and outside Corporate behaviour is how the organisation acts: in product policy, sales, social and financial matters, in its rituals and conduct rules, in how it markets itself, and in how its people treat customers and put the brand's purpose and values into practice. One model checks every department, from development to sales, because the brand only works when they all pull together. People judge a company mainly by what it does, so behaviour is a third pillar beside philosophy and appearance. NTT, for example, needed staff who saw themselves as working for a service company rather than a government office; because such a change is hard to start from inside, its consultants first changed how outsiders saw NTT and let that outside attention shift minds inside. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Add a Brand Behaviour field: which concrete behaviours, rituals and policy rules, inside and outside the company, show the identity. | |
| Brand Heritage: Founding story, myths and past chapters the brand keeps alive Brand heritage is the chosen chapters of the brand's past that it carries forward, such as the founding story, the myths told about it and what it has achieved. It roots the brand somewhere and makes it easier to relate to. It is a choice and not the whole history. Starbucks, for example, looks back to its first shop at a Seattle market. One model calls this the brand's root strengths: the product it started with, the product it is best known for and the way it grew, kept in view so that change builds on what made the brand strong. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Make room in Brand Culture for heritage: the founding story, myths and chapters of the past the brand keeps alive. | |
| Brand Origin: The country, region or institution the brand claims Brand origin is the country, region, industry or organisation that the brand presents as its roots, together with what these roots stand for. It is narrower than history, because management picks the roots it wants to stress, and at best it makes everything else the brand does more credible and authentic. Rolex, for example, is Swiss, a country known for precision. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture Make room in Brand Culture for origin: the country, region, industry or founders the brand claims. | |
| Brand Narrative: The story the brand tells, with characters and plot The brand narrative is the story the brand tells at every touchpoint. It turns the brand's message into a story, because people pay far more attention to a story than to plain information, and a good story draws them in. It works with characters, a plot, a setting, a point of view, themes, myths and archetypes. charity: water, for example, casts donors, its founder and community members as characters, makes the solving of the water crisis and what the donations paid for its plot, and uses the caregiver and the hero as classic story figures. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Theme Add a Brand Narrative field: who are the characters, what is the plot and conflict, which archetype and myths carry the story? | |
| Brand Competences: What the company can do better than its rivals Brand competences are what the company can really do better than its rivals: its know-how, production methods, people and access to customers. They only count if customers pay for the result, and they need steady investment to last. Audi, for example, backs its technology claim with innovations such as permanent four-wheel drive. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence Add a Competences line under Brand Authority: the abilities and assets that back the claim, and what it takes to keep them. | |
| Reasons to Believe: Proof points Reasons to believe are the evidence that makes the brand's claims credible, such as patents, ingredients, awards, testimonials or a visible policy. They answer the question why anyone should believe the brand. A claim without proof should wait until proof exists. IKEA, for example, backs low prices with design know-how. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence Add a Reasons to Believe field: for each claim, the evidence that proves the brand can keep it. What still has to be built is planned in X037. | |
| Frame of Reference: The category, occasion or arena the brand wants to own The frame of reference is the category, occasion or arena in which the brand should count as the expert. Owning an occasion means people think of the brand first for it, even if the product has other uses. Gatorade, for example, stands for athletic performance. | in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence | |
| Product Scope: Which products and services the brand covers Product scope states which kinds of products and services the brand offers and is linked with, from a narrow niche such as sports cars to a broad field such as automobiles. Too narrow a scope can hold a brand back: Nike would have been limited had it stayed a shoe brand. Growing brands often widen the scope through extensions or licensing. The offer covers the core products and the services around them, for example advice on which beer suits which dish; for a person it also includes talents and skills. One iconic product can stand for a whole range, as the trench coat does for some 5,000 other Burberry items. Everything on offer should fit the brand promise. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence Add a scope line: which product fields the brand covers, may enter or must never enter, plus a check that every product line fits the identity and the promise. Pricing stays in the business blocks 08 and 09. |
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| Product and Service Design: The product itself as a carrier of the identity Product and service design means that the product or service itself carries the identity through its form, style and the way service is delivered. A design concept that sets the product line apart gives the brand a personality people can see and touch. The shape of a household appliance can carry the brand as surely as a logo, and in a restaurant the way guests are served is the design. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Name product or service design language (form, style, service script) as an option in Brand Expression. | |
| Product Attributes: The factual, measurable and sensory features of the offer Product attributes are the factual, measurable and sensory features of the offer and the company, such as what the product does, what it is made of and what it looks like. They are the raw material on which benefits rest. Volvo, for example, lists safety equipment and durable engineering. Each quality is marked as needed just to play in the category or as a real point of difference. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits Pair each attribute with the benefit it proves, and mark it as needed for relevance or as a point of difference. |
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| Functional Benefits: The practical advantage the offer gives the customer A functional benefit is the practical, rational advantage that the offer gives the customer: what the customer can now do and what changes in their life. It follows from the qualities of the product. Netflix, for example, is fast, easy and good value. Owning a vital functional benefit can become a competitive advantage. | in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits |
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| Emotional Benefit: The feeling the brand gives its customers The emotional benefit is how customers should feel when the brand delivers and then beats their expectations. It is described in feeling words, because feelings are what people remember. Netflix, for example, aims for delight, while Apple wants customers to feel free and imaginative. | in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Brand-related Self |
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| Value Proposition: All benefits the brand offers, taken together The value proposition is the full set of benefits the brand offers. A benefit can be functional, emotional, self-expressive, social or economic. Most brands already meet the functional needs, so the difference usually lies in the emotional and social benefits. Driving a Volvo, for example, makes people feel safe. A corporate brand must also win people who do not buy, such as employees, partners and investors. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering Add a benefit field that gathers the benefit types in customer words, and add what the brand offers employees, partners and investors. |
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| Brand Promise: What the brand commits to deliver, in one sentence The brand promise is what the brand commits to deliver, in one sentence. It sits between what customers wish for and what competitors can offer, and it must be broad enough for every product and sharp enough to exclude competitors. Urde's two matrix models put it at the heart of the identity, carried by the core values it ties together, so that it guides the organisation inside and speaks to the outside. For a place brand, all identity elements work together to keep the promise through functional and emotional values, and its highest level is a promise of experience. A brand that serves two sides at once gives each side its own promise. | partly in the Canvas 01 Brand Vision: Mission Add a one-sentence Brand Promise next to the Mission, with a test: does it cover every product and still exclude competitors? |
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| Brand Experience: The planned moments that let customers feel the brand The brand experience is the set of moments the brand plans for its customers to live through, so that they can feel the brand's world. Such moments include trying the product, hearing the brand's story and the place where the meeting happens. | partly in the Canvas 06 Key Touchpoints Add an Intended Brand Experience field: what customers should feel and do, and in which setting. | |
| Key Differentiator The key differentiator is the one strongest reason why a customer should pick this brand and not another. No other brand can claim it, it must be real and noticeable, and it is found in the openings competitors left. It can be a technology or way of working, a feature or, when products hardly differ, the brand's story or even its price. Volvo, for example, has become a synonym for safety. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Key Differentiator Add a prompt: if products are alike, what else sets the brand apart, such as story, origin or pricing? |
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| Price and Quality Tier The price and quality tier says whether the brand is premium, mid-range or value, and what its price should signal. A high price can stand for quality and prestige, while a low price that people find fair adds value. Walmart, for example, builds its identity on low prices. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence Add a price and quality tier to Brand Authority: premium, mid or value, and what the price should signal. | |
| Target Customers: Whom the brand is made for, often portrayed as one typical person Target customers are the group for whom the brand is built, described by who they are, what they think and what they value, and split into segments. The key customers are those the brand most wants to be liked by, even though others are served too. Dove's target, as one consultancy reads it, is women fed up with narrow beauty standards. Several models portray the target customer as one typical person with a name, needs, problems, fears and wishes, often called a buyer persona. | partly in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Key Customers Give Target Customers sub-prompts for ranked needs, problem, situation, fears and wishes; the research behind them is X004. |
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| Key Stakeholders: Audiences beyond customers whose opinion matters Key stakeholders are the audiences beyond customers whose opinion matters to the brand, such as staff, job candidates, the press, influencers, partners, investors and regulators. The brand chooses and ranks them, and some models put customers in the same ranking. For a place brand, residents and other insiders even help shape the identity. For each audience the brand notes what that audience expects and states what it should think and feel about the brand. | partly in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Key Customers Add a Key Audiences line: the most important audiences beyond customers, ranked, with what each expects and what it should think and feel. | |
| Prototypical User: The user people picture, not the actual target group The prototypical user is the person people picture as the brand's typical user. This is not the target group but the image of the person the brand seems to address, the one customers want to look like when they use it. Coca-Cola, for example, shows fifteen to eighteen year olds, although far more people buy it. | in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Prototypical User | |
| Brand-Related Self: How customers see themselves through the brand The brand-related self is how customers picture themselves while using the brand and who they can become through it. The brand helps customers define who they are and acts as a role model for change, so its presentation should mirror the self-image they want. Customers of Lacoste, for example, feel like members of an elegant club even if they never play. | in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Brand-related Self | |
| Brand Community The brand community is the group customers feel they belong to through the brand. The brand becomes a badge of a way of living that shows which group a person belongs to. IKEA, for example, makes people feel part of a group that appreciates good design and value. | in the Canvas 03 Brand Customers: Brand Community | |
| Brand Persona: Personality traits The brand persona is the set of human traits that make the brand seem like a person and carry its emotional side. It sets the brand apart, makes it memorable and shapes how every message is read. Harley-Davidson, for example, is macho and freedom-seeking. Some models sketch the persona with a classic story figure, an archetype such as the outlaw or the caregiver, plus what the brand loves and hates; others place it between opposite poles such as friend and authority. Naming the traits the brand is not stops a wanted trait from being read the wrong way. The persona sets the tone of the brand's communication and is a standard of conduct for staff. The people who represent the brand and its typical users shape it too. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Persona Add an is-not line for traits and readings to avoid, and name who carries the persona, such as staff and endorsers, so that all of them convey the same traits. Offer archetypes as a tool, with a line for what the brand loves and hates. |
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| Brand Face: Leaders and board as part of the identity The brand face is the leadership of the organisation, the people at the top and the management board, counted as part of the brand's identity. One model places them in its head station, next to the mission, the vision and the values. In this view, a founder who still runs the company is part of who the company is, just as its values are. | partly in the Canvas 04 Brand Character: Brand Face Ask under Brand Face which leaders and board members embody the brand and what role they play in the identity. | |
| Brand Relationship: The role the brand plays toward its customers The brand relationship is the kind of relationship the brand has with its customers and how it acts toward them. The brand can play a human role, such as a friend, a mother or an adviser, and the relationship runs both ways. Campbell's, for example, plays an old-fashioned mother. The same way of acting applies to employees, partners and other stakeholders. | partly in the Canvas 05 Brand Relationship Ask which contributions customers should make, such as user content or events, and extend the relationship to staff and other stakeholders. |
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| Brand Voice: How the brand sounds in words The brand voice is how the brand sounds in words. It is the personality as it shows in language and stays constant, whereas the tone changes with the situation. It is written down as adjectives, as positions between opposites such as funny or serious, and as limits like we are this but not that. Monzo's tone, for example, rests on warm wit, everyday magic and straightforward kindness. | partly in the Canvas 05 Brand Relationship Add voice sliders and limits, we are X not Y, to Brand Relationship. | |
| Distinctive Brand Assets: Logo, mark, colours, design and other signs people recognise Distinctive brand assets are the signs that let people recognise the brand from afar, such as name, logo, colours, typefaces, packaging, characters and sound. They have to be unique, easy to notice and widely known, and each stands for a meaning that the brand defines. McDonald's golden letter, for example, is recognised by two-year-olds. The signs address every sense, including scent and taste, not only the eye. Several models also fix the exact colour values, typefaces, photo style and rules for form early, so that the signs look the same everywhere. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression For each signature element, ask which meaning it stands for, and prompt for every sense, not only sight. Note exact colour values, typefaces and imagery style as the detailed form of these signs. |
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| Brand Name The brand name is the most basic sign of a brand's identity. It comes out of the creative work on the brand strategy and can lean on a parent or company brand. People judge a name by feeling rather than by reason. The image of the Swedish retailer Gröna Konsum, for example, is shaped partly by names such as Änglamark and Blåvitt. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Name the brand name and its relation to the parent or company name among the signature elements. | |
| Tagline: The line the brand keeps for years, not one campaign The tagline is the short line that carries the brand's message to customers and stays with it for years. It must match the positioning, whereas a slogan serves only one campaign. TED, for example, used one line for twenty years before changing it. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Add a tagline line among the verbal signature elements, separate from campaign slogans. | |
| Verbal Identity: Key terms and language repeated for years The verbal identity is the brand's language, built to match its visual identity. It covers name, tagline, tone and vocabulary, and it repeats the same key terms over the years. BMW, for example, has varied its joy-of-driving claim for decades and keeps words like dynamic in everything it says. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Split Brand Expression into visual and verbal signature elements, with key terms and claim variations. | |
| Key Messages Key messages are the three to five messages the brand communicates consistently, each backed by evidence. They put the brand into words, tell the audience what value it delivers and speak to the audience's problems, hopes and fears. They can be built from the brand's vision, value proposition and personality, and some models count the tagline as their shortest form. A bank, for example, might keep repeating that it is simple, fair and always within reach, with proof for each point. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Add a Key Messages field: three to five messages with proof points. | |
| Brand Artifacts: Objects and events that make the brand's story tangible Brand artifacts are the objects and events that let people see, experience and feel the brand's story. They give the story a form people can meet, and good ones stir feeling and draw people in. A pink moustache fixed to the front of a car is one example. | partly in the Canvas 07 Brand Expression Include experiential artifacts such as objects and events among the signature elements. | |
| Branded Spaces and Events: Shops, exhibitions and events where the brand is met in person Branded spaces and events are the places where the brand is met in person, such as shops, exhibitions and events the brand runs or takes part in. The space creates the atmosphere and the encounter, and it is where people experience the identity. Disneyland, for example, is a place built entirely around its brand. | in the Canvas 06 Key Touchpoints | |
| Key Touchpoints: The contact points that matter most Key touchpoints are the few contact points between brand and customer that matter most. They are chosen for their relevance to the target group and for the gap between what the brand promises there and what it delivers. The sales channels the brand chooses to be found in belong here too, because where a brand is sold says something about it: a brand sold only in its own boutiques is read differently from one sold in every supermarket. | partly in the Canvas 06 Key Touchpoints Add ranking criteria to Key Touchpoints: relevance to the target group and the size of the gap between promise and delivery. Name the sales channels the brand wants to be found in, and those it avoids. | |
| Proven Strengths: Strengths the brand has delivered again and again, its genetic building blocks Proven strengths are the strengths the brand has delivered again and again, so that its success rests on them; one model calls them the brand's genetic building blocks. Each is described by what it does for customers, and the steady delivery shapes how people see the brand. For Miele they include easy-to-understand controls, twenty years of durability and excellent service. | partly in the Canvas 02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits Mark which qualities are proven strengths that customers have experienced again and again, and which are new. |
Outside Brand Identity
The Three Tests a Brand Identity Element Has to Pass:
- Content: It is a field one fills in for the target identity, stating what the brand shall stand for; not an activity, a measurement or an analysis.
- Direction: The brand owner decides it; it is not measured at the receiver, as image, reputation, awareness or equity are.
- Timing: It belongs to the identity itself; not to the analysis before it (market, customers, competitors) and not to what comes after it (implementation, communication, steering, portfolio decisions).
Elements that fail at least one test stay in the inventory but are not brand identity elements and are not used for the categorization. The test is applied to every single element by its own definition, not only to the concept it belongs to.
| Element | Why Outside | Kind | Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitors A competitor overview is a list of the other options a customer could choose, including less obvious ones, such as a bottle of water competing with Coca-Cola. For each competitor it records what it offers, how it presents itself, what customers link with it, where it is strong or weak, and which openings it leaves. Countries or regions can be competitors too. | This describes other brands as they are, so it is analysis before the identity work and not content the owner decides. Run the overview before fixing the identity; the open gaps show where a distinct profile is possible. | Analysis Input | |
| Competitive Landscape: The competitors mapped on two axes A competitor map is a chart with two axes that customers care about, such as classic against modern, on which five to ten competitors are placed. The brand adds itself and looks for an empty spot, because a free corner is a chance to stand apart. Liquid Death did this with water that is healthy yet fun. | The map shows where competitors stand, so it is market analysis and not content the owner fixes for the brand. A quick map is a useful check that the finished identity really differs from the competitors. | Analysis Input | |
| Customer Analysis Customer analysis is the study of the brand's customers through their own eyes: which groups respond differently and are worth serving, how they come to a buying decision in the category, and which touchpoints push the purchase most. It also looks at what buyers say after buying, such as complaints about late deliveries. Beltone learned that a spouse or child often gives the strongest push to buy. | This is knowledge gathered about customers as they are, so it is an input to the identity and not part of it. Update the customer picture about every one to two years so that the identity rests on current facts. | Analysis Input | |
| Consumer Insight A consumer insight is the hidden motive behind a purchase, the need that people rarely say out loud. It is found by asking why people buy and then asking again, until the real want appears. Men finding Coca-Cola Light too feminine is one such insight, and it can lead to a new product with a tougher look. | The insight is discovered in customers' minds and not decided by the owner; it feeds the benefit promise but is not the promise itself. Gather the insight before choosing the benefit promise. | Analysis Input | |
| Market and Environment Conditions Market and environment conditions are the outside forces the brand does not decide but must reckon with: the economy, social and cultural trends, laws and politics, and, in each place where the brand is sold, what consumers value, their habits and norms, and which competitors are active. The image of the home country counts too. In one study of Brazilian sector brands, for example, the question was whether linking products to Brazil helps or harms them abroad and whether buyers there are prejudiced against Brazilian goods. | These conditions exist independently of the owner's decisions, so they are analysis and not identity content. | Analysis Input | |
| Situation Analysis A situation analysis takes stock of everything around the brand in one sweep before the brand work starts: how customers act, what competitors do, where the market is heading, what regulators require and what effect the company has on the world. It shows where the brand can grow and which customer groups are out of reach. Coca-Cola concluded from such a review that tap water, not Pepsi, is its main competitor. | A stock-take describes the starting situation, so it is analysis before the identity and not content the owner chooses. Place it as the first step of a planning model; it combines X001, X003 and X005. | Analysis Input | |
| Cultural Moment The cultural moment is what is changing right now in society, technology or the market that makes the brand timely. A brand that can name its reason for coming now looks as if it knows what is coming, while a brand without one looks generic. The answer changes faster than any other field and should be revisited as the moment passes. | This is a condition outside the brand that the owner observes and does not decide. A why-now question can anchor the identity in the present moment. | Analysis Input | |
| Premium Pricing: Whether the brand can charge more, and how far Premium pricing is the decision to charge more than competitors and the ongoing watch over how large that price gap may be. Loyal customers allow a brand to ask for a premium, but if the gap grows too wide, customers try the cheaper brand and may never come back. Three Chrysler minivans shared one body and the same engines, yet the Chrysler badge earned a higher price than the Dodge one. | This is a pricing decision for the business; the identity only has to be strong enough to earn it. | Business and Strategy | |
| Brand Image The brand image is the picture of the brand that forms in people's minds: the associations, attitudes and feelings they attach to it, from products and benefits to the typical user and the company behind the brand. Everything the brand sends out is read against what people already know and believe, so the image is the identity as it lands, not as it was meant. One model takes the image as a snapshot of how customers see the brand today, set against its rivals, and asks, for example, whether they picture it as a fast, nimble jaguar or a slow turtle. Another names image and reputation, together with the company's personality, as its critical triplet. | The image arises in the audience's minds and cannot be decided by the owner; it is a result of identity work. Compare the measured image with the target identity to find the gaps. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Brand Strength and Equity Brand strength is how much the brand has achieved in people's heads and hearts: whether they know it, what they think of it, how they feel about it and whether they stay with it. It can be measured among customers and among the general public, for instance by awareness, sentiment online or market share. The results are tracked so that the next planning round can start from them. One model adds that a brand which delivers the same strengths for many years earns a positive prejudice: customers trust a new product before they have tried it, as Miele customers expect every new machine to be easy to use. Another model counts consistency among the strengths every successful brand needs: it stays true to itself over the years and in all it does. | Strength is measured in what audiences think and do, so it is an outcome of brand work and not its content. Its parts appear separately as X016 awareness, X013 associations and X017 loyalty. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Brand Performance: The economic result of the brand The economic result of the brand is what the brand earns for the company in money, sales or, for a museum, visitor numbers. It stands at the end of the chain: brand strength in people's minds comes first, and the economic result follows from it. Together, strength and market power add up to the brand's value. | A financial result is measured after the fact and is not content that the owner defines. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Awareness and Recognition Awareness means that people have noticed the brand at all, and recognition means they know it again from earlier encounters. This comes first among the results, because nothing can be built on a brand nobody has noticed. A brand is easy to recognise when its communication is easy to tell apart, seen often and always the same. A shopper who spots a familiar colour and shape on a crowded shelf, for example, knows the brand before reading its name. | Whether people know the brand is measured among the audience and is a result of brand work. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Loyalty Loyalty is the lasting tie between customers and the brand, and a loyal customer keeps coming back. It forms last, after people have been told what the brand's identity and core values are. In one model it is the final step in a chain that starts with awareness and passes through associations. A traveller who keeps booking the same airline even when another is cheaper, for example, shows this tie. | Loyalty is behaviour and attachment on the customer's side and a result of the identity, not part of it. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Willingness to Support Willingness to support is how ready stakeholders are to stand behind the brand: to approve of it, encourage it, endorse it and recommend it to others. It is the reputation element closest to mission and vision, because people support what they find engaging and inspiring. A Nobel laureate, for instance, supports the Prize because it shows the public why science matters. | Readiness to support is a judgement held by stakeholders and an effect of the identity. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Perceived Differentiation Perceived differentiation is how distinctive people find the brand's position in the market compared with others. It mirrors the position the owner chose: the owner wants to stand apart, and the audience judges whether it does. For the Nobel Prize, a university president says nobody travels to Stockholm for anything less than a fundamental breakthrough. | Whether the brand is seen as distinct is judged by the audience and is a result of positioning work. Pair with the positioning entry: one is intended, the other perceived. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Perceived Relevance and Attractiveness Perceived relevance and attractiveness is whether the brand matters to its audience: whether the value it offers seems attractive and worth having, and whether people want the brand and, in the best case, admire and love it. As between people, attraction opens a relationship in which each side expects something back. A brand may be well known but not wanted if its traits promise the target group no reward. | Appeal is felt and judged by the audience and results from the identity rather than forming part of it. Check question for a finished identity: does the profile hold a reward for the target group? | Perception and Outcome | |
