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 is a brand designer who runs branding workshops with clients under the name Ebaq Design. His framework grew out of that work (Dvornechuck, 2026). It breaks a brand strategy into nine decisions in three groups. First the team clarifies the brand from the inside, then it positions the brand in the market, and last it gives the brand a human character (Dvornechuck, 2026). Every step ends with one short written statement. The nine statements fit on a single page, and a team can write them in a half-day workshop (Dvornechuck, 2026). He sets the framework apart from Sinek's Golden Circle, Aaker's brand identity model and Keller's brand equity model. Those explain how brands work. His is made to be used in a room within a few hours (Dvornechuck, 2026). The same nine steps are also in his Miro template and in his paid Brand Strategy Guide (Dvornechuck, 2026).
The Model
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
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").
Tony's Chocolonely: The company's stated aim is to put an end to exploitation in the cocoa industry, by tackling poverty, child labour and deforestation. A golden share and three independent Mission Guardians, in place since June 2023, stop a later owner from changing it unnoticed (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 1: Brand Purpose").02
Brand Vision
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. The team looks ahead in steps of five, ten and fifteen years and then writes one vision statement (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 2: Brand Vision").
IKEA: IKEA has kept the same vision for decades, "to create a better everyday life for the many people". It is brief, specific and has no buzzwords (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 2: Brand Vision").03
Brand Values
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. The exercise starts from experiences the team dislikes and turns them around into values (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 3: Brand Values").
IKEA: Each IKEA value comes with the behaviour built in. Cost-consciousness, for example, means getting more out of less while keeping quality up (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 3: Brand Values").
Brand Positioning
04
Target Audience
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. The result is a description of one or two sentences (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 4: Target Audience").
Stanley: For over a century Stanley sold its flask to workmen. A women-run shopping site showed Stanley that women wanted its Quencher cup, so Stanley rebuilt its colours and product launches around them. According to CNBC, revenue went from about 73 million dollars (2019) to a projected 750 million (2023). The product stayed the same. The main customer changed (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 4: Target Audience").05
Market Research
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. The aim is to stand apart, not to copy (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 5: Market Research").
Liquid Death: Plot bottled water by healthy versus unhealthy and boring versus fun, and every brand clusters at healthy and boring. Liquid Death moved into the empty corner, healthy yet fun, sold in tallboy cans with the line "Murder your thirst" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 5: Market Research").06
Awareness Goals
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. It sets the scope of the branding project and is not a marketing strategy (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 6: Awareness Goals").
Duolingo: Building its own social media team on the Duo mascot was hard and took years. It paid off. According to Sprout Social, the account passed a million followers through videos that followed trends, not through ads (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 6: Awareness Goals").
Brand Persona
07
Brand Personality
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. He links the idea of personality as human traits to Jennifer Aaker (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 7: Brand Personality").
Liquid Death: Dvornechuck reads the brand as an Outlaw with a Jester on the side, roughly 70/30, among competitors that all act like Innocents. Most bottled water sells purity and mountain air. Liquid Death sells tallboy cans and tells you to "murder your thirst" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 7: Brand Personality").08
Brand Voice
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. Then it sets limits with sentences like "We are X, but we are not Y" (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 8: Brand Voice").
Monzo: Monzo's tone of voice rests on three principles. They are straightforward kindness, everyday magic and warm wit, and each comes with advice on how to use it (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 8: Brand Voice").09
Brand Tagline
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. The team brainstorms many options and ends with three candidates (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 9: Brand Tagline").
TED: TED used "Ideas worth spreading" for about twenty years and changed to "Ideas change everything" in 2024. The old line described what TED does. The new one takes a stand on what ideas are good for. That choice is about positioning, not about wording (Dvornechuck, 2026, "Exercise 9: Brand Tagline").
Source
- 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
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.