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Brand One / Gramco Brand Model

ブランドモデル / Brand One

Gramco · Branding firm, Tokyo · 2021

Introduction
A Template for the Brand Concept

Gramco, a Tokyo branding firm, describes itself as Japan's first specialist branding firm, with more than 30 years of practice and about 500 projects (AdverTimes, 2021). Its Brand Model is a template for building brands that the firm derived from an analysis of several hundred companies regarded as brand companies; Gramco calls it "the platform of the brand concept" (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Model"; translated). Brand purpose, brand vision and value proposition sit at the centre, and eight further elements surround them (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Model"). Purpose, the company's reason for being in society, is the highest concept: with purpose as the starting point, stakeholders understand the brand more easily, and later decisions on messages and brand experiences can be checked against it (AdverTimes, 2021). Gramco's integrated branding service, Brand One, runs from research and a brand concept of purpose, unique value and personality through name, logo and slogan to brand experience, management and assessment (Gramco, n.d.-b).

The Model

Brand One / Gramco Brand Model: a circle divided into an upper and a lower half, with brand purpose, brand vision and value proposition at the centre, Message, Design, Experience and Management above, and Brand Architecture, Positioning, Key Customers and Personality below
Source: AdverTimes (2021, Figure 1), labels in English and Japanese; the redrawing keeps Gramco's English labels. Below it, the same figure redrawn in the Atlas style.

Elements

Definitions follow Gramco's Brand Dictionary (Gramco, n.d.-a), translated from Japanese and cited by entry. Element names are Gramco's own English labels in the figure (AdverTimes, 2021, Figure 1).

Centre

  • 01

    Brand Purpose

    Purpose (パーパス, 存在意義) is the company's reason for being: the answer to the question "why does the world need this company?" (translated). Since the late 2000s, more and more companies, first in sustainability-minded Europe and the US, have placed it at the centre of their system of principles in place of the mission statement (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Purpose"). In the Brand Model it is the highest concept of the brand concept (AdverTimes, 2021).

  • 02

    Brand Vision

    The brand vision (ブランドビジョン) puts in writing what the brand wants to be, or should be, in the future. It declares the will to achieve this for certain, even if it is not achieved today. Many medium-term business plans contain a vision, but the brand vision is a long-term plan and a statement of resolve for the future (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Vision").

  • 03

    Brand Value Proposition

    The value proposition (提供価値) is the unique value that a company or organisation can hand to its customers and stakeholders and that others cannot copy. It is the core of the brand concept and consists of emotional and functional value (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Value Proposition (提供価値)"). It also includes the benefits. "Value" on its own means something else in Gramco's usage, namely the brand's values (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Value Proposition").

Lower Half of the Outer Ring

  • 04

    Personality

    The brand personality (パーソナリティ) is the brand's character as a person; it overlaps with the culture of the whole organisation. It is made clear when the brand concept is defined and shows how the brand should behave. It guides company and employee behaviour in internal branding and is the basis for managing the brand's impression and for setting its tone and manner (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Personality").

  • 05

    Key Customers

    The key customers (戦略顧客, literally "strategic customers") are the group the brand most wants to do business with, or whose empathy it most wants to win. The brand still serves other customers, but products and services are hard to develop without an assumed customer. Defining these customers also makes the brand's own behaviour and personality clearer (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Strategic Customer").

  • 06

    Positioning

    Positioning (ポジショニング) decides which position the brand should take in the market compared with its competitors. After research has shown the current situation, the target position is chosen with the brand vision and the key customers in mind (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Positioning").

  • 07

    Brand Architecture

    Brand architecture (ブランド体系) covers the vertical and cross-cutting relations between a company's brands. Drawn as a triangle, the corporate brand sits at the top, with business, category, line (series) and product brands below it. Because these levels sometimes diverge between businesses, or the corporate brand cannot support the product brands, all current brands should be inventoried and put into a system (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Architecture").

Upper Half of the Outer Ring

  • 08

    Message

    The brand message (ブランドメッセージ) is one of the elements of the Brand Model. It is composed from the written brand vision, value proposition, personality and so on. The brand slogan, which sums up purpose, vision, value proposition and personality in a single phrase, is part of the message, which can also take the form of a brand story (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Message").

  • 09

    Design

    Brand design (ブランドデザイン) is one of the elements of the Brand Model: the design that symbolises the brand. It consists of the brand symbol, the logo, sub-elements, colours, the brand style and so on (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Design").

  • 10

    Experience

    Brand experience (ブランド体験) means letting the key customers feel the brand's world: for example, touching and trying a product to understand its functional value, or hearing the brand story so that interest grows and the emotional value can be felt. Designing the "place" of the experience matters. As more people buy online, virtual experiences through brand stories and video are needed, and the use of virtual reality will grow (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Experience").

  • 11

    Management

    Brand management (ブランドマネジメント) is the set of tasks for planning, developing and running the brand so that the company can use it strategically. In a narrow sense, it is the work of specialist units such as a brand office or PR, but putting it into practice involves every department with contact to stakeholders, from corporate planning and HR to development, production, sales and customer support (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Management").

Source

  1. AdverTimes. (2021, September 1). 「納得感」がある！「直感」で伝わる！パーパスブランディングの進め方 [Convincing and Intuitively Clear: How to Advance Purpose Branding] [Sponsored article on Gramco]. Sendenkaigi. Retrieved October 7, 2026, from https://www.advertimes.com/20210901/article361256/
  2. Gramco. (n.d.-a). Brand Dictionary [Glossary; entries ブランドモデル, パーパス, ビジョン, 提供価値, バリュープロポジション, パーソナリティ, 戦略顧客, ポジショニング, ブランド体系, ブランドメッセージ, デザイン, ブランド体験, ブランドマネジメント]. Retrieved October 7, 2026, from https://www.gramco.co.jp/brand-dictionary/
  3. Gramco. (n.d.-b). Service [Web page]. Retrieved October 7, 2026, from https://www.gramco.co.jp/en/service/