| Perceived Performance Perceived performance is whether people experience the brand's quality and performance as dependable over time. It mirrors the competences the brand claims: the owner promises skill, and the audience judges whether the promise is kept. A Nobel committee member points to a long record of picking laureates who truly deserved the prize, with few questionable decisions. | Perceived performance is a judgement held by stakeholders and an outcome of delivering the identity. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Credibility Credibility means that people find the brand convincing and believe what it says. It is closely tied to personality, because a brand whose character comes across as genuine is easier to believe. Many prizes exist and some pay more, yet scientists would trade them all for a Nobel Prize, which shows credibility at its strongest. | Being believed is a judgement formed by the audience and a result of identity work. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Trustworthiness Trustworthiness is the firm belief that the brand is dependable, honest and capable, and that the relationship rests on respect on both sides. It is the relationship the organisation set out to build, seen from the stakeholders' side. The Nobel committees would rather wait a year than award a prize they are not fully sure about. | Trust is held by stakeholders and cannot be decreed by the owner; it is an outcome of consistent words and deeds. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Perceived Responsibility Perceived responsibility is how dutiful and answerable people believe the brand to be, its sense of moral duty towards others. It is mainly shaped by the organisation's culture, as seen from outside. The Nobel Foundation, for example, is seen as looking after the Prize with honour, loyalty and a feeling of duty. | How responsible the brand is seen to be is judged by stakeholders and is a result of the culture, not a field of the identity. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Familiarity Familiarity goes beyond being known: the brand must feel close to a person. It gets there in two ways, by habit, when a brand present for years becomes something people would miss, or by instant fit, when it feels built for one person at first sight. A brand can be well known and still lack familiarity if it feels distant. | Closeness is felt by the person and not fixed by the owner; it is an outcome of long presence or strong fit. | Perception and Outcome | |
| Perceived Social System of a Nation Perceived social system of a nation is a factor in the nation-brand survey that measures how transparent, fair and orderly respondents find a society: its tolerance of other cultures, its democratic awareness and its regard for law and order. For the authors it stands for the nation's stability, political ideology and openness. For Korea it was the most distinctive factor in the positioning map. | This is measured among survey respondents and not decided by the owner, although a nation brand could set its content as a target. Its content matches the social responsibility of a nation brand, L027, and its culture, L022. | Analysis Input | |
| Perceived Leadership and Growth of a Nation Perceived leadership and growth of a nation is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures where respondents place a nation in international politics and the economy, and how much growth potential they see, through items such as political leadership, economic strength and the capacity to cope with change. Respondents from abroad gave China and Korea nearly the same rating, for different reasons. | This is measured among survey respondents and not decided by the owner, although a nation brand could set its content as a target. Its content matches competences, L035. | Analysis Input | |
| Perceived National Heritage Perceived national heritage is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures how respondents judge a nation's cultural heritage: how inspiring, original, artistic and outstanding it seems next to other nations, and how well tradition and modernity go together. Korean respondents rated Korea's heritage above that of China and Japan, which foreign respondents did not; the authors read this as pride in their own culture. | This is measured among survey respondents and not decided by the owner, although a nation brand could set its content as a target. Its content matches heritage and origin, L032 and L033. | Analysis Input | |
| Perceived Nation People Perceived nation people is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures how respondents rate a nation's people: their appetite for challenge, striving towards goals, diligence, drive to develop and personal character. Korean respondents saw the people as the strongest force behind the economy and industry, which the authors take as pride in human resources in a country short of physical resources. | This is measured among survey respondents and not decided by the owner, although a nation brand could set its content as a target. Its content matches the people behind the brand, L022, and their personality, L071. | Analysis Input | |
| Extended Identity: The elements around the core that complete the picture Tiers of identity elements means that not every element of an identity weighs the same. A model can keep a small core and give the rest a second tier that adds texture and completes the picture, or rank attributes as central, secondary and peripheral, each with a score for how strongly it should be recognised. An element such as personality or high quality may matter without setting the brand apart, and the second tier gives it a home. | This is a rule for weighting elements and not a content field with its own meaning; the fixed core itself stays inside, as the core identity in L013. Add a weighting step: which elements are core, which complete the picture, which are filler? | Process and Implementation | |
| Brand Positioning Brand positioning is the place the brand wants to take in customers' minds compared with competitors. It usually says for whom the brand is, what it offers, which benefit it brings and why it is better or at least different, often in one sentence, and it also makes clear whom the brand is not for. It is derived from the identity, guides what the brand says to the market and may change as markets shift, while the identity stays. One model asks which one word the brand should own in the long run; 3M, for instance, holds innovation in people's minds. | Positioning is derived from the identity and set against competitors, so it is the next step after the identity and not part of it. Treat positioning as the step after the identity is fixed. | Process and Implementation |
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| Strategic Imperatives: The investments the brand needs to keep its promise This is the work of finding out what the company must actually do or have so that each promise in the identity holds: which performance fits the brand at each touchpoint, which proof points exist and which investments in assets, skills, programmes or people are missing. The Haas School of Business, for example, reworked its curriculum, faculty, research, alumni outreach and admissions so that it could become known as the innovation school. | These are actions and conditions that make the identity deliverable, so this is planning after the identity and not its content. Add a reality check: which prerequisites, programmes and investments must follow from each identity element? The essence itself is L013. | Process and Implementation | |
| Brand Strategy and Action Plan The brand strategy and action plan is the shared plan for managing the brand: its key ideas, objectives, the reasoning behind decisions, and who does what with which money, people, technical means and time. It also takes in the marketing plan that brings the brand and its products to market, and the step from plan to practice: a strategy map ties strategy to execution, and a delivery phase makes sure customers meet the brand's commitment wherever they deal with it, so the brand should promise only what it can keep. When the whole organisation works from one plan, what it creates stays consistent. One workshop format ranks the top three priorities for revenue, awareness and efficiency and turns them into one ranked to-do list for the whole team; another rates all possible initiatives by effort and impact and sorts them into what to do first, what next, what to plan and what to set aside for now. The single working steps that some frameworks add, such as team alignment, data matching, attribute clustering, an impact narrative or the choice of supporting technology, belong to this plan. | Planning the actions comes after the identity is set, so it is steering and not identity content. | Process and Implementation |
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| Brand Governance Brand governance is the question of who owns the brand and organises the work on it: a team, a single person or an agency, with its place in the organisation chart and its resources. Every department affects customers, so responsibility must reach across them and up to top management. In a hotel group, for instance, housekeeping, reception and the booking site all shape the brand, so the brand owner sits above all three. | Organising responsibility is steering after the identity exists, not identity content. Clarify who owns the brand across departments once the identity is set. | Process and Implementation | |
| Internal Branding: Anchoring the brand inside the organisation Internal brand anchoring means making the brand part of everyday work among employees and other insiders, who carry the brand: they are informed, trained and motivated through the intranet, the brand book, meetings and the way targets and pay are set. One model pairs consulting with coaching, so that the brand grows into the organisation's own learning and capability instead of resting with the consultant. When every employee decides with the brand in mind, the brand holds at every contact. A rude and late delivery crew can ruin the service promise despite any advertising. | Anchoring the brand inside the organisation is carrying out the identity after it is defined. Internal anchoring is the standard follow-up step after the identity definition. | Process and Implementation |
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| Communication Channels and Campaign Messages Communication channels and campaign messages cover how the brand gets through to people and talks with them: which media and channels it uses, in what order and timing, what it says about which topics, and how each audience will be reached. The range runs from advertising, press relations and personal contact to the website and social networks, inside the company and outside, and includes integrated programmes, printed materials, promotion tools and direct contact programmes with customers. Messages should lead people step by step from first notice to recommendation and steer how they read what the brand offers, and some models also invite people to take part and co-create. Airbnb, for instance, ran hashtag campaigns on belonging. | Communication carries the identity to the outside after it is set, so it is carrying out the identity and not its content. | Process and Implementation |
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| Distribution Channels Distribution channels are the routes by which products reach customers, through wholesalers and retailers, with a constant push and pull over power between them and the maker. A strong brand strengthens the company's hand, because channel partners want a brand that draws customers, plus a good product, training, fair pricing and support for promotion. Starbucks even turned itself into a channel that customers seek out on purpose. | Getting products to customers is carrying out the identity, not content of it. | Business and Strategy | |
| Brand Research and Controlling Brand research and controlling means that the brand gets facts and figures: research before the project, polls during it and tracking afterwards, such as whether products are accepted by buyers abroad. Good metrics link the brand image to business results, fit the strategy, show what to do next and are easy to repeat. A company with only campaign figures from websites and social media cannot steer the brand as a whole. | Research and controlling measure and steer, so they are activities around the identity and not its content. Research supplies inputs before the identity is defined and checks results after it. | Process and Implementation | |
| Legal Brand Protection Legal brand protection means registering the brand in the company's name, in its home market and abroad, so that nobody else can register it first. Without it, all other brand work can be wasted, because all rights could be lost. In Guayaquil, with its many similar restaurants, registration also checks that no two names match or resemble each other. | Registering the brand is a legal task, not a content field of the identity. Include a legal check: is the name registrable and protected? | Process and Implementation | |
| Brand Guidelines and Manuals Brand guidelines and manuals are the rulebooks of the brand. They collect the rules from the earlier steps for the places where the brand shows: the name, the identity manual, the design rules for products, services and shops, and plans for internal and external communication, down to the website and social networks. One framework adds a design brief, a document the client signs that turns the strategy into instructions for the designers before the design phase begins. A manual for the crab restaurants of Guayaquil may fix logo, facade, lighting, music, a signature smell, uniforms and packaging. | Rulebooks apply the identity consistently, which comes after the identity is set. | Process and Implementation | |
| Geographic Scope: Local, regional or global reach of the brand Geographic scope is the choice between being a global brand and connecting with the local market. A global brand brings size and prestige but may struggle to feel relevant locally, while a local brand can play the local favourite but lacks worldwide credibility. Lone Star, a Texan beer, is set against Budweiser. For an export sector brand every country is its own target market, and its firms may adapt their products to what buyers there prefer. | Geographic reach is a business decision about scope, not content of the identity. Useful as a scope question before identity work: does the brand compete globally or locally? | Business and Strategy | |
| Co-Branding and Partnerships Co-branding and partnerships mean that a brand enriches itself through links with other organisations, such as co-branding, art collaborations and other partnerships. Virgin Atlantic, for instance, gives points to people who book with Airbnb, and charities work with Airbnb to offer shelter to homeless and displaced people. | Choosing partners is a business decision about growth, not part of the identity. | Business and Strategy | |
| Corporate Strategy as Frame Corporate strategy is the overall business strategy, covering the company's brands, products, services and marketing. The brand strategy becomes part of it and must fit with it. Several restaurants close together with similar menus, for example, may boil their corporate strategy down to one value proposition that competitors find hard to copy. One model ties the two together from the start: brand work begins with what senior management expects the brand to add to the company's growth over the next three to five years. | Corporate strategy is the frame around the brand, not content of its identity. Check that the identity fits the corporate strategy before finalising it. | Business and Strategy | |
| Brand Extension Brand extension means testing, before the brand enters a new product or market, how far it can stretch. The questions are whether the extension fits the vision, upholds the brand picture and fits the positioning, and whether a failure would hurt a little or a lot. Kraft's fat-free dressing fitted a brand for dependable family flavours, while gourmet flavours failed for lack of gourmet associations. | Extension is a business decision about the product range; how far the brand can stretch depends on the identity but is not part of it. Extension questions can serve as a test of how clear the identity is. | Business and Strategy | |
| Brand Architecture Brand architecture is the ordering of all the brands a company holds: which brand is the whole company, which is a product line, and what role each plays, from master brand to sub-brand and endorser. The advice is to list every existing brand first and then arrange them in one system, so that offers become clear and the brands help each other. The system also settles how new brands are added. Part of this decision is endorsement: whether a sub-brand or product brand borrows credibility from the company name above it. | Ordering the brand family is a business decision outside the identity of a single brand. | Business and Strategy |
Element Map
Overview of All Brand Identity Elements, Organized by the Blocks of the Brand-Building Canvas
The idea behind this map was to assign every brand identity element found in the models to one block of the Canvas. This worked: every element found a place. That gives further support to the claim that the seven blocks of the Canvas cover all aspects of brand identity. What the map adds is a richer picture of each block: ideas for its components and for possible sub-components.
Each block lists the Canvas elements in italics and, below them, the elements from the models that belong to that block. The number next to an element tells how many models contain it. Click an element to read what it means and which name each model uses for it.
01 Brand Vision
What should the brand ultimately achieve for its customers, for society, and for the business itself?
Mission, Purpose, Vision, Ambitions
The guiding philosophy is the brand's foundation written down as one set: the reason it exists, the direction it is heading in and the values that guide the way. Together they give every later decision a reference point. Telefónica, for example, states that it wants to improve people's lives with new communication services and then lists the values it works by. A brand inside a larger company must not contradict that company's own mission and values.
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Mission & Vision
- Corporate Branding Model: Corporate Philosophy
- Corporate Identity System: Mind Identity (MI)
- Brand Gestalt Model: Principles
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Organisation
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Brand Essence
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Vision & Mission
- Context Branding Model: Philosophy
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Mission & Vision
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Uncover Your Brand Core
- TBA Branding Model: Mission, Vision, Purpose
The brand's purpose is the reason it exists beyond making money. It is written as one statement that changes little over the years and should still inspire people decades from now. Tony's Chocolonely, for example, exists to end exploitation in cocoa farming.
- 4-D Branding: Spiritual Dimension
- Anatomy of the Brand: Concept and Management of the Brand
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: What, How, Why
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Mission
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Brand Purpose
- Branding for Builders: Something Bigger
- Context Branding Model: Mission
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Brand Purpose
- Minimum Viable Brand: Why It Matters
The brand's vision describes the future state the brand works toward in the long run. It should be bold enough to feel slightly daunting, yet realistic enough that people believe in it. IKEA has held one vision for decades: making everyday life better for the many people.
- De Chernatony Brand Identity Model: Brand Vision
- Identity-Based Brand Management: Brand Vision
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: 20-Year Roadmap
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Vision
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Brand Vision
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Vision
- Context Branding Model: Vision
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Brand Vision
- Place Brand Identity Model: Vision
The brand promise is what the brand commits to deliver, in one sentence. It sits between what customers wish for and what competitors can offer, and it must be broad enough for every product and sharp enough to exclude competitors. Urde's two matrix models put it at the heart of the identity, carried by the core values it ties together, so that it guides the organisation inside and speaks to the outside. For a place brand, all identity elements work together to keep the promise through functional and emotional values, and its highest level is a promise of experience. A brand that serves two sides at once gives each side its own promise.
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Core: Promise and Core Values
- Brand Frame: Mission
- Brand Gestalt Model: Promise
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Brand Promises
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Brand Core: Promise and Core Values
- Personal Branding Canvas: Promise
- Place Brand Identity Model: Experiential Promise
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Benefit Promise
- The Brand Canvas Model: Brand Promise
The brand's ambition is a concrete goal, such as becoming the hero of a niche or the leader of the world market. One model uses it in place of a vision and gives it a deadline; another calls a clear goal one of the most important guides for the brand's direction, because focused measures need it. SIDES, for example, states the year by which it wants to be a key digital transformer of its industry. Urde's two matrix models state the ambition as the standing the brand wants in its market and in the minds of its key stakeholders, kept inside the identity as the reference point for later positioning; the Nobel Prize, for example, wants to be the world's most prestigious award. In a company with several brands, the identity should say whether the goal belongs to the brand or to the company.
The brand's mission says what the brand does today to bring its purpose about. It describes the path, while the vision describes the destination. I feel Slovenia, for example, says it moves forward with nature, which names both what it does now and where it wants to go. One model asks for a short mission with a verb, a target group and a measurable outcome.
The rallying cause is the single point a brand gathers people around: what it fights against and what it fights for. It must belong to the brand alone, and it gives people a reason to want a relationship with the brand, since such bonds grow where who the brand is meets who its audience wants to become. A small bank, for example, might rally people against hidden fees and for plain, fair prices.
02 Brand Offering
Why should customers choose the brand? What makes it valuable and distinctive?
Brand Competence, Functional Benefits, Key Differentiator
Product attributes are the factual, measurable and sensory features of the offer and the company, such as what the product does, what it is made of and what it looks like. They are the raw material on which benefits rest. Volvo, for example, lists safety equipment and durable engineering. Each quality is marked as needed just to play in the category or as a real point of difference.
- 4-D Branding: Functional Dimension
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Product Attributes
- Brand Identity Prism: Physique
- Brand Steering Wheel: Brand Attributes
- Corporate Branding Model: Competitive Attributes
- Brand Essence Wheel: Attributes
- Brand Identity Formation Model: Physique
- Brand Onion: Attributes
- Branding for Builders: Product Attributes
- De Chernatony Brand Pyramid: Attributes
- MarkenWesen Model: Properties & Performance
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Product
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Company/Product Features
The value proposition is the full set of benefits the brand offers. A benefit can be functional, emotional, self-expressive, social or economic. Most brands already meet the functional needs, so the difference usually lies in the emotional and social benefits. Driving a Volvo, for example, makes people feel safe. A corporate brand must also win people who do not buy, such as employees, partners and investors.
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Appeal (Atractivo)
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Value Proposition
- Brand Key: Benefits
- Brand Steering Wheel: Brand Benefits
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Value Proposition
- Brand Frame: Competence
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Brand Value Proposition
- Brand Onion: Benefits
- Context Branding Model: Benefits
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Value Proposition
- Place Brand Identity Model: Benefits
Product scope states which kinds of products and services the brand offers and is linked with, from a narrow niche such as sports cars to a broad field such as automobiles. Too narrow a scope can hold a brand back: Nike would have been limited had it stayed a shoe brand. Growing brands often widen the scope through extensions or licensing. The offer covers the core products and the services around them, for example advice on which beer suits which dish; for a person it also includes talents and skills. One iconic product can stand for a whole range, as the trench coat does for some 5,000 other Burberry items. Everything on offer should fit the brand promise.
- B*Canvas 2.0: Core & Complementary Products/Services
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Product Scope
- Identity-Based Brand Management: Brand Offering
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: What, How, Why
- Brand Gestalt Model: Product
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Product Category and Product
- Personal Branding Canvas: Profession
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Brand Offering
- The Brand Canvas Model: Services / Offers / Products
A functional benefit is the practical, rational advantage that the offer gives the customer: what the customer can now do and what changes in their life. It follows from the qualities of the product. Netflix, for example, is fast, easy and good value. Owning a vital functional benefit can become a competitive advantage.
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Functional Benefits (Beneficios Funcionales)
- Brand Essence Wheel: Benefits
- Branding for Builders: Customer Benefit
- Branding for Builders: Product Benefits
- De Chernatony Brand Pyramid: Benefits
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Functional Benefit
- Minimum Viable Brand: What Can You Do
- Place Brand Identity Model: Functional Value
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Rational Benefits
The key differentiator is the one strongest reason why a customer should pick this brand and not another. No other brand can claim it, it must be real and noticeable, and it is found in the openings competitors left. It can be a technology or way of working, a feature or, when products hardly differ, the brand's story or even its price. Volvo, for example, has become a synonym for safety.
- Brand Key: Discriminator
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: What, How, Why
- Brand Frame: Brand Core
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Forge Your Differentiation Strategy
- Personal Branding Canvas: Identity
- Personal Branding Canvas: Positioning
- Place Brand Identity Model: Distinguishing Preferences
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Differentiation
- The Brand Canvas Model: Story / Differentiation
Brand competences are what the company can really do better than its rivals: its know-how, production methods, people and access to customers. They only count if customers pay for the result, and they need steady investment to last. Audi, for example, backs its technology claim with innovations such as permanent four-wheel drive.
Reasons to believe are the evidence that makes the brand's claims credible, such as patents, ingredients, awards, testimonials or a visible policy. They answer the question why anyone should believe the brand. A claim without proof should wait until proof exists. IKEA, for example, backs low prices with design know-how.
The price and quality tier says whether the brand is premium, mid-range or value, and what its price should signal. A high price can stand for quality and prestige, while a low price that people find fair adds value. Walmart, for example, builds its identity on low prices.
The frame of reference is the category, occasion or arena in which the brand should count as the expert. Owning an occasion means people think of the brand first for it, even if the product has other uses. Gatorade, for example, stands for athletic performance.
Proven strengths are the strengths the brand has delivered again and again, so that its success rests on them; one model calls them the brand's genetic building blocks. Each is described by what it does for customers, and the steady delivery shapes how people see the brand. For Miele they include easy-to-understand controls, twenty years of durability and excellent service.
03 Brand Customers
For whom is the brand designed, and what role should it play in customers' lives?
Key Customers, Prototypical User, Brand-related Self, Brand Community
Target customers are the group for whom the brand is built, described by who they are, what they think and what they value, and split into segments. The key customers are those the brand most wants to be liked by, even though others are served too. Dove's target, as one consultancy reads it, is women fed up with narrow beauty standards. Several models portray the target customer as one typical person with a name, needs, problems, fears and wishes, often called a buyer persona.
- Brand Key: Target
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Key Customers
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Target Audience
- CORE Discovery Framework: Customer Profiles
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Ideal Customer Image
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Target Audience
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Develop Your Buyer Personas
- The Brand Canvas Model: Customers
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Customer/User Insight
The emotional benefit is how customers should feel when the brand delivers and then beats their expectations. It is described in feeling words, because feelings are what people remember. Netflix, for example, aims for delight, while Apple wants customers to feel free and imaginative.
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Emotional Benefits (Beneficios Emocionales)
- Brand Essence Wheel: Values
- Branding for Builders: Emotional Benefits
- De Chernatony Brand Pyramid: Emotional Rewards
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Emotional Benefit
- Minimum Viable Brand: How It Will Feel
- Place Brand Identity Model: Emotional Value
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Emotional Benefits
Key stakeholders are the audiences beyond customers whose opinion matters to the brand, such as staff, job candidates, the press, influencers, partners, investors and regulators. The brand chooses and ranks them, and some models put customers in the same ranking. For a place brand, residents and other insiders even help shape the identity. For each audience the brand notes what that audience expects and states what it should think and feel about the brand.
The brand-related self is how customers picture themselves while using the brand and who they can become through it. The brand helps customers define who they are and acts as a role model for change, so its presentation should mirror the self-image they want. Customers of Lacoste, for example, feel like members of an elegant club even if they never play.
The prototypical user is the person people picture as the brand's typical user. This is not the target group but the image of the person the brand seems to address, the one customers want to look like when they use it. Coca-Cola, for example, shows fifteen to eighteen year olds, although far more people buy it.
The brand community is the group customers feel they belong to through the brand. The brand becomes a badge of a way of living that shows which group a person belongs to. IKEA, for example, makes people feel part of a group that appreciates good design and value.
04 Brand Character
Who is the brand as a cultural and human actor?
Brand Culture, Brand Theme, Brand Persona, Brand Face
The brand persona is the set of human traits that make the brand seem like a person and carry its emotional side. It sets the brand apart, makes it memorable and shapes how every message is read. Harley-Davidson, for example, is macho and freedom-seeking. Some models sketch the persona with a classic story figure, an archetype such as the outlaw or the caregiver, plus what the brand loves and hates; others place it between opposite poles such as friend and authority. Naming the traits the brand is not stops a wanted trait from being read the wrong way. The persona sets the tone of the brand's communication and is a standard of conduct for staff. The people who represent the brand and its typical users shape it too.
