Skip to main content

Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework

9-Step Brand Strategy Framework

Arek Dvornechuck · Ebaq Design, Brooklyn · 2020

Introduction
Nine Decisions in Three Sections

Arek Dvornechuck, the brand designer behind Ebaq Design, built the framework from the branding workshops he runs with clients (Dvornechuck, 2026). It turns what a client believes about the brand into nine written decisions in three sections: first the brand is clarified internally, then it is positioned in the market, and finally it is given a human persona (Dvornechuck, 2026). Each step ends in one short statement, and all nine fit on one page that a team can fill in a half-day workshop (Dvornechuck, 2026). Dvornechuck contrasts it with models such as Sinek's Golden Circle, Aaker's brand identity model and Keller's customer-based brand equity: those explain how brands work, while his framework is built to be run in a room in a few hours (Dvornechuck, 2026). The same nine steps appear in his public Miro template and in his paid Brand Strategy Guide (Dvornechuck, 2026).

The Model

Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework: three boxes, Core with purpose, vision and values, Position with audience, market and awareness, Persona with personality, voice and tagline
Source: Dvornechuck (2026), figure "The 9-step brand framework". Below it, the same figure redrawn in the Atlas style.

Elements

Definitions follow Dvornechuck (2026), with the question each step answers and what the team writes down at the end of it. Examples are the ones he gives for each step.

Brand Core

  • 01

    Brand Purpose

    This step asks why the brand exists beyond profit. Purpose is "a higher order reason for a brand to exist, other than just making a profit", and unlike a goal it is never completed. The team works through Sinek's Golden Circle and writes a purpose statement in the form "To [contribution], so that [impact]" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 1: Brand Purpose").

    Tony's Chocolonely: The company exists to end exploitation in the cocoa industry by fighting poverty, child labour and deforestation. Since June 2023, a golden share and three independent Mission Guardians keep a future owner from quietly changing that purpose (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 1: Brand Purpose").

  • 02

    Brand Vision

    This step asks where the brand is heading. A vision is "what the organization wishes to be like in some years' time", a definition Dvornechuck takes from Graham Kenny. If purpose is the why, vision is the where. It should be bold enough to be audacious, yet achievable, so that the team buys into it. The team writes a vision statement (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 2: Brand Vision").

    IKEA: IKEA has used the same vision for decades, "to create a better everyday life for the many people": short, concrete and free of jargon (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 2: Brand Vision").

  • 03

    Brand Values

    This step asks how the brand behaves. Values are the compass of the business: three to five lasting principles, each described in one line. They concern how the company does things, and so shape the experience that customers, suppliers and the wider public have with the brand (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 3: Brand Values").

    IKEA: Each IKEA value carries the behaviour with it, such as cost-consciousness, which IKEA describes as making more from less without compromising on quality (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 3: Brand Values").
Brand Positioning

  • 04

    Target Audience

    This step asks who the primary customer is. The target audience is "the group your brand is built to serve", and a customer persona is the named profile of its most common member. The team maps the customer's goals, problems, feelings and desires, so that the brand can connect with them on a human level, and describes the audience in one or two sentences (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 4: Target Audience").

    Stanley: Stanley sold the same flask to workmen for more than a century. When a women-run shopping site showed that women wanted its Quencher cup, Stanley rebuilt colours and product drops around them, and revenue rose from about 73 million dollars in 2019 to a projected 750 million in 2023, according to CNBC: same product, different primary customer (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 4: Target Audience").

  • 05

    Market Research

    This step asks how the brand differs. Market research here means mapping the alternatives the customer already has. The aim is to set the brand apart rather than copy competitors, by finding where the market is under-served. The team plots competitors on a grid and writes a positioning statement (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 5: Market Research").

    Liquid Death: On a grid of healthy against unhealthy and boring against entertaining, every bottled water sits in healthy and boring. Liquid Death took the empty corner, healthy and entertaining, with tallboy cans and "Murder your thirst" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 5: Market Research").

  • 06

    Awareness Goals

    This step asks how customers will find the brand. Awareness goals are "the prioritized list of ways customers will discover your brand". The team sorts every initiative by effort and impact. The list scopes the branding project and is explicitly not a marketing strategy (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 6: Awareness Goals").

    Duolingo: A difficult but high-impact initiative: building an in-house social media team around the Duo mascot took years, and, as Sprout Social documented, the account grew past a million followers on trend-led videos rather than on ad spend (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 6: Awareness Goals").
Brand Persona

  • 07

    Brand Personality

    This step asks who the brand would be if it were a person. Brand personality is "the set of human characteristics associated with a brand" (Jennifer Aaker's definition). In the workshop it becomes a mix of a core and a secondary archetype from the twelve archetypes of Mark and Pearson, plus a brand attitude: what the brand loves and hates, and why (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 7: Brand Personality").

    Liquid Death: In Dvornechuck's reading, the brand is an Outlaw with a Jester as secondary archetype, roughly a 70/30 mix, in a category full of Innocents: bottled water is usually pure and mountain-fresh, while this one tells you to murder your thirst (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 7: Brand Personality").

  • 08

    Brand Voice

    This step asks how the brand should sound. Brand voice is "how the personality of your brand comes through the words you use". The voice stays the same, while the tone changes with the situation. The team places the brand on sliders and then sets limits by stating what the voice is and what it is not (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 8: Brand Voice").

    Monzo: Monzo publishes its tone of voice as three principles: straightforward kindness, everyday magic and warm wit, each with guidance on how to apply it (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 8: Brand Voice").

  • 09

    Brand Tagline

    This step asks for the brand's mantra. The tagline condenses the message into a few concise, memorable words. Unlike the internal positioning statement, it faces customers, but it stays aligned with the positioning. A tagline belongs to the brand for years; a slogan belongs to a campaign. The team ends with three tagline candidates (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 9: Brand Tagline").

    TED: TED used "Ideas worth spreading" for about two decades and switched to "Ideas change everything" in 2024. The first describes what TED does, the second claims what ideas are for, which is a positioning decision rather than a copywriting one (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 9: Brand Tagline").

Source

  1. Dvornechuck, A. (2026, September 18). Brand Strategy: The 9-Step Framework, Workshop & Templates. Ebaq Design. Retrieved October 7, 2026, from https://www.ebaqdesign.com/blog/brand-strategy