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, calls itself Japan's first specialist branding firm. It reports more than 30 years of practice and about 500 projects (AdverTimes, 2021). Its Brand Model is a template for building brands, drawn from an analysis of several hundred companies seen as brand companies. Gramco calls it "the platform of the brand concept" (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Model"; translated). Purpose, vision and value proposition sit in the centre, with eight more elements around them (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Model"). Purpose is the highest concept. It gives stakeholders an easier way into the brand, and later decisions on messages and experiences can be checked against it (AdverTimes, 2021). The wider service, Brand One, runs from research and the brand concept through name, logo and slogan to brand experience, management and assessment (Gramco, n.d.-b).
The Model
Elements
Definitions follow Gramco's Brand Dictionary (Gramco, n.d.-a), condensed from the Japanese entries and cited by entry; quotations are translated. 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 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. In the Brand Model it is the highest concept (AdverTimes, 2021).
02
Brand Vision
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").
03
Brand Value Proposition
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. Gramco keeps it apart from "value" alone, which means the brand's values (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Value Proposition (提供価値)"; "Value Proposition").
Lower Half of the Outer Ring
04
Personality
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. Staff can take it as a standard for their own conduct, and it shapes tone and manner (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Personality").
05
Key Customers
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. But a product or service is hard to develop without a customer in mind, and naming them also sharpens the brand's own behaviour and personality (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Strategic Customer").
06
Positioning
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").
07
Brand Architecture
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. Because these levels often differ from one business to the next, Gramco advises listing every current brand first and then putting them into one 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 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").
09
Design
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").
10
Experience
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. With more buying online, Gramco expects stories and video, and later virtual reality, to carry it (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Experience").
11
Management
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. In practice every department that meets stakeholders takes part, from corporate planning and HR to sales and customer support (Gramco, n.d.-a, "Brand Management").
Source
- 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/
- 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/
- Gramco. (n.d.-b). Service [Web page]. Retrieved October 7, 2026, from https://www.gramco.co.jp/en/service/
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.