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Personality
- Brand Identity Prism: Personality
- Brand Key: Values & Personality
- Brand Steering Wheel: Brand Tonality
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Personality
- Corporate Branding Model: Personality Traits
- De Chernatony Brand Identity Model: Personality
- Identity-Based Brand Management: Brand Personality
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: Personality Sliders
- Brand Essence Wheel: Personality
- Brand Gestalt Model: Personality
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Personality
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Characteristics
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Antonyms
- Brand Identity Formation Model: Personality
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Personality
- Brand Onion: Personality
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Personality
- Branding for Builders: Personality
- Context Branding Model: Personality
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Personality
- De Chernatony Brand Pyramid: Personality Traits
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Personality
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Brand Personality
- MarkenWesen Model: Values & Character
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Align Your Brand Archetype
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Shape Your Brand Personality Strategy
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Uncover Your Human Brand Persona
- Place Brand Identity Model: Personality
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Personality
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Brand Personality
- TBA Branding Model: Personality
- The Brand Canvas Model: Brand Personality
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Brand Personality
Brand values are the few basic beliefs that guide how the brand behaves toward customers, staff and other groups. They show in what the brand does, not in advertising lines. Each value needs a short line that says what it means in behaviour: IKEA defines cost-consciousness as getting more out of less without losing quality. A short list of about three values in rank order shows which one wins in a conflict.
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Inner Level (Plano Interior)
- Brand Identity Prism: Culture
- Brand Key: Values & Personality
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Core: Promise and Core Values
- Identity-Based Brand Management: Brand Values
- Three-Hour Brand Sprint: Top Three Values
- Brand Flower: Brand Values
- Brand Flower: Brand Facets
- Brand Frame: Brand Values
- Brand Onion: Values
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Positioning: Core Values
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Values
- Context Branding Model: Values
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Brand Core: Promise and Core Values
- De Chernatony Brand Pyramid: Values
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Brand Values
- MarkenWesen Model: Values & Character
- Place Brand Identity Model: Values
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Brand Values
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Company Values
Brand culture is what the organisation behind the brand is like today: its people, values, beliefs and ways of working. It reaches customers through the staff, and unlike a product it is hard to copy. 3M, for example, is known for innovation as a company, not for any single product. Where the lived culture differs from the intended one, the gap has to be named and closed.
- Anatomy of the Brand: Institutional Identity
- Anatomy of the Brand: Organisational Culture
- B*Canvas 2.0: Corporate Culture
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Organization Attributes
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Culture
- Corporate Branding Model: Corporate Culture
- De Chernatony Brand Identity Model: Culture
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Culture
- TBA Branding Model: Internal Culture and Values
Corporate behaviour is how the organisation acts: in product policy, sales, social and financial matters, in its rituals and conduct rules, in how it markets itself, and in how its people treat customers and put the brand's purpose and values into practice. One model checks every department, from development to sales, because the brand only works when they all pull together. People judge a company mainly by what it does, so behaviour is a third pillar beside philosophy and appearance. NTT, for example, needed staff who saw themselves as working for a service company rather than a government office; because such a change is hard to start from inside, its consultants first changed how outsiders saw NTT and let that outside attention shift minds inside.
Brand heritage is the chosen chapters of the brand's past that it carries forward, such as the founding story, the myths told about it and what it has achieved. It roots the brand somewhere and makes it easier to relate to. It is a choice and not the whole history. Starbucks, for example, looks back to its first shop at a Seattle market. One model calls this the brand's root strengths: the product it started with, the product it is best known for and the way it grew, kept in view so that change builds on what made the brand strong.
Brand origin is the country, region, industry or organisation that the brand presents as its roots, together with what these roots stand for. It is narrower than history, because management picks the roots it wants to stress, and at best it makes everything else the brand does more credible and authentic. Rolex, for example, is Swiss, a country known for precision.
Social responsibility is what the brand commits to toward society and the environment, such as ethics, care for nature or support for culture. These are principles the organisation adopts as a member of society in order to earn trust. One model moves sustainability into the core of the brand, so that its mission and its offer state the commitment and the brand lives up to the values it promotes. The Body Shop defines itself mainly through such commitments.
The brand narrative is the story the brand tells at every touchpoint. It turns the brand's message into a story, because people pay far more attention to a story than to plain information, and a good story draws them in. It works with characters, a plot, a setting, a point of view, themes, myths and archetypes. charity: water, for example, casts donors, its founder and community members as characters, makes the solving of the water crisis and what the donations paid for its plot, and uses the caregiver and the hero as classic story figures.
The brand's point of view is where it stands on topics its target group cares about. A brand should only take positions it can credibly hold, and a clear stand may divide opinion. Harley-Davidson stands for a freedom with almost no limits, which is not for everyone but is loved by its riders.
The brand face is the leadership of the organisation, the people at the top and the management board, counted as part of the brand's identity. One model places them in its head station, next to the mission, the vision and the values. In this view, a founder who still runs the company is part of who the company is, just as its values are.
05 Brand Relationship
How does the brand relate to its customers, and in what tone should it address them?
The brand relationship is the kind of relationship the brand has with its customers and how it acts toward them. The brand can play a human role, such as a friend, a mother or an adviser, and the relationship runs both ways. Campbell's, for example, plays an old-fashioned mother. The same way of acting applies to employees, partners and other stakeholders.
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Brand–Customer Relationships
- Brand Identity Prism: Relationship
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Relationships
- De Chernatony Brand Identity Model: Relationships
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Relationship
- Brand Identity Formation Model: Relationships
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Relationships
The brand voice is how the brand sounds in words. It is the personality as it shows in language and stays constant, whereas the tone changes with the situation. It is written down as adjectives, as positions between opposites such as funny or serious, and as limits like we are this but not that. Monzo's tone, for example, rests on warm wit, everyday magic and straightforward kindness.
06 Key Touchpoints
Which few communication, distribution or service touchpoints should the brand become known for?
Branded spaces and events are the places where the brand is met in person, such as shops, exhibitions and events the brand runs or takes part in. The space creates the atmosphere and the encounter, and it is where people experience the identity. Disneyland, for example, is a place built entirely around its brand.
The brand experience is the set of moments the brand plans for its customers to live through, so that they can feel the brand's world. Such moments include trying the product, hearing the brand's story and the place where the meeting happens.
Key touchpoints are the few contact points between brand and customer that matter most. They are chosen for their relevance to the target group and for the gap between what the brand promises there and what it delivers. The sales channels the brand chooses to be found in belong here too, because where a brand is sold says something about it: a brand sold only in its own boutiques is read differently from one sold in every supermarket.
07 Brand Expression
Which few recurring signature elements should express what the brand stands for?
Distinctive brand assets are the signs that let people recognise the brand from afar, such as name, logo, colours, typefaces, packaging, characters and sound. They have to be unique, easy to notice and widely known, and each stands for a meaning that the brand defines. McDonald's golden letter, for example, is recognised by two-year-olds. The signs address every sense, including scent and taste, not only the eye. Several models also fix the exact colour values, typefaces, photo style and rules for form early, so that the signs look the same everywhere.
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Distinctive Features (Distintivos)
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Outer Level (Plano Exterior)
- Anatomy of the Brand: Verbal and Visual Brand
- B*Canvas 2.0: Branding
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Visual Imagery and Metaphors
- Brand Steering Wheel: Brand Image
- Corporate Brand Identity Matrix: Expression
- Corporate Identity System: Visual Identity (VI)
- Brand Gestalt Model: Properties
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Symbology
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Photography
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Typography
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Colour
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Symbols
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Visual
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Color
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Typography
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Form, Line, Texture, Space
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Design
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Visual Identity
- Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix: Expression
- Corporate Identity Mix: Corporate Design
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Symbol
- MarkenWesen Model: Manifestations
- Minimum Viable Brand: Assets
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Design Your Brand Identity System
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Visual Identity
- Six-Station Corporate Identity Model: Creativity
- TBA Branding Model: Expression
- The Brand Canvas Model: Corporate Design
Key messages are the three to five messages the brand communicates consistently, each backed by evidence. They put the brand into words, tell the audience what value it delivers and speak to the audience's problems, hopes and fears. They can be built from the brand's vision, value proposition and personality, and some models count the tagline as their shortest form. A bank, for example, might keep repeating that it is simple, fair and always within reach, with proof for each point.
The brand name is the most basic sign of a brand's identity. It comes out of the creative work on the brand strategy and can lean on a parent or company brand. People judge a name by feeling rather than by reason. The image of the Swedish retailer Gröna Konsum, for example, is shaped partly by names such as Änglamark and Blåvitt.
The verbal identity is the brand's language, built to match its visual identity. It covers name, tagline, tone and vocabulary, and it repeats the same key terms over the years. BMW, for example, has varied its joy-of-driving claim for decades and keeps words like dynamic in everything it says.
Product and service design means that the product or service itself carries the identity through its form, style and the way service is delivered. A design concept that sets the product line apart gives the brand a personality people can see and touch. The shape of a household appliance can carry the brand as surely as a logo, and in a restaurant the way guests are served is the design.
The tagline is the short line that carries the brand's message to customers and stays with it for years. It must match the positioning, whereas a slogan serves only one campaign. TED, for example, used one line for twenty years before changing it.
Brand artifacts are the objects and events that let people see, experience and feel the brand's story. They give the story a form people can meet, and good ones stir feeling and draw people in. A pink moustache fixed to the front of a car is one example.
08 Brand Essence
What is the brand identity in a nutshell, in just a few words?
The brand essence is the whole identity condensed into one word, a few words or one short sentence, so that a team can decide from it and pass it on. BMW's essence, for example, is driving pleasure. It names the central value or idea that only this brand owns, rests on real strengths, stays simple and promises a clear benefit. Because one word means different things to different people, the brand also notes the meanings it wants the word to carry. The essence may stay empty when no convincing phrase emerges, and the core elements lead instead. Some models write it not as one phrase but as a short list of six to twelve chosen associations or attributes, sorted into groups that are each summed up in a few words. Other models call the same thing the core identity: a small set of two to five elements that do not change across time, markets or products, while the rest of the identity may adapt. A few models put the identity as a whole at the centre of their figure: the picture the company has of what its brand should be, which steers all the work around the brand.
- 4-D Branding: Brand Code
- Anatomy of Brand Identity: Essence (Esencia)
- Brand Identity Planning Model: Core Identity
- Brand Identity Prism: Brand Essence
- Brand Key: Essence
- Brand Vision Model: Vision Elements
- Brand Vision Model: Core Vision Elements
- Brand Vision Model: Brand Essence
- Corporate Branding Model: Corporate Identity Profile
- Brand Essence Wheel: Brand Essence
- Brand Flower: Brand Core
- Brand Identity Canvas (Whitlock): Essence
- Brand Identity Formation Model: Brand Essence
- Brand Leadership Model: Brand Identity
- Brand Onion: Essence
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Brand Essence
- Branding for Builders: Headline
- CORE Discovery Framework: Brand Attributes
- Context Branding Model: Brand Identity
- Corporate Identity Mix: Corporate Personality
- Dentsu Honeycomb Model: Core Value (Brand Essence)
- MarkenWesen Model: Brand Proposition
- Six-Station Corporate Identity Model: Corporate Identity
- TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model: Brand Core
- TBA Branding Model: Brand Essence
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Brand Essence
Outside the Identity Core
Analysis Input
Inputs a model asks for before the identity is defined: competitors, market, customer insight, trends.
A competitor overview is a list of the other options a customer could choose, including less obvious ones, such as a bottle of water competing with Coca-Cola. For each competitor it records what it offers, how it presents itself, what customers link with it, where it is strong or weak, and which openings it leaves. Countries or regions can be competitors too.
A consumer insight is the hidden motive behind a purchase, the need that people rarely say out loud. It is found by asking why people buy and then asking again, until the real want appears. Men finding Coca-Cola Light too feminine is one such insight, and it can lead to a new product with a tougher look.
Market and environment conditions are the outside forces the brand does not decide but must reckon with: the economy, social and cultural trends, laws and politics, and, in each place where the brand is sold, what consumers value, their habits and norms, and which competitors are active. The image of the home country counts too. In one study of Brazilian sector brands, for example, the question was whether linking products to Brazil helps or harms them abroad and whether buyers there are prejudiced against Brazilian goods.
A competitor map is a chart with two axes that customers care about, such as classic against modern, on which five to ten competitors are placed. The brand adds itself and looks for an empty spot, because a free corner is a chance to stand apart. Liquid Death did this with water that is healthy yet fun.
Customer analysis is the study of the brand's customers through their own eyes: which groups respond differently and are worth serving, how they come to a buying decision in the category, and which touchpoints push the purchase most. It also looks at what buyers say after buying, such as complaints about late deliveries. Beltone learned that a spouse or child often gives the strongest push to buy.
A situation analysis takes stock of everything around the brand in one sweep before the brand work starts: how customers act, what competitors do, where the market is heading, what regulators require and what effect the company has on the world. It shows where the brand can grow and which customer groups are out of reach. Coca-Cola concluded from such a review that tap water, not Pepsi, is its main competitor.
The cultural moment is what is changing right now in society, technology or the market that makes the brand timely. A brand that can name its reason for coming now looks as if it knows what is coming, while a brand without one looks generic. The answer changes faster than any other field and should be revisited as the moment passes.
Perceived social system of a nation is a factor in the nation-brand survey that measures how transparent, fair and orderly respondents find a society: its tolerance of other cultures, its democratic awareness and its regard for law and order. For the authors it stands for the nation's stability, political ideology and openness. For Korea it was the most distinctive factor in the positioning map.
Perceived leadership and growth of a nation is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures where respondents place a nation in international politics and the economy, and how much growth potential they see, through items such as political leadership, economic strength and the capacity to cope with change. Respondents from abroad gave China and Korea nearly the same rating, for different reasons.
Perceived national heritage is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures how respondents judge a nation's cultural heritage: how inspiring, original, artistic and outstanding it seems next to other nations, and how well tradition and modernity go together. Korean respondents rated Korea's heritage above that of China and Japan, which foreign respondents did not; the authors read this as pride in their own culture.
Perceived nation people is a factor in the nation-brand survey. It measures how respondents rate a nation's people: their appetite for challenge, striving towards goals, diligence, drive to develop and personal character. Korean respondents saw the people as the strongest force behind the economy and industry, which the authors take as pride in human resources in a country short of physical resources.
Perception and Outcome
What the identity is meant to produce: image, reputation, awareness, loyalty, equity. Not identity content by the Atlas definition.
The brand image is the picture of the brand that forms in people's minds: the associations, attitudes and feelings they attach to it, from products and benefits to the typical user and the company behind the brand. Everything the brand sends out is read against what people already know and believe, so the image is the identity as it lands, not as it was meant. One model takes the image as a snapshot of how customers see the brand today, set against its rivals, and asks, for example, whether they picture it as a fast, nimble jaguar or a slow turtle. Another names image and reputation, together with the company's personality, as its critical triplet.
Brand strength is how much the brand has achieved in people's heads and hearts: whether they know it, what they think of it, how they feel about it and whether they stay with it. It can be measured among customers and among the general public, for instance by awareness, sentiment online or market share. The results are tracked so that the next planning round can start from them. One model adds that a brand which delivers the same strengths for many years earns a positive prejudice: customers trust a new product before they have tried it, as Miele customers expect every new machine to be easy to use. Another model counts consistency among the strengths every successful brand needs: it stays true to itself over the years and in all it does.
Awareness means that people have noticed the brand at all, and recognition means they know it again from earlier encounters. This comes first among the results, because nothing can be built on a brand nobody has noticed. A brand is easy to recognise when its communication is easy to tell apart, seen often and always the same. A shopper who spots a familiar colour and shape on a crowded shelf, for example, knows the brand before reading its name.
Perceived differentiation is how distinctive people find the brand's position in the market compared with others. It mirrors the position the owner chose: the owner wants to stand apart, and the audience judges whether it does. For the Nobel Prize, a university president says nobody travels to Stockholm for anything less than a fundamental breakthrough.
Perceived relevance and attractiveness is whether the brand matters to its audience: whether the value it offers seems attractive and worth having, and whether people want the brand and, in the best case, admire and love it. As between people, attraction opens a relationship in which each side expects something back. A brand may be well known but not wanted if its traits promise the target group no reward.
The economic result of the brand is what the brand earns for the company in money, sales or, for a museum, visitor numbers. It stands at the end of the chain: brand strength in people's minds comes first, and the economic result follows from it. Together, strength and market power add up to the brand's value.
Loyalty is the lasting tie between customers and the brand, and a loyal customer keeps coming back. It forms last, after people have been told what the brand's identity and core values are. In one model it is the final step in a chain that starts with awareness and passes through associations. A traveller who keeps booking the same airline even when another is cheaper, for example, shows this tie.
Willingness to support is how ready stakeholders are to stand behind the brand: to approve of it, encourage it, endorse it and recommend it to others. It is the reputation element closest to mission and vision, because people support what they find engaging and inspiring. A Nobel laureate, for instance, supports the Prize because it shows the public why science matters.
Perceived performance is whether people experience the brand's quality and performance as dependable over time. It mirrors the competences the brand claims: the owner promises skill, and the audience judges whether the promise is kept. A Nobel committee member points to a long record of picking laureates who truly deserved the prize, with few questionable decisions.
Credibility means that people find the brand convincing and believe what it says. It is closely tied to personality, because a brand whose character comes across as genuine is easier to believe. Many prizes exist and some pay more, yet scientists would trade them all for a Nobel Prize, which shows credibility at its strongest.
Trustworthiness is the firm belief that the brand is dependable, honest and capable, and that the relationship rests on respect on both sides. It is the relationship the organisation set out to build, seen from the stakeholders' side. The Nobel committees would rather wait a year than award a prize they are not fully sure about.
Perceived responsibility is how dutiful and answerable people believe the brand to be, its sense of moral duty towards others. It is mainly shaped by the organisation's culture, as seen from outside. The Nobel Foundation, for example, is seen as looking after the Prize with honour, loyalty and a feeling of duty.
Familiarity goes beyond being known: the brand must feel close to a person. It gets there in two ways, by habit, when a brand present for years becomes something people would miss, or by instant fit, when it feels built for one person at first sight. A brand can be well known and still lack familiarity if it feels distant.
Process and Implementation
Steps, activities, governance and measurement. The Canvas is a result structure, not a procedure.
Communication channels and campaign messages cover how the brand gets through to people and talks with them: which media and channels it uses, in what order and timing, what it says about which topics, and how each audience will be reached. The range runs from advertising, press relations and personal contact to the website and social networks, inside the company and outside, and includes integrated programmes, printed materials, promotion tools and direct contact programmes with customers. Messages should lead people step by step from first notice to recommendation and steer how they read what the brand offers, and some models also invite people to take part and co-create. Airbnb, for instance, ran hashtag campaigns on belonging.
- Anatomy of the Brand: External Communication and Relations
- Anatomy of the Brand: Web and 2.0 Management
- B*Canvas 2.0: Communication
- Brand Asset Management Model: Brand-Based Communication
- Brand Leadership Model: Brand-Building Programs
- Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon: Communication
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Communication & Channels
- Brand Thinking Canvas: How
- Cohesive Brand: Connection
- Context Branding Model: Brand Communication
- Corporate Identity Mix: Corporate Communication
- Minimum Viable Brand Canvas: Invitation
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Marketing Campaign
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Stationery
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Promotion Tools
- Sector Brand Identity Model: Relationship
- Six-Station Corporate Identity Model: Communication
- The Brand Canvas Model: Marketing Strategy
Brand positioning is the place the brand wants to take in customers' minds compared with competitors. It usually says for whom the brand is, what it offers, which benefit it brings and why it is better or at least different, often in one sentence, and it also makes clear whom the brand is not for. It is derived from the identity, guides what the brand says to the market and may change as markets shift, while the identity stays. One model asks which one word the brand should own in the long run; 3M, for instance, holds innovation in people's minds.
- B*Canvas 2.0: Positioning
- Brand Asset Management Model: Brand Positioning
- Brand Vision Model: Brand Position
- De Chernatony Brand Identity Model: Positioning
- Brand Gestalt Model: Positioning
- Brand Identity Canvas (Alves): Brand Positioning
- Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: Positioning
- Branding for Builders: Positioning
- PRO Brand Strategy Framework: Define Your Strategic Market Position
- The Brand Strategy Canvas: Brand Positioning Statement
The brand strategy and action plan is the shared plan for managing the brand: its key ideas, objectives, the reasoning behind decisions, and who does what with which money, people, technical means and time. It also takes in the marketing plan that brings the brand and its products to market, and the step from plan to practice: a strategy map ties strategy to execution, and a delivery phase makes sure customers meet the brand's commitment wherever they deal with it, so the brand should promise only what it can keep. When the whole organisation works from one plan, what it creates stays consistent. One workshop format ranks the top three priorities for revenue, awareness and efficiency and turns them into one ranked to-do list for the whole team; another rates all possible initiatives by effort and impact and sorts them into what to do first, what next, what to plan and what to set aside for now. The single working steps that some frameworks add, such as team alignment, data matching, attribute clustering, an impact narrative or the choice of supporting technology, belong to this plan.
- Anatomy of the Brand: Branding Project
- Anatomy of the Brand: Marketing
- B*Canvas 2.0: Brand Strategy
- Brand Thinking Canvas: Technology
- CORE Discovery Framework: Team Alignment
- CORE Discovery Framework: Goals Prioritization
- CORE Discovery Framework: Attribute Clustering
- CORE Discovery Framework: Data Matching
- CORE Discovery Framework: Impact Narrative
- Cohesive Brand: Concept
- Cohesive Brand: Brand Strategy Map Integrating Inside and Outside
- Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: Awareness Goals
- TBA Branding Model: Act
Internal brand anchoring means making the brand part of everyday work among employees and other insiders, who carry the brand: they are informed, trained and motivated through the intranet, the brand book, meetings and the way targets and pay are set. One model pairs consulting with coaching, so that the brand grows into the organisation's own learning and capability instead of resting with the consultant. When every employee decides with the brand in mind, the brand holds at every contact. A rude and late delivery crew can ruin the service promise despite any advertising.
- Anatomy of the Brand: Internal Communication
- B*Canvas 2.0: Internal Brand Management
- Brand Asset Management Model: Brand-Based Culture
- Cohesive Brand: Conscious
- Cohesive Brand: Consulting and Coaching in Parallel
- Cohesive Brand: Empowering Iterative Brand Internalisation Process
- Six-Station Corporate Identity Model: Human Power
This is the work of finding out what the company must actually do or have so that each promise in the identity holds: which performance fits the brand at each touchpoint, which proof points exist and which investments in assets, skills, programmes or people are missing. The Haas School of Business, for example, reworked its curriculum, faculty, research, alumni outreach and admissions so that it could become known as the innovation school.
Brand governance is the question of who owns the brand and organises the work on it: a team, a single person or an agency, with its place in the organisation chart and its resources. Every department affects customers, so responsibility must reach across them and up to top management. In a hotel group, for instance, housekeeping, reception and the booking site all shape the brand, so the brand owner sits above all three.
Brand research and controlling means that the brand gets facts and figures: research before the project, polls during it and tracking afterwards, such as whether products are accepted by buyers abroad. Good metrics link the brand image to business results, fit the strategy, show what to do next and are easy to repeat. A company with only campaign figures from websites and social media cannot steer the brand as a whole.
Tiers of identity elements means that not every element of an identity weighs the same. A model can keep a small core and give the rest a second tier that adds texture and completes the picture, or rank attributes as central, secondary and peripheral, each with a score for how strongly it should be recognised. An element such as personality or high quality may matter without setting the brand apart, and the second tier gives it a home.
Brand guidelines and manuals are the rulebooks of the brand. They collect the rules from the earlier steps for the places where the brand shows: the name, the identity manual, the design rules for products, services and shops, and plans for internal and external communication, down to the website and social networks. One framework adds a design brief, a document the client signs that turns the strategy into instructions for the designers before the design phase begins. A manual for the crab restaurants of Guayaquil may fix logo, facade, lighting, music, a signature smell, uniforms and packaging.
Legal brand protection means registering the brand in the company's name, in its home market and abroad, so that nobody else can register it first. Without it, all other brand work can be wasted, because all rights could be lost. In Guayaquil, with its many similar restaurants, registration also checks that no two names match or resemble each other.
Business and Strategy
Business model, corporate strategy, objectives, portfolio, geographic reach. The Canvas links the identity to the business it serves in two further blocks, outside the identity itself.
Corporate strategy is the overall business strategy, covering the company's brands, products, services and marketing. The brand strategy becomes part of it and must fit with it. Several restaurants close together with similar menus, for example, may boil their corporate strategy down to one value proposition that competitors find hard to copy. One model ties the two together from the start: brand work begins with what senior management expects the brand to add to the company's growth over the next three to five years.
Brand architecture is the ordering of all the brands a company holds: which brand is the whole company, which is a product line, and what role each plays, from master brand to sub-brand and endorser. The advice is to list every existing brand first and then arrange them in one system, so that offers become clear and the brands help each other. The system also settles how new brands are added. Part of this decision is endorsement: whether a sub-brand or product brand borrows credibility from the company name above it.
Geographic scope is the choice between being a global brand and connecting with the local market. A global brand brings size and prestige but may struggle to feel relevant locally, while a local brand can play the local favourite but lacks worldwide credibility. Lone Star, a Texan beer, is set against Budweiser. For an export sector brand every country is its own target market, and its firms may adapt their products to what buyers there prefer.
Co-branding and partnerships mean that a brand enriches itself through links with other organisations, such as co-branding, art collaborations and other partnerships. Virgin Atlantic, for instance, gives points to people who book with Airbnb, and charities work with Airbnb to offer shelter to homeless and displaced people.
Premium pricing is the decision to charge more than competitors and the ongoing watch over how large that price gap may be. Loyal customers allow a brand to ask for a premium, but if the gap grows too wide, customers try the cheaper brand and may never come back. Three Chrysler minivans shared one body and the same engines, yet the Chrysler badge earned a higher price than the Dodge one.
Distribution channels are the routes by which products reach customers, through wholesalers and retailers, with a constant push and pull over power between them and the maker. A strong brand strengthens the company's hand, because channel partners want a brand that draws customers, plus a good product, training, fair pricing and support for promotion. Starbucks even turned itself into a channel that customers seek out on purpose.
Brand extension means testing, before the brand enters a new product or market, how far it can stretch. The questions are whether the extension fits the vision, upholds the brand picture and fits the positioning, and whether a failure would hurt a little or a lot. Kraft's fat-free dressing fitted a brand for dependable family flavours, while gourmet flavours failed for lack of gourmet associations.
Inspiration
What the Canvas Has Only in Part, and What Each Element Would Add
Every brand identity element found in the models fits into one block of the Brand-Building Canvas. For many of them the Canvas carries the idea only in part: as a neighbouring element, as a guiding question or as a line that could be more specific. This table lists those elements with what each would add. Frequency is not the measure here: an idea from a single model counts as much as one that twenty models share.
Partly in the Canvas (37)
| Element | What It Would Add | Nearest Place | Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guiding Philosophy: Mission, vision and values as one package The guiding philosophy is the brand's foundation written down as one set: the reason it exists, the direction it is heading in and the values that guide the way. Together they give every later decision a reference point. Telefónica, for example, states that it wants to improve people's lives with new communication services and then lists the values it works by. A brand inside a larger company must not contradict that company's own mission and values. | Add a fit check: does the brand identity sit within the mission and the values of the company behind it? | 01 Brand Vision | 10 models |
| Brand Mission: How the brand delivers its purpose The brand's mission says what the brand does today to bring its purpose about. It describes the path, while the vision describes the destination. I feel Slovenia, for example, says it moves forward with nature, which names both what it does now and where it wants to go. One model asks for a short mission with a verb, a target group and a measurable outcome. | The Canvas has the mission; add a format rule: a verb, a target group and an outcome that can be measured. | 01 Brand Vision: Mission | 3 models |
| Brand Ambition: A concrete goal the brand wants to reach The brand's ambition is a concrete goal, such as becoming the hero of a niche or the leader of the world market. One model uses it in place of a vision and gives it a deadline; another calls a clear goal one of the most important guides for the brand's direction, because focused measures need it. SIDES, for example, states the year by which it wants to be a key digital transformer of its industry. Urde's two matrix models state the ambition as the standing the brand wants in its market and in the minds of its key stakeholders, kept inside the identity as the reference point for later positioning; the Nobel Prize, for example, wants to be the world's most prestigious award. In a company with several brands, the identity should say whether the goal belongs to the brand or to the company. | Add a prompt: are the goals stated here those of the company or of the brand? | 01 Brand Vision: Ambitions | 4 models |
| Rallying Cause: What the brand fights against and for The rallying cause is the single point a brand gathers people around: what it fights against and what it fights for. It must belong to the brand alone, and it gives people a reason to want a relationship with the brand, since such bonds grow where who the brand is meets who its audience wants to become. A small bank, for example, might rally people against hidden fees and for plain, fair prices. | Add a line next to Purpose: what the brand fights against and wants to change. | 01 Brand Vision: Purpose | 1 model |
| Brand Essence: The identity in a few words The brand essence is the whole identity condensed into one word, a few words or one short sentence, so that a team can decide from it and pass it on. BMW's essence, for example, is driving pleasure. It names the central value or idea that only this brand owns, rests on real strengths, stays simple and promises a clear benefit. Because one word means different things to different people, the brand also notes the meanings it wants the word to carry. The essence may stay empty when no convincing phrase emerges, and the core elements lead instead. Some models write it not as one phrase but as a short list of six to twelve chosen associations or attributes, sorted into groups that are each summed up in a few words. Other models call the same thing the core identity: a small set of two to five elements that do not change across time, markets or products, while the rest of the identity may adapt. A few models put the identity as a whole at the centre of their figure: the picture the company has of what its brand should be, which steers all the work around the brand. | Allow Block 08 to stay empty when no convincing phrase emerges; allow a short list of chosen associations instead of one phrase; add a line for what the essence should and should not evoke. Mark each canvas element as core, which never changes, or adaptable. | 08 Brand Essence | 24 models |
| Brand Culture: The organisation behind the brand Brand culture is what the organisation behind the brand is like today: its people, values, beliefs and ways of working. It reaches customers through the staff, and unlike a product it is hard to copy. 3M, for example, is known for innovation as a company, not for any single product. Where the lived culture differs from the intended one, the gap has to be named and closed. | Add two columns to Brand Culture, intended and lived, with the gaps to close, and check whether staff can explain the brand. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 8 models |
| Brand Values: What the brand believes in Brand values are the few basic beliefs that guide how the brand behaves toward customers, staff and other groups. They show in what the brand does, not in advertising lines. Each value needs a short line that says what it means in behaviour: IKEA defines cost-consciousness as getting more out of less without losing quality. A short list of about three values in rank order shows which one wins in a conflict. | Require a line for each value that says what it means in practice, and rank the values so it is clear which one wins in a conflict. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 19 models |
| Social Responsibility: What the brand commits to toward society and the environment Social responsibility is what the brand commits to toward society and the environment, such as ethics, care for nature or support for culture. These are principles the organisation adopts as a member of society in order to earn trust. One model moves sustainability into the core of the brand, so that its mission and its offer state the commitment and the brand lives up to the values it promotes. The Body Shop defines itself mainly through such commitments. | Add a Social Responsibility field: what the brand commits to, such as ethics, environment or culture, beyond its purpose. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 2 models |
| Brand Point of View: Where the brand stands on issues its target group cares about The brand's point of view is where it stands on topics its target group cares about. A brand should only take positions it can credibly hold, and a clear stand may divide opinion. Harley-Davidson stands for a freedom with almost no limits, which is not for everyone but is loved by its riders. | Add a Point of View field: on which issues the brand takes a stand, which stand, and how far it may divide opinion given its target group. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 1 model |
| Corporate Behaviour: How the organisation acts, inside and outside Corporate behaviour is how the organisation acts: in product policy, sales, social and financial matters, in its rituals and conduct rules, in how it markets itself, and in how its people treat customers and put the brand's purpose and values into practice. One model checks every department, from development to sales, because the brand only works when they all pull together. People judge a company mainly by what it does, so behaviour is a third pillar beside philosophy and appearance. NTT, for example, needed staff who saw themselves as working for a service company rather than a government office; because such a change is hard to start from inside, its consultants first changed how outsiders saw NTT and let that outside attention shift minds inside. | Add a Brand Behaviour field: which concrete behaviours, rituals and policy rules, inside and outside the company, show the identity. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 4 models |
| Brand Heritage: Founding story, myths and past chapters the brand keeps alive Brand heritage is the chosen chapters of the brand's past that it carries forward, such as the founding story, the myths told about it and what it has achieved. It roots the brand somewhere and makes it easier to relate to. It is a choice and not the whole history. Starbucks, for example, looks back to its first shop at a Seattle market. One model calls this the brand's root strengths: the product it started with, the product it is best known for and the way it grew, kept in view so that change builds on what made the brand strong. | Make room in Brand Culture for heritage: the founding story, myths and chapters of the past the brand keeps alive. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 4 models |
| Brand Origin: The country, region or institution the brand claims Brand origin is the country, region, industry or organisation that the brand presents as its roots, together with what these roots stand for. It is narrower than history, because management picks the roots it wants to stress, and at best it makes everything else the brand does more credible and authentic. Rolex, for example, is Swiss, a country known for precision. | Make room in Brand Culture for origin: the country, region, industry or founders the brand claims. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Culture | 4 models |
| Brand Narrative: The story the brand tells, with characters and plot The brand narrative is the story the brand tells at every touchpoint. It turns the brand's message into a story, because people pay far more attention to a story than to plain information, and a good story draws them in. It works with characters, a plot, a setting, a point of view, themes, myths and archetypes. charity: water, for example, casts donors, its founder and community members as characters, makes the solving of the water crisis and what the donations paid for its plot, and uses the caregiver and the hero as classic story figures. | Add a Brand Narrative field: who are the characters, what is the plot and conflict, which archetype and myths carry the story? | 04 Brand Character: Brand Theme | 2 models |
| Brand Competences: What the company can do better than its rivals Brand competences are what the company can really do better than its rivals: its know-how, production methods, people and access to customers. They only count if customers pay for the result, and they need steady investment to last. Audi, for example, backs its technology claim with innovations such as permanent four-wheel drive. | Add a Competences line under Brand Authority: the abilities and assets that back the claim, and what it takes to keep them. | 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence | 6 models |
| Reasons to Believe: Proof points Reasons to believe are the evidence that makes the brand's claims credible, such as patents, ingredients, awards, testimonials or a visible policy. They answer the question why anyone should believe the brand. A claim without proof should wait until proof exists. IKEA, for example, backs low prices with design know-how. | Add a Reasons to Believe field: for each claim, the evidence that proves the brand can keep it. What still has to be built is planned in X037. | 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence | 4 models |
| Product Scope: Which products and services the brand covers Product scope states which kinds of products and services the brand offers and is linked with, from a narrow niche such as sports cars to a broad field such as automobiles. Too narrow a scope can hold a brand back: Nike would have been limited had it stayed a shoe brand. Growing brands often widen the scope through extensions or licensing. The offer covers the core products and the services around them, for example advice on which beer suits which dish; for a person it also includes talents and skills. One iconic product can stand for a whole range, as the trench coat does for some 5,000 other Burberry items. Everything on offer should fit the brand promise. | Add a scope line: which product fields the brand covers, may enter or must never enter, plus a check that every product line fits the identity and the promise. Pricing stays in the business blocks 08 and 09. | 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence | 9 models |
| Product and Service Design: The product itself as a carrier of the identity Product and service design means that the product or service itself carries the identity through its form, style and the way service is delivered. A design concept that sets the product line apart gives the brand a personality people can see and touch. The shape of a household appliance can carry the brand as surely as a logo, and in a restaurant the way guests are served is the design. | Name product or service design language (form, style, service script) as an option in Brand Expression. | 07 Brand Expression | 1 model |
| Product Attributes: The factual, measurable and sensory features of the offer Product attributes are the factual, measurable and sensory features of the offer and the company, such as what the product does, what it is made of and what it looks like. They are the raw material on which benefits rest. Volvo, for example, lists safety equipment and durable engineering. Each quality is marked as needed just to play in the category or as a real point of difference. | Pair each attribute with the benefit it proves, and mark it as needed for relevance or as a point of difference. | 02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits | 13 models |
| Value Proposition: All benefits the brand offers, taken together The value proposition is the full set of benefits the brand offers. A benefit can be functional, emotional, self-expressive, social or economic. Most brands already meet the functional needs, so the difference usually lies in the emotional and social benefits. Driving a Volvo, for example, makes people feel safe. A corporate brand must also win people who do not buy, such as employees, partners and investors. | Add a benefit field that gathers the benefit types in customer words, and add what the brand offers employees, partners and investors. | 02 Brand Offering | 11 models |
| Brand Promise: What the brand commits to deliver, in one sentence The brand promise is what the brand commits to deliver, in one sentence. It sits between what customers wish for and what competitors can offer, and it must be broad enough for every product and sharp enough to exclude competitors. Urde's two matrix models put it at the heart of the identity, carried by the core values it ties together, so that it guides the organisation inside and speaks to the outside. For a place brand, all identity elements work together to keep the promise through functional and emotional values, and its highest level is a promise of experience. A brand that serves two sides at once gives each side its own promise. | Add a one-sentence Brand Promise next to the Mission, with a test: does it cover every product and still exclude competitors? | 01 Brand Vision: Mission | 9 models |
| Brand Experience: The planned moments that let customers feel the brand The brand experience is the set of moments the brand plans for its customers to live through, so that they can feel the brand's world. Such moments include trying the product, hearing the brand's story and the place where the meeting happens. | Add an Intended Brand Experience field: what customers should feel and do, and in which setting. | 06 Key Touchpoints | 1 model |
| Key Differentiator The key differentiator is the one strongest reason why a customer should pick this brand and not another. No other brand can claim it, it must be real and noticeable, and it is found in the openings competitors left. It can be a technology or way of working, a feature or, when products hardly differ, the brand's story or even its price. Volvo, for example, has become a synonym for safety. | Add a prompt: if products are alike, what else sets the brand apart, such as story, origin or pricing? | 02 Brand Offering: Key Differentiator | 8 models |
| Price and Quality Tier The price and quality tier says whether the brand is premium, mid-range or value, and what its price should signal. A high price can stand for quality and prestige, while a low price that people find fair adds value. Walmart, for example, builds its identity on low prices. | Add a price and quality tier to Brand Authority: premium, mid or value, and what the price should signal. | 02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence | 3 models |
| Target Customers: Whom the brand is made for, often portrayed as one typical person Target customers are the group for whom the brand is built, described by who they are, what they think and what they value, and split into segments. The key customers are those the brand most wants to be liked by, even though others are served too. Dove's target, as one consultancy reads it, is women fed up with narrow beauty standards. Several models portray the target customer as one typical person with a name, needs, problems, fears and wishes, often called a buyer persona. | Give Target Customers sub-prompts for ranked needs, problem, situation, fears and wishes; the research behind them is X004. | 03 Brand Customers: Key Customers | 9 models |
| Key Stakeholders: Audiences beyond customers whose opinion matters Key stakeholders are the audiences beyond customers whose opinion matters to the brand, such as staff, job candidates, the press, influencers, partners, investors and regulators. The brand chooses and ranks them, and some models put customers in the same ranking. For a place brand, residents and other insiders even help shape the identity. For each audience the brand notes what that audience expects and states what it should think and feel about the brand. | Add a Key Audiences line: the most important audiences beyond customers, ranked, with what each expects and what it should think and feel. | 03 Brand Customers: Key Customers | 5 models |
| Brand Persona: Personality traits The brand persona is the set of human traits that make the brand seem like a person and carry its emotional side. It sets the brand apart, makes it memorable and shapes how every message is read. Harley-Davidson, for example, is macho and freedom-seeking. Some models sketch the persona with a classic story figure, an archetype such as the outlaw or the caregiver, plus what the brand loves and hates; others place it between opposite poles such as friend and authority. Naming the traits the brand is not stops a wanted trait from being read the wrong way. The persona sets the tone of the brand's communication and is a standard of conduct for staff. The people who represent the brand and its typical users shape it too. | Add an is-not line for traits and readings to avoid, and name who carries the persona, such as staff and endorsers, so that all of them convey the same traits. Offer archetypes as a tool, with a line for what the brand loves and hates. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Persona | 31 models |
| Brand Face: Leaders and board as part of the identity The brand face is the leadership of the organisation, the people at the top and the management board, counted as part of the brand's identity. One model places them in its head station, next to the mission, the vision and the values. In this view, a founder who still runs the company is part of who the company is, just as its values are. | Ask under Brand Face which leaders and board members embody the brand and what role they play in the identity. | 04 Brand Character: Brand Face | 1 model |
| Brand Relationship: The role the brand plays toward its customers The brand relationship is the kind of relationship the brand has with its customers and how it acts toward them. The brand can play a human role, such as a friend, a mother or an adviser, and the relationship runs both ways. Campbell's, for example, plays an old-fashioned mother. The same way of acting applies to employees, partners and other stakeholders. | Ask which contributions customers should make, such as user content or events, and extend the relationship to staff and other stakeholders. | 05 Brand Relationship | 7 models |
| Brand Voice: How the brand sounds in words The brand voice is how the brand sounds in words. It is the personality as it shows in language and stays constant, whereas the tone changes with the situation. It is written down as adjectives, as positions between opposites such as funny or serious, and as limits like we are this but not that. Monzo's tone, for example, rests on warm wit, everyday magic and straightforward kindness. | Add voice sliders and limits, we are X not Y, to Brand Relationship. | 05 Brand Relationship | 4 models |
| Distinctive Brand Assets: Logo, mark, colours, design and other signs people recognise Distinctive brand assets are the signs that let people recognise the brand from afar, such as name, logo, colours, typefaces, packaging, characters and sound. They have to be unique, easy to notice and widely known, and each stands for a meaning that the brand defines. McDonald's golden letter, for example, is recognised by two-year-olds. The signs address every sense, including scent and taste, not only the eye. Several models also fix the exact colour values, typefaces, photo style and rules for form early, so that the signs look the same everywhere. | For each signature element, ask which meaning it stands for, and prompt for every sense, not only sight. Note exact colour values, typefaces and imagery style as the detailed form of these signs. | 07 Brand Expression | 22 models |
| Brand Name The brand name is the most basic sign of a brand's identity. It comes out of the creative work on the brand strategy and can lean on a parent or company brand. People judge a name by feeling rather than by reason. The image of the Swedish retailer Gröna Konsum, for example, is shaped partly by names such as Änglamark and Blåvitt. | Name the brand name and its relation to the parent or company name among the signature elements. | 07 Brand Expression | 2 models |
| Tagline: The line the brand keeps for years, not one campaign The tagline is the short line that carries the brand's message to customers and stays with it for years. It must match the positioning, whereas a slogan serves only one campaign. TED, for example, used one line for twenty years before changing it. | Add a tagline line among the verbal signature elements, separate from campaign slogans. | 07 Brand Expression | 1 model |
| Verbal Identity: Key terms and language repeated for years The verbal identity is the brand's language, built to match its visual identity. It covers name, tagline, tone and vocabulary, and it repeats the same key terms over the years. BMW, for example, has varied its joy-of-driving claim for decades and keeps words like dynamic in everything it says. | Split Brand Expression into visual and verbal signature elements, with key terms and claim variations. | 07 Brand Expression | 2 models |
| Key Messages Key messages are the three to five messages the brand communicates consistently, each backed by evidence. They put the brand into words, tell the audience what value it delivers and speak to the audience's problems, hopes and fears. They can be built from the brand's vision, value proposition and personality, and some models count the tagline as their shortest form. A bank, for example, might keep repeating that it is simple, fair and always within reach, with proof for each point. | Add a Key Messages field: three to five messages with proof points. | 07 Brand Expression | 4 models |
| Brand Artifacts: Objects and events that make the brand's story tangible Brand artifacts are the objects and events that let people see, experience and feel the brand's story. They give the story a form people can meet, and good ones stir feeling and draw people in. A pink moustache fixed to the front of a car is one example. | Include experiential artifacts such as objects and events among the signature elements. | 07 Brand Expression | 1 model |
| Key Touchpoints: The contact points that matter most Key touchpoints are the few contact points between brand and customer that matter most. They are chosen for their relevance to the target group and for the gap between what the brand promises there and what it delivers. The sales channels the brand chooses to be found in belong here too, because where a brand is sold says something about it: a brand sold only in its own boutiques is read differently from one sold in every supermarket. | Add ranking criteria to Key Touchpoints: relevance to the target group and the size of the gap between promise and delivery. Name the sales channels the brand wants to be found in, and those it avoids. | 06 Key Touchpoints | 1 model |
| Proven Strengths: Strengths the brand has delivered again and again, its genetic building blocks Proven strengths are the strengths the brand has delivered again and again, so that its success rests on them; one model calls them the brand's genetic building blocks. Each is described by what it does for customers, and the steady delivery shapes how people see the brand. For Miele they include easy-to-understand controls, twenty years of durability and excellent service. | Mark which qualities are proven strengths that customers have experienced again and again, and which are new. | 02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits | 1 model |
What Changes in the Canvas
These are the conclusions drawn from the list so far.
Brand Essence
What the Models Show: Sixteen models give the identity its own field for the whole in a few words. Kapferer puts it in the centre of the prism, the Brand Key closes with it, and Aaker calls it the umbrella idea that covers everything the brand aims to do. The models confirm that a brand identity without this short form is not finished. They also agree on its job: it sums up the brand identity in a nutshell so that it can be passed on, remembered and used to decide.
What Changes in the Canvas: Nothing is added, but the finding supports the importance of this summary element. It is now described more clearly on the Canvas pages.
Models: Aaker (Brand Vision Model, Core Identity); Kapferer; Brand Key; Wilensky; Brand Essence Wheel; Brand Flower; Whitlock; Yanenko; Brand Onion; Biddle; Dentsu; TAIKN; TBA; The Brand Strategy Canvas
Key Customers
What the Models Show: Every model asks for whom the brand is built, but several go one step further and narrow the answer on purpose. Gramco calls them the key customers: the people the brand most wants to work with or be liked by, while other customers are still served. Dentsu asks for the ideal customer image, the people the brand wants as users and fans. Ebaqdesign asks for the main customer, and TAIKN for the groups with priority. The reason is practical: founders tend to want everyone, and a brand built for everyone stands for nothing in particular.
What Changes in the Canvas: The element Target Customers in Block 03 is renamed Key Customers. The guiding question changes from “for whom is the brand designed” to “who are the few customers the brand is really built for, and whom does it merely serve”. Identity is not about all customers. It is about the key ones. The new name already states the task: not to list everyone who might buy, but to find out who really matters. This also fits the idea of brand identity better. Identity is what a brand wants others to know about it, and that includes who its key customers are, not a full list of possible buyers.
Models: Brand One / Gramco (Key Customers); Dentsu Honeycomb (Ideal Customer Image); Ebaqdesign (Target Audience); TAIKN (Target Groups); The Brand Strategy Canvas (Customer/User Insight)
Brand Competence
What the Models Show: The field in which a brand wants to be seen as especially strong is called competence in the models that have worked out brand identity most thoroughly: Burmann makes the brand’s competences one of the two foundations of identity, Esch places it at the hub of his steering wheel, and Urde lists competences in both of his matrices. Only one model uses the word authority, and there it means the proof of trustworthiness, not the field. In a reading test, nobody understood Brand Authority as this field. It was confused with trust, credibility and the like. Brand Competence was read as what the brand is really good at.
What Changes in the Canvas: The element Brand Authority in Block 02 is renamed Brand Competence. The guiding question keeps the field: a product category, a skill, a usage occasion or a customer problem, and now also names the price tier the brand wants to own.
Models: Identity-Based Brand Management (Brand Competences); Brand Steering Wheel (Brand Competence); Corporate Brand Identity Matrix and Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix (Competences); Personal Branding Canvas (Competence); TAIKN (Brand Strengths)
Functional Benefits
What the Models Show: The old name Brand Qualities misleads users: many list character traits such as honest or playful, which belong to the Brand Persona. Putting functional in front makes this clearer, but Functional Qualities is not a term used in practice or academia, and users still find it vague. What the element asks for, the models call benefits: Dentsu and the Anatomy of Brand Identity say functional benefits, the Brand Strategy Canvas rational benefits, Biddle product and customer benefits, de Chernatony and the Brand Essence Wheel simply benefits. Aaker and Keller use the same word in their textbooks, paired with emotional and self-expressive benefits. Every reader understood Functional Benefits as what the customer gets from the brand, and readers running a hotel or a consultancy could fill the field without hesitation.
What Changes in the Canvas: The element Brand Qualities in Block 02 is renamed Functional Benefits. The new name is far better established and says more precisely what the element is about: the three to five practical advantages of a product or service that give customers good reasons to choose the brand, such as comfort, convenience or value for money. Nobody will list character traits here any more. Emotional benefits such as prestige stay where they are, in Block 03 with the brand-related self.
Models: Dentsu Honeycomb Model (Functional Benefit); Anatomy of Brand Identity (Functional Benefits); The Brand Strategy Canvas (Rational Benefits); Branding for Builders (Product Benefits, Customer Benefit); Brand Essence Wheel (Benefits); De Chernatony Brand Pyramid (Benefits); 4-D Branding (Functional Dimension); Place Brand Identity Model (Functional Value); Brand Identity Planning Model (Value Proposition: functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits)
Coverage
How Often Each Entry Appears, and Whether the Canvas Carries It
Counts are models, not mentions. Tier A counts weigh more: Tier B contains many derivative models, so a high Tier B count alone does not make an entry important. For the question whether the Canvas misses something, frequency is not the measure: a good idea from one model counts.
| Brand Identity Element | Tier A Models | Tier B Models | Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Persona | 9 | 22 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Persona) |
| Brand Essence | 7 | 17 | partly in the Canvas (08 Brand Essence) |
| Distinctive Brand Assets | 7 | 15 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Brand Values | 6 | 13 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Brand Culture | 6 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Product Attributes | 5 | 8 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits) |
| Value Proposition | 5 | 6 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering) |
| Product Scope | 4 | 5 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence) |
| Brand Relationship | 4 | 3 | partly in the Canvas (05 Brand Relationship) |
| Guiding Philosophy | 3 | 7 | partly in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision) |
| Brand Purpose | 3 | 6 | in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Purpose) |
| Brand Vision | 3 | 6 | in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Vision) |
| Brand Competences | 3 | 3 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence) |
| Brand-Related Self | 3 | 1 | in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Brand-related Self) |
| Key Differentiator | 2 | 6 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Key Differentiator) |
| Brand Heritage | 2 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Brand Origin | 2 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Reasons to Believe | 2 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence) |
| Price and Quality Tier | 2 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence) |
| Prototypical User | 2 | 1 | in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Prototypical User) |
| Branded Spaces and Events | 2 | 1 | in the Canvas (06 Key Touchpoints) |
| Brand Promise | 1 | 8 | partly in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Mission) |
| Target Customers | 1 | 8 | partly in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Key Customers) |
| Functional Benefits | 1 | 7 | in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits) |
| Emotional Benefit | 1 | 7 | in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Brand-related Self) |
| Key Stakeholders | 1 | 4 | partly in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Key Customers) |
| Brand Ambition | 1 | 3 | partly in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Ambitions) |
| Corporate Behaviour | 1 | 3 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Social Responsibility | 1 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Frame of Reference | 1 | 1 | in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Brand Competence) |
| Brand Name | 1 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Product and Service Design | 1 | 0 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Brand Community | 1 | 0 | in the Canvas (03 Brand Customers: Brand Community) |
| Brand Voice | 0 | 4 | partly in the Canvas (05 Brand Relationship) |
| Key Messages | 0 | 4 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Brand Mission | 0 | 3 | partly in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Mission) |
| Brand Narrative | 0 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Theme) |
| Verbal Identity | 0 | 2 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Rallying Cause | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (01 Brand Vision: Purpose) |
| Brand Point of View | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Culture) |
| Brand Experience | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (06 Key Touchpoints) |
| Brand Face | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (04 Brand Character: Brand Face) |
| Tagline | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Brand Artifacts | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (07 Brand Expression) |
| Key Touchpoints | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (06 Key Touchpoints) |
| Proven Strengths | 0 | 1 | partly in the Canvas (02 Brand Offering: Functional Benefits) |
Outside Brand Identity
| Element | Tier A Models | Tier B Models | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Positioning | 4 | 6 | Process and Implementation |
| Communication Channels and Campaign Messages | 3 | 10 | Process and Implementation |
| Internal Branding | 3 | 2 | Process and Implementation |
| Brand Research and Controlling | 3 | 1 | Process and Implementation |
| Extended Identity | 3 | 0 | Process and Implementation |
| Brand Strategy and Action Plan | 2 | 5 | Process and Implementation |
| Corporate Strategy as Frame | 2 | 1 | Business and Strategy |
| Competitors | 1 | 5 | Analysis Input |
| Brand Image | 1 | 4 | Perception and Outcome |
| Brand Strength and Equity | 1 | 3 | Perception and Outcome |
| Strategic Imperatives | 1 | 3 | Process and Implementation |
| Brand Governance | 1 | 3 | Process and Implementation |
| Consumer Insight | 1 | 2 | Analysis Input |
| Brand Architecture | 1 | 2 | Business and Strategy |
| Competitive Landscape | 1 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Customer Analysis | 1 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Situation Analysis | 1 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Brand Guidelines and Manuals | 1 | 1 | Process and Implementation |
| Geographic Scope | 1 | 1 | Business and Strategy |
| Co-Branding and Partnerships | 1 | 1 | Business and Strategy |
| Premium Pricing | 1 | 0 | Business and Strategy |
| Brand Performance | 1 | 0 | Perception and Outcome |
| Distribution Channels | 1 | 0 | Business and Strategy |
| Legal Brand Protection | 1 | 0 | Process and Implementation |
| Brand Extension | 1 | 0 | Business and Strategy |
| Market and Environment Conditions | 0 | 3 | Analysis Input |
| Awareness and Recognition | 0 | 2 | Perception and Outcome |
| Perceived Differentiation | 0 | 2 | Perception and Outcome |
| Perceived Relevance and Attractiveness | 0 | 2 | Perception and Outcome |
| Cultural Moment | 0 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Loyalty | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Willingness to Support | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Perceived Performance | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Credibility | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Trustworthiness | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Perceived Responsibility | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Familiarity | 0 | 1 | Perception and Outcome |
| Perceived Social System of a Nation | 0 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Perceived Leadership and Growth of a Nation | 0 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Perceived National Heritage | 0 | 1 | Analysis Input |
| Perceived Nation People | 0 | 1 | Analysis Input |
Method
How This List Was Built
- Inventory: All elements were taken from the Atlas profiles, which document each originator's own definitions with page references. The grouping is the originator's, not ours.
- One Idea per Element: Every element was read in its full definition, with its example, and the idea behind it was written down in one line. An element that carries two ideas got two lines. Nothing was skipped, and no idea was dropped for being rare.
- Identity Test: Each element had to pass three questions drawn from the Atlas definition of a brand identity model. Content: is it a field one fills in for the target identity, not an activity, a measurement or an analysis? Direction: does the brand owner decide it, rather than it being measured at the receiver? Timing: does it belong to the identity itself, not to the analysis before or the implementation, steering and portfolio decisions after? Only elements with three times yes are brand identity elements; the others are listed in the second table.
- Merging: Ideas were merged into one entry only when they mean the same thing, checked against the original definitions, never by the similarity of names. What is only related stays separate. Every entry lists its sources.
- Plain Words: Each entry is explained in everyday language, in our own words with the same meaning as the originators, with an example from the models.
- Checking: An independent review went through every merge, every explanation and every placement against the original definitions; findings were corrected and the review repeated until it ended without a finding. Open questions that need the author's decision are marked.
- Limits: The definitions shown under each entry are abridged; the By Model view (button under the Element List) carries the full definition of every element, and the profile pages carry the sources. The judgement whether the Canvas carries an idea rests on the Canvas description as published.
Status: 28 October 2026. Part of the Brand Identity Model Atlas by Klaus Heine.
The central, lasting part of the identity, its essence (Aaker, 1996, p. 85, as cited in Urde, 2013, p. 746). It usually holds the two to five elements that matter most for making the brand relevant and setting it apart (Meyerson, 2019a, "Core and Extended Vision Elements" section; Aaker, 2012, principle 3).All other elements of the identity. In Aaker's words, the extended identity "fills in the picture" with details that help show what the brand should stand for (Kell, 1996, para. 11).The products the brand is linked with. The scope can be broad, such as automobiles, or narrow, such as sports cars. Niche brands may have a very narrow scope. A scope that is too narrow can hold a brand back. Meyerson's example is Nike, which would be limited if it were still only a shoe brand.The features of the brand's products and the benefits they bring. These benefits can be functional or emotional. Perhaps the product does something better than its rivals, or something other products do not do at all (Meyerson, 2019b, "Product Attributes" section). What do the brand's products offer, in features or benefits?Whether the products are known as premium or as affordable. Aaker believes that quality shapes competition in many industries. In some "competitive arenas", the product with the highest quality wins. In others, a brand only needs a basic quality level to compete at all.The use or occasion the brand is linked with. "Owning" a specific use, so that people think of the brand for it, can work very well for positioning, even if it is not the only use. But a brand tied too tightly to one occasion may struggle to win customers for any other (Meyerson, 2019b, "Uses" section).The type of people the brand is linked with. They can be described by facts such as age or income (demographics), by attitudes and lifestyle (psychographics), or both (Meyerson, 2019b, "Users" section).The brand's link to a country or region. Some places stand for luxury, precision or innovation. A brand from one of them can borrow that image by saying where it comes from (Meyerson, 2019b, "Country of Origin" section). Where does the brand come from?Here the brand is seen as an organisation: the people, culture, values and programs behind it, not its product features. These traits last longer than product features, and rivals find them harder to copy (Meyerson, 2019b, "Organization Attributes" section).Aaker describes this as a basic choice of identity: be a global brand, or connect with the local market (Aaker, 1996, as cited in Meyerson, 2019b, "Local vs. Global" section). A global brand, or one seen as global, brings size and prestige. But it may struggle to feel relevant to local customers.A brand can show a personality through its look, its voice, its advertising and more. Consumers who feel that this personality fits them may use the brand to express who they are or what they value, for example by buying its products (Meyerson, 2019b, "Personality" section).This category is closely related to personality. A brand can take on the role of a person in a real-life relationship, such as a close friend, a family member or a business associate (Meyerson, 2019b, "Customer/Brand Relationships" section). The figure names friend and adviser as examples.A symbol is more than a logo. It covers anything that shows the brand visually, such as a character, a recognisable package, a building or a product design. People linked to the brand count too.Heritage is the brand's history. Part of what a brand means can lie there. Meyerson calls heritage "a sometimes-powerful blend of backstory and nostalgia".In the figure, the identity leads to a value proposition made up of functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits (Meyerson, 2019b, figure). The sources available on the 1996 model name this box but do not define it.The figure places credibility next to the value proposition, with a note about supporting other brands. Like the value proposition, it leads to the brand–customer relationship (Meyerson, 2019b, figure). The available sources do not define this box, and they read credibility in different ways.The building blocks of the vision. They are the associations that should come to mind when people see or hear of the brand (Aaker, 2011a, point 3). A brand may be based on six to twelve of them (Aaker, 2014a, p. 20). They are created in three steps. First, the associations the brand aims for are listed.The two to five vision elements that are "the most compelling and differentiating". They reflect the brand's future value propositions, that is, what it will promise customers. They drive the brand-building programs and initiatives (Aaker, 2014a, p. 20).All other vision elements, usually three to five (Aaker, 2012, principle 3). They "add texture" to the vision and help strategists judge whether a program is "on brand". They give a home to aspects that may not deserve a core place, such as a brand personality.An optional central theme of the vision. It works as one umbrella idea that covers everything the brand aims to do. The right essence can be "magic" for internal communication, for inspiring employees and partners and for guiding programs. It should always be sought, but sometimes it gets in the way.A short-term guide for communication. It often states what will be said to which target audience, and with what reasoning. The current position often stresses the vision elements that will appeal and that the brand can already deliver credibly. It might change as new capabilities and programs emerge or markets shift.Evidence that the organisation can keep its promise. Proof points are skills and programs the organisation already has. They enable it to deliver what each vision element and its value proposition promise (Aaker, 2014c, "Is Your Vision Really Feasible" section).Where proof points are weak or missing, a strategic imperative is needed. Aaker defines it as "a strategic investment" in assets, skills, programs or people. Without it, the promise to customers cannot be delivered. But it may require a large investment or a change in culture. Imperatives act as a reality check.The culture that is actually lived in the company. In Baumgarth's audit model, the brand foundation has two parts. One is this culture, in the form of brand orientation (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26). Brand orientation means that the brand serves as a guiding idea for the whole company (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 23).How the brand should be anchored in customers' minds and set apart from competitors (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2024, pp. 41–42). In Baumgarth's audit model, setting the positioning is part of the active management of the brand (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26).The strategy for the brand. It has a field of its own in the foundation (Baumgarth, 2021). In Baumgarth's audit model, brand strategy is part of the active management of the brand, together with positioning and internal brand management (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 27).How the work on the brand is organised in the company. For Baumgarth, one of the main challenges of brand management is getting people to work together across departments and across the whole organisation (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26).Anchoring the brand among the employees. In Baumgarth's audit model, this is part of the active management of the brand and works through suitable measures (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26).The tools for managing the brand. In the audit model for cultural institutions, the brand tools dimension covered brand controlling and corporate design guidelines (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 30). Brand controlling supplies the facts and figures on which professional brand management is based.The signs of the brand, such as brand name, logo and slogan (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2024, p. 41). In Baumgarth's audit model, the touchpoints fall into two parts. One is branding, which works across all marketing instruments.What the brand offers, both its core products or services and the additional ones around them. The product is one of the instruments of the marketing mix through which the brand reaches customers (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26).How the brand reaches people and talks with them. The canvas splits the field into push, pull and co-creation (Baumgarth, 2021). In the audit model for cultural institutions, communication covered external media communication, personal communication and location-based communication.The point of sale. Baumgarth and Schmidt list it among the touchpoints, next to branding and communication (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2024, p. 41). Methods that have proved useful in Baumgarth's brand audits include the audit team's own observations and photos, for example of shop design, and mystery shopping (Baumgarth, 2016, p.A touchpoint field with a plus sign as its icon (Baumgarth, 2021). Its German name, Markenanreicherung, means brand enrichment (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2024, p. 41). The audit model for cultural institutions already had a dimension of this name among its touchpoints (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 30).The strength of the brand among the general public. The German version of the canvas calls this field and the next one Markenstärke, brand strength (Baumgarth & Schmidt, 2024, p. 41).The strength of the brand among its customers. Baumgarth and Schmidt report a study that used online data to measure the customer side of brand value. It measured reach, for example by views of social media posts, and affinity, for example by the number of followers.The final economic result of the brand. In Baumgarth's audit model, brand performance splits into brand strength and this final economic result (Baumgarth, 2016, p. 26). Baumgarth and Schmidt describe brand performance as how successful the brand is in the market.Origin ( Markenherkunft ) is the foundation of the brand identity. It matters greatly for brand management, because people inside and outside the company first see and interpret a brand in the light of where it comes from. It is linked to the brand's history but is narrower.The second main basis of the identity is the competences of the company that runs the brand. The figure calls them (Kern-)Kompetenzen der Marke , the brand's (core) competences. A competence is the company's ability to combine its resources so that the brand fits what the market asks for.The offering ( Art der Markenleistungen ) is the basic kind of products and services the brand provides. It builds directly on the competences and decides how customers can use the brand. Management has to set the basic form and features of these products and services.The vision ( Markenvision ) sets the brand's long-term direction for five to ten years. It should motivate everyone inside the company. Vivid, emotional guidelines should show what role the brand plays in reaching the company's long-term goals. Brand goals are more concrete and cover a shorter time.The values ( Markenwerte ) are the basic beliefs of management and employees, in other words, what the brand "believes in" (translated). They should express important emotional parts of the identity and what the target groups wish for in an ideal brand.Following Azoulay and Kapferer, Burmann defines the personality ( Markenpersönlichkeit ) as "the set of human personality traits that are both applicable and relevant for brands". These traits show in the brand's verbal and non-verbal style of communication. The brand's typical representatives and its origin shape this style.Top management, such as the owner, the CEO or the board, defines the philosophy as a whole picture of the organisation that helps it reach its goals. Capriotti describes it as whatever top management finds central, lasting and distinctive about the organisation (Capriotti, 2009, p. 25). Its three parts answer three questions.Culture is made up of beliefs, values and ways of behaving that the members of an organisation share but do not write down. It guides them and shows in how they act (Capriotti, 2009, p. 24). Beliefs are the basic assumptions members hold about the organisation, without realising it.How the organisation wants its publics to see it. The profile sets out the basic traits the organisation chooses so that publics recognise it, tell it apart from others and prefer it (Capriotti, 2009, p. 213).The organisation seen as a "person". These attributes describe the inborn traits and the behaviour that define its character. They concern the way the organisation is and the way it expresses itself, for example young, modern, dynamic or fun (Capriotti, 2009, p. 218, translated).The organisation seen as a "social institution". These are the basic values and principles it adopts towards the society, culture and economy around it, in order to earn credibility and trust. Examples are corporate ethics, commitment, care for the environment and support for culture (Capriotti, 2009, p. 218, translated).The organisation seen as a "commercial entity". These attributes aim to strengthen its ability to compete, to win customers or users and to keep them loyal.How central each attribute is to the organisation. Capriotti proposes three levels. At the top are two or three central attributes. Next come two or three secondary ones of medium importance. All remaining attributes are peripheral (Capriotti, 2009, p. 221).How strongly the organisation wants publics to recognise each attribute (Capriotti, 2009, p. 221). It gives each attribute a value from 1 to 5 or from 1 to 7, based on the attribute's level of relevance. Every attribute thus gets its own number, and the profile can be drawn as a graph (Capriotti, 2009, p. 222).MI reviews the corporate philosophy and rebuilds it. It makes clear why the company exists and what it aims for. It also sets rules for running the company to match. Hiraike, summing up Okada, calls MI "the essential part of CI" (Hiraike, 2001, pp. 2–3, translated).VI gives the corporate philosophy a visible form. Hiraike, summing up Okada, calls it "the most CI-like part". Typical steps are a new company name or a new symbol mark (Hiraike, 2001, p. 3, translated). Okada's table speaks of giving the philosophy a form that people can see and hear (Hiraike, 2001, p. 2, Table 1).BI makes the corporate philosophy take root in everyday behaviour. When people say that CI improves a company's constitution or revives the organisation, this is the part they mean (Hiraike, 2001, p. 3).Concepto y Gestión de la Marca is the black centre. On his institute's website, Costa calls it "the concept, the idea, the reason for being of the brand" (translated), with its financial studies, business plan, objectives and positioning.Identidad Institucional is the company's own identity. Costa calls it "the spirit of the company" (translated) and says it will be carried into the whole brand project (Costa, 2012, p. 22).Cultura Organizacional is how the company's identity shows. The company's vision, mission and values guide its decisions and conduct, and the culture is the way of being and acting shown through them (Costa, 2012, p. 22). Culture does not stay inside. A service attitude starts within the company.Estrategia Corporativa is the overall business strategy. The brand's own strategy becomes part of it (Costa, 2012, p. 22) and must fit with it (Joan Costa Institute, n.d.).Proyecto de Branding develops the brand's philosophy and strategy. It sets out the brand's key ideas, its objectives and the reasoning behind management decisions. It also plans the process, the use of money, people, technical means and time, and who does which task.Investigaciones is an open tool that can be used whenever needed. It serves for studies before the project, for one-off research and polls, and for following up, checking and measuring results (Costa, 2012, p. 22).Protección de la Marca is the strategy for registering the brand as the company's legal property, at home and abroad, so that the company fully controls it. Costa sees this as a precondition.Manuales de Gestión y Aplicaciones are the brand's rulebooks. They collect the criteria, guidelines and rules from the earlier steps that apply to the star, where the brand is expressed.Marketing covers how the brand and its products are brought to market, including marketing communication and sales (Costa, 2012, p. 23). On the website, the marketing plan is designed in the outer ring, together with legal protection and the branding project (Joan Costa Institute, n.d.).Marca Verbal y Visual covers the brand's name and its visual signs. The verbal brand is the name that comes out of the creative strategy, sometimes linked to a parent brand or backed by it. Costa calls the name "the fundamental sign of identity" (translated).Diseño de Productos y Servicios gives form to what the brand offers. A design concept that sets a product or product line apart is essential, because it "defines the style and the tangible personality of the brand" (translated). This holds for household appliances as much as for fashion, cosmetics or food.Diseño Ambiental is the design of the spaces where people meet the brand, such as shops and exhibitions. The point of sale is a place for display, demonstration, information and merchandising. It becomes crucial for the public's emotional experience.Comunicación Interna is a necessary and valuable channel for informing all staff and motivating them to share in the brand's success. Through the intranet, other media and working meetings with teams and middle managers, the brand project must become part of the organisational culture.Comunicación y Relaciones Externas is a large block. It covers advertising, promotions and information in the mass media. It also covers personalised communication outside the mass media, through small media and below-the-line activities.Web y Gestión 2.0 covers the corporate website and the web 2.0, which includes managing social networks (Costa, 2012, p. 22). Online, too, everything must fit the brand strategy and the corporate strategy, because the whole digital area is strategic.Davis calls the brand vision "the starting-point" for Brand Asset Management. It states what senior management expects from the brand and how the brand will help the company grow over the next three to five years.The BrandPicture is a snapshot of the brand as it is now, seen through the customers' eyes and compared with the competition (Davis, 2002b, p. 505). Its first part, the image analysis, collects everything customers associate with the brand.The customer model looks at the brand "from the outside in". It identifies the customer groups, or segments, that respond differently from others and are valuable for the brand. It finds out why and how customers decide to buy in the category.This step looks at competitors, the market and the wider environment. Together, these analyses show how the brand can grow and what may keep it out of certain customer groups. For each competitor, a short check shows how customers see that brand, how it is positioned and where its strengths and weaknesses lie.Positioning moves the brand toward the identity it aspires to. It is the basis for everything the brand says to the outside world. It sets whom the brand should reach, with what offerings, what benefits it provides, and how these benefits are better than, or at least different from, those of competitors (Davis, 2002b, p. 507).Communication must link back to the brand vision, the BrandPicture and the positioning. Davis uses the AUTHOR model, whose name is formed from the first letters of six stages through which communication should lead customers.This step tests the boundaries of the brand and how far they can be stretched. Before the brand moves into a new product or market, four questions need an answer.Products reach customers through a channel of wholesalers and retailers. Davis describes channel management as a constant "pull and push" between them and the manufacturers, each seeking more power. A strong brand gives the company more influence over how the channel performs.The BrandPicture shows whether the brand is strong enough to support a premium price. Brand loyalty is what lets a brand charge more. But the price gap to competitors must be watched and managed with care.This step asks how well the brand helps to meet the business goals. Brand metrics, the measures a company uses to judge this, fall into two groups. Brand image metrics track awareness, how important and meaningful the brand is, whether it delivers what stakeholders value and whether it makes customers more inclined to buy.Even world-class promotions cannot convince customers that a brand cares about service if its delivery staff are rude and late. Many departments touch the customer, so responsibility for the brand must reach beyond the marketing department, up to top management. Each employee should make decisions with the brand in mind.The vision is the starting point of the model. It is the brand's "core purpose and envisioned future". The core purpose "shows how the brand will make the world a better place, improving people's lives". It should inspire staff and give direction to their work.Corporate culture covers the company's artefacts, values and assumptions, and it guides behaviour (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, p. 269). Artefacts are the visible part of a culture (Suomi et al., 2013, p. 205). The values and assumptions of staff steer what they do, "particularly in novel situations".Positioning "sets out what the brand is, who it is for and what it offers" (Harris & de Chernatony, 2001, p. 444). Managers need to check whether the intended positioning fits the brand's core purpose and values (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, p. 269).Personality is "a metaphor for the brand's emotional values" (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, p. 269). It describes the human character the brand would have if it were a person (Suomi et al., 2013, p. 205). It grows out of the brand's core values, among other sources, and out of its positioning.Relationships grow out of the way stakeholders deal with the brand, and the brand's values define them. Staff are central here (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, p. 269). The figure lists relationships from staff to staff, staff to customers and staff to other stakeholders (Harris & de Chernatony, 2001, p. 443, Figure 1).The last component is the way the identity is presented to stakeholders (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, p. 269). The task is to find presentation styles that reflect stakeholders' aspirations and self-images, in other words how they would like to be and how they see themselves (de Chernatony & Harris, 2000, pp. 269–270).Markenkompetenz is the heart of the wheel. ESCH. also calls it the brand core ( Markenkern ). It sums up what is essential about the brand, can hold emotional as well as factual content, and forms the lasting core of the brand identity (ESCH. The Brand Consultants, 2025, "Markensteuerrad").Markenattribute are the properties a brand has. They can belong to the offer or to the company (ESCH. The Brand Consultants, 2025, "Markenattribute").Markennutzen are the customer needs a brand can meet. In simple terms, a benefit is either functional, such as strong cleaning power, or psychosocial, such as a cream that makes its user attractive and desirable (ESCH. The Brand Consultants, 2025, "Markensteuerrad"). Psychosocial benefits often weigh more for customers.Markentonalität is the emotional side of the brand. It covers the emotions and feelings the brand should trigger. The brand image lets people experience the tonality. ESCH. offers three ways to capture it. The first is the brand's personality.Markenbild means the brand's appearance, not the picture of the brand in people's minds. It covers all non-verbal impressions of the brand that the company builds on purpose and that customers should ideally perceive.What the product behind the brand offers. This dimension covers the product's visible advantage and the advantage the consumer experiences.The relationship between consumers and the group of people they want to belong to. The point is social identity, the need to be accepted by a group. People choose the brands they feel best suit this identity.Brandflight sums it up as "the individual" (Brandflight, 2019, "Brand Strategy"). This dimension reaches deep into the consumer's personality and, as Djordjevic puts it, "touches their soul". It is closely tied to their self-image, the way they see themselves, which takes in things such as personal education and experience.Brandflight sums it up as "the purpose & meaning" of the brand (Brandflight, 2019, "Brand Strategy"). Djordjevic also calls it the ethical or idealistic dimension. It links the brand, product or company with the society around them. It covers everything they give to that society and to the consumers who are part of it.The second model of Gad's brand strategy. Brandflight writes that it "has six inputs" but lists only four: product (or a service, place or benefit), positioning, style and values (Brandflight, 2019, "Brand Strategy"). A figure in Djordjevic, which gives its source as "redone by T.Gad, 2005, p.The brand's physical traits and qualities. These are either objective features that people name right away when asked about the brand, or newer features that are still emerging.By communicating, a brand slowly builds up a character. The way it talks about its products shows "what kind of person it would be if it were human". This is the personality of the brand as sender. It should not be confused with the reflected customer, which is a picture of the ideal buyer (Kapferer, 2008, pp. 183–184).Brands often sit at the heart of exchanges between people. This facet "defines the mode of conduct that most identifies the brand": how the brand acts, serves and treats its customers. This facet is especially important for services, banks and retailers (Kapferer, 2008, pp. 185–186).The values that inspire the brand. Culture is "the source of the brand's aspirational power" and sets the basic principles behind its products and communication. Kapferer places it at the core of the brand. A brand's country of origin is often a rich source of such values (Kapferer, 2008, pp. 184–185).The type of customer the brand seems to be talking to. This is not the same as the target group. The brand shows customers "as he/she wishes to be seen as a result of using a brand", as a model to identify with (Kapferer, 2008, p. 186).Reflection is the outer mirror: how customers are seen by others. Self-image is the inner mirror: how customers see themselves when they use the brand (Kapferer, 2008, p. 186).The one central value the brand stands for, written in the middle of the prism (Kapferer, 2008, pp. 180, 198). It is useful for managers because it tries to sum up the richness of an identity, which makes it easier to pass on.Fifteen minutes. Teams usually concentrate on their present work. But a successful company's brand will last a long time. So the team looks 20 years ahead. On a timeline marked 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ahead, everyone notes what the company might be doing at each date, and the Decider picks one item per date.Thirty minutes. The exercise is based completely on Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle". The team draws three circles inside each other: what on the outside, how in the middle, why at the centre. What is a phrase for the company's main business over the next five years.Thirty minutes. Values make the why more specific. Knapp knows that "company values" can sound like "consultant baloney". For him, they are what really matters to the company or, better still, "decision-making principles". Many companies list values, but few do the hard work of reducing and ranking them.Thirty minutes. Values are not the whole picture, because a brand must know whom it is talking to. The team lists all possible audiences and then decides which matter most. Customers count, but Knapp suggests thinking more broadly about whose opinion matters.Thirty minutes. This exercise sets the attitude and style of the brand (Knapp, 2017, "Introducing the Brand Sprint" section). The whiteboard shows four lines, each running between two extremes: Friend to Authority, Young & Innovative to Mature & Classic, Playful to Serious, and Mass Appeal to Elite.Thirty minutes. The last exercise sets the brand against other companies (Knapp, 2017, "Introducing the Brand Sprint" section). It uses "a simple 2x2 matrix", two crossing axes that form four fields. Classic to Modern runs along the horizontal axis, Expressive to Reserved along the vertical one.Historische kracht . The first step looks back at what the brand has achieved so far. It records the product the brand started with, called the parent product, and the product it is mainly known for today, called the flagship product. A new Brand Key should keep in view how the brand grew to its present size.Concurrentieomgeving . This step maps the competition, meaning the brands and products a customer considers when deciding what to buy. They can be direct competitors, but also less obvious ones. The task is to list which brands can compete with the brand.Doelgroep . This step maps the desired target group. It covers demographic features as well as attitudes and values (EURIB, 2010, "Stap 3: Doelgroep"). Montalvo-Arroyave and colleagues speak of a full profile of the rational and emotional features of the target markets (Montalvo-Arroyave et al., 2022, p. 171).Inzicht . To succeed in the market, a brand must respond to a relevant consumer insight. EURIB defines it as a latent, or hidden, buying motive of the intended target group towards the product. An insight does not simply answer why consumers buy a branded product. It points to the hidden needs behind the purchase.Voordelen . From this step on, the model zooms in on the internal side of the brand. The task is to name the brand's benefits. They can be functional or psychosocial (EURIB, 2010, "Stap 5: Voordelen"). Branding by Garden makes a similar split. Functional benefits are the tangible, rational advantages, the "what".Waarden & persoonlijkheid . This step asks which values the brand should appeal to. Brands that do so are thought to click better with consumers. This leads to better recognition and to more appreciation. Two things matter. First, values are best not stated outright. They should come through in the advertising message instead.Geloofwaardigheid . This step lists the reasons why the target group can believe that the brand is the best choice. These reasons can be used in the brand's communication. Concrete moments of customer contact can also be arranged so that they show consumers proof of the brand's claims (EURIB, 2010, "Stap 7: Geloofwaardigheid").Onderscheidende kracht . This step makes clear what the real difference is compared with other brands (EURIB, 2010, "Stap 8: Onderscheidende kracht"; Montalvo-Arroyave et al., 2022, p. 171). For Branding by Garden, the discriminator is "the single most compelling and unique reason" to choose the brand over all others.Merkessentie . The last step sums up steps 5 to 8, from the benefits to the discriminator. It names the essence of the brand in one or two words (EURIB, 2010, "Stap 9: De merkessentie").The mix of appealing arguments aimed at customers and other stakeholders. A strong value proposition should build a good relationship between customers and the brand, lead to purchases and earn the company a good reputation.How the company builds relationships with customers and other stakeholders over time. The element "defines a mode of conduct". It covers how the company serves its customers, works with them and relates to them. This should match the company's culture (Urde, 2013, p. 753).Where management wants the corporate brand to be placed, in the market and also in the hearts and minds of key stakeholders. It is not the positioning itself but a point of reference for the positioning work that follows once the identity is defined (Urde, 2013, p. 753).The verbal, visual and other signs by which people recognise the company, such as tone of voice, design, graphic style and logo. It also includes a flagship product that shows the brand's qualities. Visual identity is part of the corporate brand identity, "but not at its heart" (Urde, 2013, p. 752).The heart of the matrix. Urde defines the brand core as core values that support and lead up to a promise. The promise ties the core values together into a meaningful whole. It is communicated to the outside and guides the company on the inside (Urde, 2013, p. 752).The mix of human traits that form the company's character. Following Keller and Richey, Urde points to a key difference. A product brand's personality is usually linked to the image of its consumers and users.The mission explains why the company exists and what drives it beyond making money. The vision describes its direction and what inspires it. For companies that start from the inside (brand-oriented), the mission is typically a starting point for defining the corporate brand identity (Urde, 2013, p. 751).The company's attitudes, values and beliefs, and the way it works and behaves. Culture can set the company apart from its competitors. Heritage and track record, country of origin and iconic leaders can be important parts of the culture that shape the corporate brand identity (Urde, 2013, pp. 751–752).The company's skills and processes, above all its core competences. They show what the company does especially well, which knowledge and ways of working set it apart, and where it beats its rivals. This element ties the brand to lasting competitive advantage.The essence is the most important part of a brand's identity. Wilensky calls it "the soul or the heart of the brand", made up of "a central value that consumers know, understand and appreciate" (Wilensky, 2003, p. 117, as cited in Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 51, translated).Every brand must help consumers to meet their needs (Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 52). Its appeal, that is, what draws people to it, rests on benefits that help to meet a set of needs and desires in the market. Some benefits are functional and come from the product itself. Others are subjective and come from the consumer.Distinctive features are the elements by which people tell the brand apart on the spot, so that it is never mistaken for another (Reche, 2010, p. 14), "even from a distance" (Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 53, translated).Functional benefits come from a company's ability to meet specific needs efficiently through what the product does (Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 52). When a brand manages to own a functional benefit that is vital for meeting a need or a desire, this benefit tends to become a powerful competitive advantage (Reche, 2010, p. 13).Emotional benefits relate to the consumer's feelings, desires and pleasant experiences. Many brands use them to add value to their identity (Reche, 2010, p. 13; Pawlusiak, 2009, pp. 52–53). The sum of rational and emotional benefits is what makes a brand "truly powerful" (Reche, 2010, p. 13, translated).The price of a brand is necessarily tied to the benefits it gives. A high price can signal quality and exclusivity. It can help the brand to be seen as superior in quality and to hold a prestige position. A low price can suggest poor quality and harm the brand, but a low price that people judge as fair adds value.The outer level is what people can see. Here distinctive features make the brand recognisable by an image or a certain colour in its logo (Reche, 2010, p. 14). Pawlusiak names logos, corporate colours and other visual elements (Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 53).On the inner level, distinctive features consist of the values linked with the brand (Reche, 2010, p. 14). Pawlusiak describes this level as less tangible, tied to the emotional values that the brand conveys (Pawlusiak, 2009, p. 53).The top block places the brand between outside conditions, inside conditions and its goals (Brandcom, 2018a). This field collects the outside forces that affect the brand, such as the economic climate, social trends and legal rules (Brandcom, 2018a).Here the canvas shows where the brand sits in the company and who looks after it. The brand can be the whole company or just one product line. A team, one person or an agency can run it, and it can be international or purely local (Brandcom, 2018a).Brandcom counts the goal among the most important guidelines for the brand's direction, and says it is often treated far too superficially. Focused measures need a clear goal. So the field asks how far the brand wants to go, "niche hero or world market leader" (translated) (Brandcom, 2018a).The middle block sets the strategic direction, with competitors on one side and customer demands on the other (Brandcom, 2018a). This field names the main competitors and notes how big they are, what they argue with and why customers pick them (Brandcom, 2018a).The field describes the customer groups and goes beyond age and gender. It records what customers need and expect from the brand, which problem they have, and in what situation they come across the brand (Brandcom, 2018a).The promise is the core of the brand and the link customers draw between brand and product (Brandcom, 2018a). At best it sits clearly between what customers want and what competitors can offer. It should be broad enough for all products and sharp enough to be unique.This field holds the story behind the brand and what sets it apart (Brandcom, 2022). A brand marks a difference from its competitors, and the German word Marke comes from Markierung (marking) for that reason (Brandcom, 2018a). When the product itself is hardly different, the story can carry the difference.This field lists what the brand offers. That means products and services and, for NGOs, beliefs or services for others, with details where they help (Brandcom, 2018a). The range should already fit the brand promise. A brand that wants to make life easier should not have a complicated offer (Brandcom, 2018a).The bottom row turns the upper fields into the brand's appearance, and its fields should follow logically from the ones above (Brandcom, 2018a). Corporate design is the visual side.The design shapes the personality, but the personality deserves its own description. It shows how the brand behaves, for example close or distant, relaxed or formal. A simple test is the form of address.The strategy is the plan for reaching the brand's goal (Brandcom, 2018a). The field records which media and channels the brand uses and in what order, and whether seasons or trade fairs play a role (Brandcom, 2018a, 2022).The outer ring holds the brand attributes ( Markenattribute ). It describes the product as people can experience it with their senses (Drömann, 2020, para. 2). Urde (2013, p. 745) names the same field first in his list.The next ring holds the brand benefit ( Markennutzen ). Drömann finds that the wheel names only the practical, functional kind of benefit. A social or emotional benefit is at best unclear (Drömann, 2020, para. 2). That fits the USP idea, which treats advertising as the messenger of a benefit the product already has (para. 2).The third ring from the outside holds the emotional values that users link to the brand (Drömann, 2020, para. 2). Drömann points out that this field shows how others see the brand, which makes it part of the brand image rather than the brand identity.The fourth ring holds the brand personality ( Markenpersönlichkeit ): the human character that consumers give the brand and that strengthens their bond with it (Drömann, 2020, para. 2).The brand essence sits in the hub. It condenses the brand and its four outer rings into what the brand stands for. The model limits it to "just one concisely formulated sentence" (translated) (Drömann, 2020, para. 3).The brand core ( Markenkern ) sits in the middle, where the three values overlap. The model treats it as the "most important value" (translated). Its job is to make the brand recognisable and to set it apart from competitors (Dietrich, 2021; Lenz, 2021, "DID Markenmodell"). The values need not be unique each on its own.Three brand values ( Markenwerte ) surround the core. They describe the attitude of the brand and mirror the culture and strengths inside the organisation (Lenz, 2021, "DID Markenmodell").Each brand value has three brand facets ( Markenfacetten ) (Dietrich, 2021). A facet fills a value with detail. The value then stops being an abstract word and becomes something people can grasp and follow in their behaviour (Lenz, 2021, "DID Markenmodell").Competence is "the value your brand delivers to its target audience" and the way the brand "differentiates itself from competitors" (Helder, n.d.-a, "The Elements of the Helder Brand Frame"). In short, it defines what the brand delivers and to whom (Helder, n.d.-a, "Frequently Asked Questions").The mission is the brand promise, written as a simple equation: "the customer's problem plus your brand's solution equals the customer's success" (Helder, n.d.-a, "The Elements of the Helder Brand Frame"). It expresses the value the brand creates for its customers (Helder, n.d.-a, "Frequently Asked Questions").Helder uses an ambition instead of a vision: "a concrete objective your brand aims to achieve within a defined timeframe" (Helder, n.d.-a, "Ambition Instead of Vision").Brand values are "the principles that shape how your brand delivers on its promise, both internally and externally" (Helder, n.d.-a, "The Elements of the Helder Brand Frame"). They define how the brand behaves (Helder, n.d.-a, "Frequently Asked Questions").The brand core is the brand's "superpower": "the single most distinctive and defining characteristic that sets it apart" (Helder, n.d.-a, "The Elements of the Helder Brand Frame").The first module asks: "What is your brand's attitude towards topics that are highly important and relevant to your target group?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). Not every brand can take a credible stand on every social issue.The second module asks: "What is the founding story behind your brand? What stories and myths are told?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). The pedigree sets out where the brand comes from.The third module asks: "What kind of products and services should be offered under the trademark?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). The German version adds which iconic product customers should link with the brand (Wiehrdt, 2020a).The fourth module asks which personality the brand should radiate and which human characteristics it should be given (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). A clearly defined brand personality builds an emotional bond with customers, sets the brand apart from competitors and keeps its communication consistent (Wiehrdt, 2024a).The fifth module asks: "What is the higher meaning, the purpose of your company? Which guiding principles and which values shape your actions?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). This is also the place for the "why" or purpose: the entrepreneurs' vision, the mission and the most important values that are to guide future decisions.The sixth module asks: "What iconographic elements shape the perception of your brand? Which images form the brand experience?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). Such distinctive elements, also called brand assets, include symbols, logos, colours, sounds, characters and brand ambassadors.The seventh module asks which place the brand should occupy in the minds of customers and how it will stand out from competitors (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). A strong positioning also makes clear what the brand is not and whom it is not meant for (Wiehrdt, 2026).The eighth module asks: "What relevant value proposition does the brand want to give its customers?" (Wiehrdt, 2020a, figure). The promise is more than a list of benefits. It describes how the brand solves an important customer problem in a way the competition cannot, and so becomes its unique selling point (Wiehrdt, 2021d).The lower node is where the model starts. The brand mission covers why the brand exists, plus its strategy, identity, personality and core values (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p. 18). Brand building begins with a clear picture of the internal brand identity, so the mission comes first (Mohamed, 2013, p. 47).The upper node shows how the target customers understand the brand (Mohamed, 2013, p. 48). In a brand-oriented company the brand is "a strategic platform for interplay with the target group". It does not simply answer every demand of the moment (Urde, 1999, as cited in Mohamed, 2013, pp. 48–49).The right side of the hexagon is the reference side. Customers judge product category and product with reason (Mohamed, 2013, p. 48). Urde's model keeps the two apart (Larsson et al., 2001, p. 26). Quality links the product to the centre (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p.The left side carries the emotional function. Customers judge company name and brand name by feeling. For Urde, a brand is experienced as a whole, with heart and head together (Mohamed, 2013, p. 48). Personality links the brand name to the centre (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p. 18, Figure 3). Larsson et al.The centre is where the meaning of the brand is formed. It consists of positioning and core values (Mohamed, 2013, p. 48). Together, these two carry the brand's meaning. The tie between brand and audience then becomes a question of identity (Urde, 1999, as cited in Larsson et al., 2001, p. 29).Positioning has three parts: quality, personality and communication (Urde, 1999, as cited in Larsson et al., 2001, p. 29). Used together, they let the brand take a clear place in customers' minds (Larsson et al., 2001, p. 29).Personality is the human side of the brand, the character that people attach to it (Larsson et al., 2001, p. 29). Urde points out that any product has a substitute. A brand is different when it has its own personality and identity, because it can give customers a relationship that no other brand offers (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p.Quality is the product-related part of positioning. Pricing shows how this can work, since a price is often read as a sign of quality (Larsson et al., 2001, p. 29). Mohamed reads the model as treating product quality and brand identity as important parts of building a brand (Mohamed, 2013, p. 49).Awareness, associations and loyalty are the inner relationships of the model (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p. 18). They follow Aaker's three equity dimensions: awareness, association and loyalty (Mohamed, 2013, p. 49). Awareness comes first. If people have never noticed the brand, there is nothing to build on (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p.Associations are the second step. They set the brand apart from others and give people attitudes and feelings about it (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p. 18). In the figure, this step runs along the base of the triangle between brand name and product (Figure 3).Loyalty comes last. People form a strong tie to the brand once its identity and core values have been communicated to them (Gerlach & Witt, 2012, p. 18). In the figure, this step runs between brand name and target audience (Figure 3).The most internal dimension: the company's influence on the brand and on what it does. Mission, vision and values of the company work in the background and "should not contradict the brand essence"; employees and other stakeholders can also affect the brand (Alves, 2022, p. 142).The core brand identity and centrepiece of the model, built from the brand's ethos and values: "what the brand stands for, why it has come into existence, and why it needs to be kept unchanged over time" (Alves, 2022, p. 143). It is strategic and rarely changes, because brand values and purpose need to stay consistent (p. 144).Brands need to strengthen their storytelling so that the consumer is "transported" into the story. Plot, characters and causal links create the story ambience, and archetypes and myths can deepen emotional bonds (Alves, 2022, pp. 142–143).The anthropomorphisation of the brand: a tone of voice and human characteristics that people can easily recognise and praise. A brand can take on a personality, and it should stay consistent "to avoid being seen as fickle" (Alves, 2022, p. 143).The same human characteristics should also be explored in the brand's relationships: brands should embrace and leverage fan communities and keep a dialogue with consumers, while interactions, events and co-creation increase attachment and loyalty (Alves, 2022, p. 143).The brand's symbols and how they are expressed: logotypes, fonts, colours, symbols and sometimes spokes-characters, all of which carry literal and implied meanings that brand managers should look into (Alves, 2022, p. 143). The canvas asks for the key brand symbols, their meanings and how they are represented (p. 141).Positioning is "the brand frontier and what consumers and competitors see": brands define their target consumers, where they sell and the best functional and emotional attributes (Alves, 2022, p. 143). Positioning is tactical and constantly reviewed (p. 144).The social, environmental and cultural conditions of a given place and time: what consumers value and prefer, who the competitors are, norms, habits and culture wherever the brand is sold. Positioning only makes sense when it is directed at a specific market (Alves, 2022, p. 143).The result of the exchange between the brand and its surroundings (Alves, 2022, p. 142). It sums up all branding efforts, such as brand awareness, valuation, equity and market share: "No brand can endure without being tracked and measured." (p. 143). The results feed back into the brand strategy, and the cycle starts again (pp.Guides the creative direction with sample images that show how photos should look, for instance the camera angle, the lighting, the setting and what people wear; video and sound can be added here (Alves, 2022, p. 145).Which typefaces the brand uses, with sample texts and where they appear (Alves, 2022, p. 145).The brand language: friendly, smart or direct, relaxed and conversational or formal and sophisticated, and the words that describe it; speech can be added here (Alves, 2022, p. 145).The brand's colour scheme: its main and supporting colours, how they are combined, how intense they are, which shade they have, and any use of black and white (Alves, 2022, p. 145).The logo, characters, icons, the brand name, taglines, emblems and any other graphic element "that embeds the brand values and meanings" (Alves, 2022, p. 145).Why the company exists: its core purpose and values (Whitlock, 2016, figure). Whitlock describes a startup's mission as the "dent it hopes to make in the universe". Mission and vision sit at the top because they should guide every aspect of the brand (Whitlock, 2016, "At the Top").What the company aspires to become (Whitlock, 2016, figure; "At the Top"). Together with the mission, it should guide every aspect of the brand (Whitlock, 2016, "At the Top").The single word that says what the brand stands for, "your company's soul in one word" (Whitlock, 2016, figure). The word is chosen and defined in this field; Whitlock also suggests listing the connotations the brand deliberately seeks (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The core traits and attributes of the brand, "the personification of your brand" (Whitlock, 2016, figure): the human traits of its personality. The test question is how one would describe the brand if it were a friend (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").Traits that do not belong to the brand and that it wants to stay clear of (Whitlock, 2016, figure). Noting them explicitly helps to keep a wanted trait from coming across as an unwanted one (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").A high-level description of how the brand expresses itself through words and prose style (Whitlock, 2016, figure): the type of words and the general prose style used across all copy, whether product, advertising or content (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The key consumer-facing messages of the brand, including its tagline (Whitlock, 2016, figure): the few messages that convey the value the products deliver to customers (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The legends about the brand that the company wants to start, its "brand lore" (Whitlock, 2016, figure), and the stories about the company that it will tell (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").A high-level description of how the brand expresses itself through visual elements (Whitlock, 2016, figure): the company's design style at a high level (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The brand's color palette (Whitlock, 2016, figure), given as specific hex values for use across product and content. Defining it early avoids "fifty shades of your startup's blue across the internet" (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The brand's typeface and fonts (Whitlock, 2016, figure), specified for all copy (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").The design rules that the brand's other distinctive visual elements follow (Whitlock, 2016, figure). Whitlock advises non-designers to look into form, line, texture and space so that the guidelines keep the brand consistent (Whitlock, 2016, "From Left to Right").Physique ( физические данные , literally "physical data") covers both the physical attributes of each item in the range and the unity of the physical data of the brand as a whole.Personality ( индивидуальность , literally "individuality") describes the brand's characteristic features in terms of personal traits. The product becomes a means of self-identification: consumers project their own wishes, experiences and preferences onto it.Culture ( культура ), like personality, belongs to the brand's content features. It can reflect the image of a country, the history of the company or product, traditions, corporate values (following Kapferer), national features and the like.Relationships ( взаимоотношения ) are a particular type of relationship and interaction between consumer and brand, "a type of behaviour that for the most part identifies brands" (translated). The facet defines how the brand acts, how it delivers services and what its relations with consumers are like.Reflection ( отражение ) is how consumers would like to appear to others and what impression they would like to make when using the brand. Here the brand serves as a means of building relationships, fitting into a group or reaching shared goals.In the self-image ( самообраз ), the brand serves as a means of self-identification. For B2B brands, as with reflection, the self-image may carry a sense of professionalism, status, modernity or conservatism (Yanenko, 2016, p. 116).Brand essence ( суть бренда ) is "the most important thing about the brand in two or three words" (translated). This facet reflects the group of characteristic properties that express what the brand is, its main mission and idea (Yanenko, 2016, p. 116).This field ( Estructura y procesos organizativos ) stands for the task of creating the organization that builds brands: taking responsibility for creating strategies and management processes (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated). The figure names its two parts, responsibility for brand strategy and management processes (p.Brand architecture ( Arquitectura de la marca ) is the task of building a complete architecture.Brand-building programs ( Planes de construcción de la marca ) are to be efficient and effective: they access multiple media in order to achieve brilliance, while the results are measured (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated).Brand identity ( Identidad de la marca ) belongs to the task of developing a brand strategy for the key factors.Purpose ( パーパス , 存在意義 ) is the reason a company exists. Gramco sums it up as the answer to "why does the world need this company?" (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Purpose"; translated). A growing number of companies, first in the West, now put it at the centre of their guiding principles instead of the mission statement.The brand vision ( ブランドビジョン ) is a long-term commitment put in writing: the state the brand wants to reach, even if it cannot show it today. It reaches beyond a company's medium-term business plan (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Vision").The value proposition ( 提供価値 ) is the value that only this brand can give its customers and stakeholders. It is the core of the brand concept and has an emotional and a functional side. Benefits belong to it too.The brand personality ( パーソナリティ ) gives the brand a character, and that character overlaps with the culture of the whole organisation. Gramco fixes it when the brand concept is written, as a guide to how the brand should behave.The key customers ( 戦略顧客 , "strategic customers") are the people the brand most wants to work with or be liked by. Other customers are still served.Positioning ( ポジショニング ) means deciding where the brand should stand among its competitors. The starting point is research on its current position. From there the brand chooses where to move, with its vision and key customers as guides (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Positioning").Brand architecture ( ブランド体系 ) is the order among a company's brands. At the top sits the corporate brand. Below it come business, category, line and product brands.The brand message ( ブランドメッセージ ) is the brand put into words. It is built from the written vision, value proposition and personality. The slogan, a one-line summary of the whole brand, is part of it. A brand story can be too (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Message").Brand design ( ブランドデザイン ) is the look that stands for the brand. It covers the symbol, logo, sub-elements, colours and brand style (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Design").Brand experience ( ブランド体験 ) lets the key customers feel the brand's world. Trying a product shows its functional value. A brand story raises interest and lets people feel the emotional value. The setting of the experience needs design too.Brand management ( ブランドマネジメント ) covers the tasks of planning, building and running the brand so that the company can use it strategically. Narrowly, that is the job of a brand office or a PR unit.The outer layer, where the work starts with what is visible: "The tangible, functional characteristics of the brand. What it does. What it offers. The rational, provable facts." In short, attributes "describe features" (FRMWRKS, n.d., section The Framework).The second layer: "What those attributes deliver to customers. The practical and emotional outcomes. Why the attributes matter." Benefits "explain value" (FRMWRKS, n.d., section The Framework).The third layer: "The beliefs and principles the brand stands for. What it cares about beyond profit. The moral and ethical foundation." Values "express belief" (FRMWRKS, n.d., section The Framework).The fourth layer asks: "If the brand were a person, how would it behave?" It covers "the tone, style, and character" and how the brand "shows up in the world"; personality "gives it character" (FRMWRKS, n.d., section The Framework).The core: "The single word or short phrase that captures the brand's core identity. Everything distilled to its simplest, truest form." The essence "captures everything in a word or phrase" (FRMWRKS, n.d., section The Framework).The centre of both parts of the canvas (Brand The Change, n.d., figure). Miltenburg calls a great brand essence "a catalyst" for everything a brand does: it guides the way the brand communicates, and finding the right way to bring it to life in visuals and messages takes time and practice (Miltenburg, 2016b, section "Lesson …The brand core "is built on the change you want to see in the world", and it is put into words through a vision, mission and values (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63).A mission says how the organisation will reach its vision: if the vision is the summit, the mission is the path that leads up to it (Miltenburg, 2016a, sections on the mission and on the difference).Brand values are "the fundamental beliefs and principles that will guide and define its identity and behaviour". They shape how a brand presents itself and how it deals with its team, its audiences and other stakeholders (Miltenburg, 2023, section "What Are Brand Values?").The brand promises capture "what you commit to deliver to your audiences" (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). On the canvas they form the outer ring of the brand core, around vision, mission and values (Brand The Change, n.d., figure).The brand identity "consists of your visual and verbal expression: what you look like, how you talk" (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). The visual identity is how the brand looks; the field text on the canvas gives examples such as the logo, the colour palette and type (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).How the brand talks (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). The field text on the canvas names as examples "your brand name, pay-off/slogan, tone of voice, messaging or content" (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).Brand interactions "guide all the points of contact that you build with your audiences", from the people a brand hires to the products and services it offers. The core also guides how a brand sets up its production chain or sources its materials (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63).The places where the brand wants to be seen (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). The field text asks where the brand is located and which events it can develop or be part of (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).The types of channels a brand chooses to communicate (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). The field text asks how the brand will communicate and through which channels, what its topic is and what it says (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).The partnerships a brand forms with others (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63).The people a brand hires and how they behave when they meet its customers (Brand The Change, 2023, book p. 63). The field text asks: "Who are the faces of your brand? How do they put your purpose and values into action?" (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).The field text asks: "What hardware or software can support interaction with your audiences?" (Brand The Change, 2022, manual p. 10).The second part of the canvas asks who needs to know about the brand (Brand The Change, n.d., figure). It helps to define "who your audience is and how you can direct what they think and feel about you" (Brand The Change, 2022, product description).For each audience, what the brand wants them "to think and feel about you" (Brand The Change, n.d., figure, Part Two).For each audience, "how you will achieve that" (Brand The Change, n.d., figure, Part Two).Biddle explains positioning with Volvo. Ask people for the first word that comes to mind, and most say "safety". Volvo has put one idea into people's heads, and that idea sets the brand apart from its competitors. The model's first question is how you would describe the product or company in simple terms.The second question asks how the product helps customers. The answer moves unchanged into the brand pyramid, where it becomes the second level (Biddle, 2017).The third question is about character. How should the product come across to customers? Biddle's test is a cocktail party. A guest has just met your product. What would you want that guest to say about it afterwards (Biddle, 2017)?This is the base of the pyramid. It lists the features that deliver the benefits above it, meaning what customers actually buy or use. The pyramid is read from the bottom up, and every other level builds on this one. Features come and go, so this is the level where new ideas show up.Here the team says how the product makes customers' lives better. They repeat the benefits from the positioning model, and the attributes below must make them possible (Biddle, 2017).This level is about feelings. Suppose the product delivers its benefits and then beats expectations. How do customers feel? The answer has to be feeling words. Biddle includes emotion because it makes a brand memorable. He cites Maya Angelou, who said people "will never forget how you made them feel" (Biddle, 2017).The top level looks far ahead. If the product fully delivers on the levels below, how might it "dent the universe"? Biddle asks teams to think twenty years out. Many find this hard, so his advice is simply to think big. The goal is a purpose that can inspire the team for fifty years (Biddle, 2017).The headline is the whole pyramid in one line. If the team later builds an advertising campaign, this line is what the campaign is called (Biddle, 2017).Conscious ( 清醒的組織團隊 , "a clear-minded organisational team") says that a brand starts with the organisation. A clear-minded team reads the market well and also knows its own people: what they need, think and do best (Labsology, n.d.; Chen, n.d.-b).Concept ( 整合的策略系統 , "an integrated strategy system") is the shared plan behind the brand. When everyone in the organisation works from the same strategy, they see the brand's goals the same way, and what they create together stays consistent (Labsology, n.d.).Connection ( 內外的持續串連 , "continuous linking of inside and outside") is the source of the brand's growth. The growth feeds on steady contact between the people inside and the consumers outside, and on understanding what those consumers need. The result is a deep tie between brand and consumers (Labsology, n.d.).The consulting-and-coaching mode ( 顧問輔導與教練並行模式 ) runs coaching alongside consulting. Labsology holds that the drive and means for lasting brand growth lie inside the organisation, not with the consultant, and a consultant who only solves short-term problems is not enough.The brand strategy map ( 內外整合的品牌策略地圖 ) closes a gap between plan and practice. A clear strategy helps little if the organisation cannot carry it out. The map ties organisation to market and strategy to execution, so the members can pursue the goals together (Labsology, n.d.).The internalisation process ( 賦能式品牌內化迭代流程 ) turns a project into learning and capability for the client. It rests on three parts: deep market research, guided learning inside the organisation, and joint work on the change. Together, Labsology and the client aim to build lasting competitiveness (Labsology, n.d.).Brand identity ( ブランド・アイデンティティ ) is the company side of the model (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 112; Sakurai, 2018, p. 21, Fig. 2-8). It is the company's own picture of what the brand should be, and the picture it hopes customers will adopt.Brand communication ( ブランド・コミュニケーション ) links identity and image (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 112). Its job is not just to deliver facts but to steer how customers read them, because the same product gains or loses value with the context.Brand image ( ブランド・イメージ ) is the customer side of the model (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 112; Sakurai, 2018, p. 21, Fig. 2-8). What a customer knows about a brand sits in the mind as a web of associations.Philosophy ( フィロソフィー ) is one of the four elements of brand identity. It is made up of mission, values and vision (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114).The mission ( ミッション ) states why the brand exists ( 存在意義 ) (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114; Akutsu & Katsumura, 2016, p. 10).The values ( 価値観 ) are what the brand holds dear. They guide how people act when they do branding (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114; Akutsu & Katsumura, 2016, p. 10).The vision ( ビジョン ) points to concrete steps toward the mission (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114). Akutsu and Katsumura describe it as the state the brand should reach at some point in the future (Akutsu & Katsumura, 2016, p. 10).Brand personality ( パーソナリティ ) appears in all three domains. The book treats it, like benefits and attributes, as a key building block of identity, image and communication, and it is the only one with a chapter of its own (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114; Aiuchi et al., 2005, p. 4). Personality is a term from psychology.Benefits ( ベネフィット ) are, like personality and attributes, an element of identity, image and communication (Kobayashi, 2003, p. 114). They come in layers. A brand can give functional benefits, create pleasant feelings and let people "stage self-expression" (Akutsu & Ishida, 2002, p. 22, as cited in Sakurai, 2018, p.The opening exercise ( Alignment Exercise ) starts from the observation that "people love it when they are included".For Caballer, strategy starts with an organisation knowing who it is, and this matters most: what it does and for whom, how it does it, how it feels and how it affects the world. In this exercise ( Brand Exercise ), the team writes a brand statement together, whether it is called a mission statement or a brand statement.The value of a product or service starts with knowing what customers need, yet few teams are clear on those needs, agree on them and put them first.Teams want a clear focus and no effort spent on work that is later redone or dropped. The exercise sets the business priorities for revenue (monetisation), awareness (marketing) and efficiency (operations), simply by asking the right questions and listening.Because no design can serve every brand attribute, this exercise turns the attributes into tangible design in a clearer, systematic way. For each planned design direction, one main and three supporting attributes are selected.This exercise looks for solutions to the client's business problems beyond the requested deliverable, such as a website, a video or an identity. It pairs the three top needs of the customers with the priorities of the business, which Caballer calls "The Weave", and brainstorms solutions that help both sides.The brainstormed solutions are placed in the course of time as customer journeys. The journeys of three to four customers are mapped in parallel, so that the links between the solutions become visible, as well as how customers relate to one another and can add value to each other in a community.The brief puts the strategy into instructions for the design work. It informs the two to three design directions presented to the client and is where the designer "plans the design" with a conceptual framework of five questions, starting with "What is the highest impact, lowest effort solution that I have to create to move the …What the organisation offers and how that offer should win over customers and other stakeholders who do not buy. It is one of the three external elements, aimed at the receivers of the brand. The competences are the prerequisites that back it up (Urde & Greyser, 2016, pp. 99, 103, 106).The kind of relationship the organisation wants to have with its main customers and with stakeholders who are not customers. It is an external element, and the culture of the organisation relates to it and reflects it (Urde & Greyser, 2016, pp. 99, 103, 109).The place the organisation wants to hold in the market and in the minds of its main customers and other stakeholders (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 103).The distinctive way in which the organisation communicates and presents itself, so that it is recognised from afar (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 103). Expression "defines the verbal and visual manifestations of the brand" (p. 100) and usually covers every form of communication, from advertising and design to the media used (p. 108).The centre of the identity: a brand promise together with the core values that carry it (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 100). The core works as a hub, so all identity and reputation elements are connected to it and influenced by it (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 104).The human traits and qualities that together make up the character of the corporate brand (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 103). Personality "describes the corporate brand's individual character" and, like expression and the brand core, belongs to the inside and the outside at the same time (p. 100).What engages the organisation beyond earning money (mission) and what gives it direction and inspiration (vision). It is one of the three internal elements, and the engagement and inspiration found here are closely linked to the promise (Urde & Greyser, 2016, pp. 99, 103, 105).The attitudes inside the organisation and the way it works and behaves (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 103). Culture is an internal element. It largely shapes, and is reflected in, how responsible the organisation appears to stakeholders (pp. 99, 109).Where the organisation is strong and what puts it ahead of its competitors (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 103). The element covers its capabilities and resources and the way they are turned into processes that create value and possible competitive advantages (p. 106).Urde and Greyser take the element from Greyser (2009), who used willingness-to-support as a measure of the impact of reputation, and define it with a dictionary entry that lists words such as approve, encourage, stand behind, endorse and recommend (Urde & Greyser, 2016, pp. 101–102).Urde and Greyser take the element from the Young & Rubicam model and define it with a dictionary entry that lists words such as distinction, contrast, difference and demarcation (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102).Urde and Greyser take the element from the Young & Rubicam model and define it with a dictionary entry meaning that something is closely connected to, or fitting for, the matter at hand (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102). It is the perceived relevance of the value proposition (pp. 106–107).Urde and Greyser take the element from Fombrun (1996) and define it with a dictionary entry meaning consistently good quality or performance that can be trusted (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102). It mirrors the competences (p. 107).Urde and Greyser take the element from the Young & Rubicam model and define it with a dictionary entry meaning that something is known again from earlier encounters or knowledge: recollection, recall, remembrance (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102). It mirrors expression (p. 108).Urde and Greyser take the element from Fombrun (1996) and define it with a dictionary entry meaning that someone is convincing and can be believed (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102). It is closely linked to personality (p. 108). Guiding question: "How believable and convincing are they?" (Urde & Greyser, 2016, Table 2, p. 102).Urde and Greyser take the element from Fombrun (1996) and define it with a dictionary entry meaning a firm belief that someone is reliable, truthful and able, and a relationship built on trust and respect on both sides (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102).Urde and Greyser take the element from Fombrun (1996) and define it with a dictionary entry meaning a moral duty to behave correctly towards others (Urde & Greyser, 2016, p. 102). How responsible an organisation is seen to be is mainly reflected and shaped by its culture (p. 109).Birkigt, Stadler and Funck place the corporate personality ( Unternehmens-Persönlichkeit ) at the centre of corporate identity, with the mission as the guide inside the firm (Haslinger, 2004, p. 8). A company shows this personality through symbolism, behaviour and communication (Pérez & Rodríguez del Bosque, 2014, pp. 16, 23).Corporate behaviour ( Unternehmens-Verhalten ) means how the company acts; important factors are its product, sales, social and financial policy, and what follows from that (Haslinger, 2004, p. 8).Within the identity mix ( Identitätsmix ), corporate communication ( Unternehmens-Kommunikation ) is the quickest and most adaptable tool (Haslinger, 2004, p. 8). When people form a picture of the company, what it says adds to what it does (Pérez & Rodríguez del Bosque, 2014, p. 25).Corporate design ( Unternehmens-Erscheinungsbild , literally "corporate appearance") is brand, product and graphic design and architecture taken together, and it changes with time (Haslinger, 2004, p. 8).Corporate identity is the company's self-image; the corporate image is "the projection of identity in the social field" (Haslinger, 2004, p. 8; translated). In the figure, the image is a smaller circle with the same structure as the identity, joined to it by two lines (Haslinger, 2004, p. 7).Attributes are the product's own features, and they form the base. Everything above them starts here. Quest counts them among the tangible elements that the pyramid keeps at the bottom (Quest, 2019, pp. 73, 165).The second level shows what the attributes do for the consumer. The benefits then lead on to the emotional rewards above them (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). Quest explains the link with Gutman's theory: consumers gain benefits from what using a brand leads to, as white teeth come from a whitening toothpaste (Quest, 2019, pp.Benefits lead to emotional rewards, and these lead on to values (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). Quest names emotional rewards as an example of the intangible elements higher up in the hierarchy (Quest, 2019, p. 73).Emotional rewards turn into values (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). De Chernatony separates core values from peripheral ones. Core values stay whatever happens around the brand and are central to it. Peripheral values are secondary and can be dropped or added (de Chernatony, 2006, p. 122, as cited in Rossolatos, 2012, p. 28).On top, the brand's values show up as personality traits that people can recognise in it (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). The personality is a metaphor that pulls attributes, benefits and values together (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 28).The symbol ( ロゴやカラーアイコン , "logo, colour, icon") is the icon people remember with their senses, mostly the logo and the brand colour. Damema defines it as the brand's visual emblem (Damema, 2019, "Symbol"). Together with the base of authority it forms message layer 1, "This is ~".The base of authority ( ブランドの信頼の証 , "proof of the brand's trustworthiness") is the evidence behind the trust. It states what the brand does to be trusted or what technology it has (Damema, 2019, "Base of Authority").The emotional benefit ( 情緒的価値 , "emotional value") is the feeling and sensory value the brand gives (Damema, 2019, "Emotional Benefit"). With the functional benefit it forms message layer 2, "You can get ~", which tells consumers what benefits the brand offers (Sato, 2003, pp. 7–8).The functional benefit ( 機能的価値 , "functional value") is the practical value of the product. Users feel it directly, and it matches what they expect from the specification, such as a mild sweetness (Damema, 2019, "Functional Benefit").The personality ( ブランドの人的性格 , "the brand's human character") asks what kind of person the brand would be. Giving a product a human trait is common practice (Damema, 2019, "Personality"). It forms message layer 3, "I am ~", in which the brand states its own character (Sato, 2003, pp. 7–8). Design shows the outward look.The ideal customer image ( ターゲット , "target") defines the people the brand wants as users and fans, and the ones it moves most. Damema calls it an important part, because if it shifts, the other elements shift with it (Damema, 2019, "Ideal Customer Image").The core value ( 象徴的なブランド経験 , "symbolic brand experience"), labelled "Brand Essence" in Dentsu's figure (Sato, 2003, p. 8, Figure 3), sits in the centre. It gathers the six surrounding elements into the position that users give the brand.Step 1 asks why the brand exists beyond making money. A purpose is never finished, unlike a goal. The team starts from Sinek's Golden Circle (what, how, why) and ends with one statement: "To [contribution], so that [impact]" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 1: Brand Purpose").Step 2 asks where the brand is going. If purpose is the why, vision is the where. A good vision is bold enough to feel a little daunting, yet possible enough that the team believes in it.Step 3 asks how the brand behaves. Values work like a compass. The team picks three to five lasting principles and writes one line on what each one means. Values show in how the brand acts, so customers, suppliers and the public notice them whenever they deal with it.Step 4 asks who the main customer is. The audience is the group the brand is built for. The team gives a typical customer a name and fills in what that person wants, what stands in the way, how it feels and what they wish for. The point is to understand the person well enough to connect on a human level.Step 5 asks how the brand is different. Here market research means mapping what the customer can choose instead. The team places five to ten competitors on a grid with two axes that matter to customers, looks for the empty spot and writes a positioning statement.Step 6 asks how customers will find the brand. The team lists every initiative it can think of and places each one on a grid of effort against impact. The result is a ranked list with four groups: do first, do next, plan and ignore for now.Step 7 asks who the brand would be if it were a person. Dvornechuck uses Mark and Pearson's twelve archetypes. Starting from what drives the audience, the team chooses a main and a secondary archetype, and adds a brand attitude, meaning what the brand loves, what it hates and why.Step 8 asks how the brand should sound. Voice is the personality coming through in the words. The voice stays the same, while the tone shifts with the situation. The team places the brand on four sliders, such as funny versus serious and casual versus formal.Step 9 asks for the brand's mantra. The tagline puts the message into a few memorable words. The positioning statement stays inside the company, but the tagline speaks to customers, so it has to fit the positioning. A tagline stays with the brand for years, while a slogan belongs to one campaign.Cause ( Ursache ) means everything the company does that shapes how the brand works in the market, from products to development, staff and sales (IfM, 2005, pp. 2, 4). The institute looks at every department for this. The brand succeeds only when all of them work together (IfM, 2014, p. 4).Components ( Genetische Komponenten ) are the conditions behind a building block. They answer what the company must do for a strength to exist. The institute works them out in several steps, down to the individual prerequisites ( Voraussetzungen ) (IfM, 2005, p. 5; 2014, p. 4).Building blocks ( Genetische Bausteine ) are the strengths a brand's success rests on. Each comes with a description of what it does for customers in the market (IfM, 2014, p. 4). They are what the company has delivered in a similar way, again and again, over a long time.The effect ( Wirkung ) is the brand energy that builds up with customers (IfM, 2005, p. 4). It comes from many experiences with concrete performances and grows the longer a company stays true to its line. The result is a "positive prejudice" (translated), an advance of trust.This dimension ( Eigenschaften & Leistungen ) covers what the brand is and can do, comparable to a person's intelligence or skills (PSBC, 2004, p. 4). The figure poses two questions, "What is the brand? What can the brand do?" (PSBC, 2004, p. 6, Figure 2; translated).This dimension ( Werte & Charakter ) covers the emotional side of the brand, its values and, in everyday terms, its character (PSBC, 2004, p. 4). The figure asks two questions, "What is the brand like? What does it stand for?" (PSBC, 2004, p. 6, Figure 2; translated).Manifestations ( Manifestationen ) are what people can see of the brand, its typical signals and symbols. In a person they would be looks such as eye colour or height (PSBC, 2004, p. 4). The figure asks "Are there symbols or signals?" (PSBC, 2004, p. 6, Figure 2; translated).Individuality ( Individualität ) means that the brand stands clearly apart from its competitors. People should form a picture of it that nobody could mistake for another brand (PSBC, 2004, p. 6).Attractiveness ( Attraktivität ) means that the brand matters to its target group and is wanted by it, in the best case admired and loved. As between people, first attraction leads to a relationship in which both sides expect something in return (PSBC, 2004, p. 7).Consistency ( Konsistenz ) means that the brand does not contradict itself, neither over the years nor from one measure to the next: it stays true to itself (PSBC, 2004, p. 7). The reason is how people think.Familiarity ( Vertrautheit ) is more than being known. The brand has to stand close to a person, and it can get there in two ways (PSBC, 2004, pp. 7–8). One is habit, because a brand that is present for years becomes hard to do without.In the brand strategy, the target MarkenWesen is boiled down to a short core message, the Brand Proposition. It has two supporting parts. The Benefit states what the brand as a whole gives people, not what single products do. The Support explains why the brand can deliver it (PSBC, 2004, p. 12).The story sets out who the brand is, what drives it and why people should want a relationship with it."Artifacts are expressions of your story." The aim is to find artifacts that carry the story and involve people in what the brand is; "Great artifacts evoke emotion and reflect the relationship you are forming with your audience." (Gardner, 2014a, section "Artifacts").Invitations actively ask people to take part in the brand's story. An invitation is "much more than 'messaging'": what the brand says, where it says it and how it says it shape the way people respond; "Compelling invitations don't sell, they inspire." (Gardner, 2014a, section "Invitation").The first question of the pitch names "the bigger purpose of the brand in the world" (Thomson, 2013).The second question, "Why we exist" in the source, asks how the brand achieves the bigger purpose named in the first (Thomson, 2013).The third question turns to the user: "The action the user takes and the impact on their life" (Thomson, 2013).The fourth question covers "the emotional experience for the user" (Thomson, 2013).The second part of the toolkit answers "How you make it yours": the brand assets "that are used to express the brand including the name, tagline, logo, and visual identity" (Thomson, 2013).The social system ( 사회시스템 ) is the first dimension; it explains 39.7 percent of the variance. It is about how transparent, fair and orderly a society is: its tolerance towards other cultures and races, its democratic awareness and its respect for law and order.Leadership and growth ( 리더쉽/성장력 , in the English abstract "leadership/growing power") is the second dimension (9.9 percent of the variance). It shows where a nation stands internationally in politics and the economy, and it weighs future growth potential as well as the present state.National heritage ( 국가유산 ) is the third dimension (6.8 percent of the variance). It judges a nation's cultural heritage mainly by its aesthetic appeal and value: how inspiring and outstanding it is, how original and excellent compared with other nations, and how artistic (Kim & Kim, 2012, pp. 271, 274).Nation people ( 국민 ) is the fourth dimension (4.0 percent of the variance). It looks at how good a nation's human resources are. Its items ask, for example, about a spirit of challenge, effort towards goals and diligence.Who needs to know (block 1): "customers, influencers and their communities", whom the guide calls "the real stars". The audience is the receiver the person wants to influence, and it is the place to start when there is no personal branding strategy yet (BigName, n.d.-a).What the person can do (block 3): their abilities, contacts and skills. The guide adds: "Don't be afraid to boast!" (BigName, n.d.-a).Who the person is (block 4): what makes them unique, because that is what "makes you successful" (BigName, n.d.-a).Why the person is credible (block 5). People "don't believe in fairytales anymore, they also want facts", so this block shows why others can trust the person (BigName, n.d.-a).What the person does and how (block 2): their services, but also their talents and their soft and hard skills, "whatever produces value" (BigName, n.d.-a).The field where the professional wants to compete and be seen (Centenaro, 2017). It sits at the centre of the four sender blocks and is worked on together with the profession (block 6; BigName, n.d.-a).So what (block 7): people sign up for the profession when they have high expectations, so the promise answers what is in it for them (BigName, n.d.-a). The canvas centres on this promise of value, which the person conveys to the right audience (Centenaro, 2014).Why this person specifically (block 9): how the person is different from others. The guide asks whether this differentiation is "clear and effective" (BigName, n.d.-a).A secondary mini-block that prompts thinking about differentiation and competitive positioning (Centenaro, 2017). On the canvas it sits between positioning and audience (block 8; BigName, n.d.-a).The identity elements of a destination brand interact constantly to fulfil the brand promise through functional and emotional values, with the aim of creating an experiential promise ( izkustvena obljuba ) (Konečnik Ruzzier & de Chernatony, 2013, as cited in Stubelj, 2018, p. 17; translated).Emotional value ( čustvena vrednota ) is one of the two values at the core of the model (Konečnik Ruzzier et al., 2011, p. 404, Figure 2). Through these values the identity elements fulfil the brand promise (Konečnik Ruzzier & de Chernatony, 2013, as cited in Stubelj, 2018, p. 17; translated).Functional value ( funkcionalna vrednota ) is the other value through which the identity elements fulfil the brand promise (Konečnik Ruzzier & de Chernatony, 2013, as cited in Stubelj, 2018, p. 17). In the figure, it sits in the core together with emotional value and the experiential promise (Konečnik Ruzzier et al., 2011, p.Benefits ( koristi ) are the rewards that people think a destination can offer them, and they can come from practical or psychological features of the place.Mission ( poslanstvo ) is, together with benefits, one of the two elements that the place model adds to de Chernatony's identity model (Konečnik Ruzzier et al., 2011, p. 404).De Chernatony, whose identity elements the model takes over, sees vision ( vizija ) as a clear course for how the organisation works toward a better future. It consists of three parts: the desired future environment, the purpose of the brand and the values of the brand (de Chernatony, 2010, as cited in Stubelj, 2018, p.Konečnik Ruzzier and de Chernatony (2013) see the values ( vrednote ) of a destination brand as the values held in common by the destination's influential stakeholders.Konečnik Ruzzier and de Chernatony (2013) add that the personality ( osebnost ) of a destination brand depends largely on the personality of the people who form and live the brand, so it can include their main traits and their way of life; they see this as a normal part of the identity of any brand (as cited in Stubelj, 2018, …Distinguishing preferences ( razlikovalne prednosti , literally "distinguishing advantages") can refer either to the attractions a destination offers or to its attributes (Konečnik Ruzzier & de Chernatony, 2013, as cited in Stubelj, 2018, p. 23; translated).The outer ring holds the stakeholder groups ( interesna skupina , literally "interest group").The first step leans heavily on the business and brand leaders, because it draws out what the brand means from their point of view. Through discovery and joint work, the step brings four things to light: why the brand exists, where it is going, what it is committed to and how it will behave (Houraghan, n.d., Step 1).Many brands say they know their audience, but few know it in depth. This step takes the time to understand who the buyers are and how they split into groups, because much of the brand follows from that (Houraghan, n.d., Step 2).Customers already have choices. A brand that offers the same as others starts behind those that are already known. Here the team studies the competition, to see where it is strong and which gaps it leaves open for the brand (Houraghan, n.d., Step 3).With audience and competitors mapped, the team sees the market from above. It then takes the openings that competitors left and works each one into a full idea for how the brand could stand out (Houraghan, n.d., Step 4).Now the team checks that audience and differentiation fit together and that the market can carry the idea. Then it fixes the position, which says what the brand offers, for whom, how it differs from the alternatives and what benefit it brings (Houraghan, n.d., Step 5).Brand archetypes go back to the psychiatrist Carl Jung. The team first uses them to read the personality type of its audience, and then to shape a brand personality that is likely to attract that type (Houraghan, n.d., Step 6).The archetype gives only the outline. The team fills it in with the brand's opinions about its industry, the world and life in general. That detail makes the personality credible and gives the audience someone to connect with (Houraghan, n.d., Step 7).Voice and tone are how the personality speaks, in writing and aloud. The more familiar the language sounds to the audience, the more willing people are to listen to what the brand says (Houraghan, n.d., Step 8).Archetype, personality and voice add up to one character, the brand as a person. Usually this character has no body. It shows in how the brand acts at every touchpoint, through its look, colours, images, message, story and tone (Houraghan, n.d., Step 9).The brand message builds on the human brand persona and on close knowledge of the audience and what it wants, and it is meant to win that audience's hearts and minds. Knowing their problems, hopes and fears lets the message touch them on a deep, human level (Houraghan, n.d., Step 10).People pay more attention to information that comes as a story. Houraghan cites the neuroscientist Uri Hasson, whose finding is that people are 22 times more attentive. In this step the strategist turns the brand message into a story that can be told at every touchpoint (Houraghan, n.d., Step 11).Here the strategy is handed over to visual design. A designer who receives the full strategy sees the job more clearly than one who works without it, and the identity gains from that (Houraghan, n.d., Step 12).The personality attributes of the sector brand. The identity components are "managerial decision attributes" that characterise the products or services of the organisation (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 17).The target markets of the sector brand; in the application, each country is a target market for the exports of the sector's firms (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 18; Table 3, p. 36).The characteristics by which the sector's products are known abroad; the element "represents the difference in products being exported" by the industries of each association (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 19; Table 3, p. 36).Whether the sector brand is associated with its country, that is, whether the exported products relate to characteristics of the country of origin (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 19; Table 3, p. 36).Whether the sector helps its companies aim at buyers abroad, meaning whether they adapt their export products to what international consumers prefer (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 19).How the sector brand is used in campaigns abroad: whether all partners take part and who defines the campaign and its attributes. The communication components follow once the identity components are defined and set how the identity is communicated to the external market (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 20; Table 3, p. 37).The attributes that the visual identity of the sector brand should communicate abroad, for example through the semiotic resources of its logo (Lourenção et al., 2018, pp. 20–21; Table 3, p. 37).Stationery developed for the sector brand and its use by the partners (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 21; Table 3, p. 37).The tools the partners use to communicate the sector brand internationally (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 21; Table 3, p. 37).The relationship with buyers, through programmes with international clients. Once the identity is defined and communicated, the brand, that is, the organisation and its products, also has to make contact with the consumer (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 21; Table 3, p. 37).Whether the sector knows how its products are accepted by international buyers (Lourenção et al., 2018, Table 3, p. 37).The countries or regions that compete with the sector (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 23; Table 3, p. 37).The surrounding conditions the sector works in; in this study, the image of Brazil abroad: whether a brand that ties products to Brazilian traits helps or harms, and whether there is prejudice against Brazilian products (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 23; Table 3, p. 37).The behaviour of international buyers, assessed before the sector enters a market and through the buyers' opinion after the purchase, including any restrictions on the country's products (Lourenção et al., 2018, p. 23; Table 3, p. 37).Corporate identity ( tożsamość przedsiębiorstwa ) sits at the core of the model and comprises the six stations, which together form the set of issues and management areas that make up corporate identity; the model shows its management as a cyclical process (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated).The head station ( stacja główna ; in Stangierska's text czynnik główny , “main factor”) comprises mission, vision and values, leadership and the management board ( misja, wizja, wartości, przywództwo, zarząd ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated). Jedynak et al.The strategy station ( strategia ) covers the strategy for the company's brand, for its products and services and for marketing ( marki przedsiębiorstwa, produktów i usług, marketingu ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated). Jedynak et al. list corporate brands, corporate strategy and marketing (2022, p. 22; translated).The creativity station ( kreatywność ) comprises visual identity, the visual identification system, also called symbolism, and advertising ( tożsamość wizualna, system identyfikacji wizualnej/ inaczej symbolika, reklamy ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated). Jedynak et al.The communication station ( komunikacja ) comprises traditional and digital channels within the company and in its relations with its environment ( kanały tradycyjne i cyfrowe w obrębie przedsiębiorstwa i w relacji z otoczeniem ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated). Jedynak et al.The human power station ( energia ludzi , literally “people's energy”; in Stangierska's text zasoby ludzkie , “human resources”) comprises employees and stakeholders ( pracownicy oraz interesariusze ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; Jedynak et al., 2022, p. 22; translated).The critical triplet ( krytyczna trójka ; in Stangierska's text punkt krytyczny , “critical point”) comprises image, reputation and personality ( wizerunek, reputacja, osobowość ) (Stangierska, 2015, p. 46; translated). Jedynak et al. name corporate reputation, corporate image and corporate personality (2022, p.The brand core ( Markenkern ), also called the core idea, sits in the middle of the identity.The values ( Markenwerte ) are "standards against which one's own or other people's behaviour is measured" (Bierhoff, 1998, as cited in Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 3; translated). For TAIKN they show the company's character and describe how its staff act.Because the values stay few, the identity also fixes a brand personality ( Markenpersönlichkeit ). It is the basis for the tone of the brand's communication. TAIKN determines it inside and outside the company with Jennifer Aaker's internationally validated personality items (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 3).The offering ( Markenleistung ) states exactly which products and services the brand "actually offers" (translated). Together with the strengths, the benefit promise and the differentiators, it forms the core of the identity in the narrow sense (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 3).The identity defines the brand's strengths ( Markenstärken ) (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 3). The first success criterion of the positioning, competence, says that it should represent the brand's actual strengths (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 4).The identity sets the brand's exact benefit promise ( Nutzenversprechen , in the text also Markennutzen ) (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, pp. 2–3). A positioning should make a clear benefit promise to the stakeholders (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 4).The differentiators ( Differenzierung in the figure, Differentiatoren in the text) answer the question of how the brand differs from its competitors "actually and noticeably in content" (translated) (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 3).This ring asks whom the brand wants to reach ( Zielgruppe(n) ) and what these groups expect from it. The groups with priority are described in detail in psychographic terms (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 2). The step matters especially for corporate brands.Beyond naming the groups, the model describes them by their motives and expected benefits. The aim is to understand these motives and the experience customers have when the brand's promise fulfils them. Burkhardt and Göpel call this the "psychological moment of brand choice" ( psychologischer Moment der Markenwahl ).The outer ring lists the places where people meet the brand ( Markenkontaktpunkte ), both on the communication side and on the performance side (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, p. 2). In the long run, communication cannot carry a brand alone; what it promises has to match how the company actually performs.For each relevant touchpoint, the model works out in detail what performance fits the brand ( markenadäquate Leistung ), where the brand stands today and which measures are needed to keep its promise.On the communication side, the model defines the design of the brand's appearance ( markenadäquate Kommunikation ): its coding through language, images and symbols, and other sensory elements. It has proved helpful to set down in detail not only the "go's" but also the "no go's" (Burkhardt & Göpel, 2011, pp. 2–3, 9).Think is the analysis phase. Before a company changes its brand, it checks where it stands. That means how customers behave, what competitors do, what regulators demand and how the company itself affects its surroundings.Be is the phase in which the brand itself changes. Sustainability moves into its core, meaning identity, value proposition and positioning. Llopis calls this a deep transformation. The brand states its commitment in its mission and in what customers get from it.Act is the delivery phase. Customers and other stakeholders should meet the sustainability commitment wherever they deal with the brand, from communication to customer experience (Llopis, 2024a). Llopis singles out greenwashing as the key danger, so a brand should announce only what it can keep (Llopis, 2024a).This block ( Clientes y stakeholders insights ) asks the company to know its customers and other stakeholders well, including what they need and what they aspire to (Galué, 2025).Expression ( Expresión ) covers what people can see and touch of the identity. Galué words the block as "expression, facts and symbols" (translated) (Galué, 2025).Brand personality ( Personalidad de marca ) is the style and tone the brand shows in its dealings with others (Galué, 2025).This block ( Cultura interna y valores ) covers the values and culture inside the company, which steer what it does (Galué, 2025).Together, mission, vision and purpose ( Misión, visión y propósito ) answer why the brand exists, a reason meant to inspire and give direction (Galué, 2025).The essence ( Esencia de marca ) is the one central idea that sums up everything the brand stands for (Galué, 2025). In the figure, it sits at the centre of the identity (Llopis, 2024b, figure).A sharp picture of the people the brand is built for. It goes beyond demographics to how they think, what they are afraid of and what they hope to become (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").What is changing in culture, technology or the market so that the brand fits the present: the "why now", which sets a brand that seems to know what is coming apart from a generic one. Woods calls it the box that changes most, to be looked at again as the moment moves on (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").An overview of the field: what other options exist, how they position themselves and where nothing is offered yet. An "anti-audience" exercise makes clear who the brand is explicitly not for (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works")."What your product actually does", the raw material before benefits, emotion and story (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").How customers experience the features: "not what it does, but what it means for them". It is the first step up the "Ladder of Abstraction" (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works"), on a continuum that runs from feature to rational benefit to emotional benefit (Woods, 2020, p. xii)."The higher-order payoff". Woods notes that this is "where most startups stop" and calls it "the biggest differentiation opportunity on the canvas" (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").A single sentence that sums up the brand: its audience, its offer and the reason it matters (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").Two to four words that boil the whole positioning statement down. They have to be easy to remember and clear enough to guide decisions (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").The values are "internal guide rails" rather than marketing copy: nouns that name what the company really believes and how it reaches decisions (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works"). The values help a startup deliver its messaging authentically (Woods, 2020, p. xii).How the brand shows up in the world, "characterful, not generic": "the outward expression of everything your values say internally" (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works"). Personality guides the tone and voice of the brand and offers further room for competitive differentiation (Woods, 2020, p. xii).Three to five ideas that the brand puts across consistently, each one backed up by evidence. Before they are final, they should pass the "Talk Like a Human test" (Woods, n.d., section "How It Works").
Part of the Brand Identity Model Atlas. The atlas underpins the Brand-Building Canvas: a practical one-page brand identity and strategy framework for building, auditing, and repositioning brands. Download the PDF or PowerPoint template, or compare all brand identity models in the overview.