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Brand Leadership Model

Brand Leadership Model

David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler · Prophet and Vivaldi · 2000

Introduction
From Brand Management to Brand Leadership

In their book Brand Leadership, David Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler, the founder and CEO of the consultancy Vivaldi, describe how a new, strategic kind of brand leadership is taking the place of the older, tactical brand management (Vivaldi Group, 2019). This shift involves "nothing less than a revolution in organizational structure, systems, and culture", which the authors illustrate with hundreds of cases from firms like Adidas, IBM and Swatch (Vivaldi Group, 2019). Campos Guzmán (2012, pp. 90–91) describes brand leadership as the authors' "new imperative" (translated) for a globalized, competitive, changing and complex world, made up of four tasks for building a powerful brand. The model "links brand strategies with the organization as a whole, ensuring impact on customers through the development of the brand's identity" (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 83). Identity plays the central role: the authors explain it at length and add a model for planning the brand identity (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91). In a later post, Aaker describes what changes when firms see brands as assets: marketing is no longer a tactical arm run by middle managers for short-term sales, but strategic and managed by top executives (Aaker, 2014).

The Model

Brand Leadership Model: a rounded frame divided into four fields around a central field labelled Brand Leadership; 1. Organizational Structure and Processes, 2. Brand Architecture, 3. Brand-Building Programs and 4. Brand Identity, each with the points that belong to it
Redrawn after Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) as reproduced in Campos Guzmán (2012, p. 91, Figura 4), labels translated from the Spanish edition.

Elements

Definitions follow Campos Guzmán (2012, p. 91), translated from Spanish, with the English names and short descriptions of the four challenges on the website of Joachimsthaler's consultancy (Vivaldi Group, 2019) and points from a later post by Aaker (2014). The book itself is not freely accessible, so the profile draws on these published reproductions and summaries. The points inside each field are named in the figure only.

Four Tasks

  • 01

    Organizational Structure and Processes

    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. 91, Figure 4). Vivaldi Group (2019) states the challenge as "to create a viable brand building organization". Aaker later writes that, seen strategically, the brand is usually run by people further up in the organization. Where marketing drives the business, the CEO can be the brand's top champion. Marketing also has to get the separate units, split by products, markets or countries, to talk and work together (Aaker, 2014).

  • 02

    Brand Architecture

    Brand architecture (Arquitectura de la marca) is the task of building a complete architecture. It sets the role of every brand the organization owns and decides how the current brands fit together and how new ones are added, so that customers can see clearly what is on offer and the brands create synergy (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated). The figure names brands, sub-brands and endorsed brands (p. 91, Figure 4). For Vivaldi Group (2019), the aim is "a comprehensive architecture providing strategic direction". Aaker later lists possible brand roles, among them strategic, cash-cow, master and endorser brands and sub-brands, and asks marketing to manage the brand family "to foster clarity, synergy, energy, relevance and leverage" (Aaker, 2014).

  • 03

    Brand-Building Programs

    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). The figure lists four points: access multiple media, achieve brilliance, integrate communication and measure results (p. 91, Figure 4). Vivaldi Group (2019) describes the challenge as "to develop effective programs and a system to track the results".

  • 04

    Brand Identity

    Brand identity (Identidad de la marca) belongs to the task of developing a brand strategy for the key factors. Identity is the essence of the model, because, in the authors' words, it is "the vehicle that guides and inspires the brand-building program" (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, Spanish edition, as cited in Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated), and the positioning tunes the identity that is to be communicated (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated). The figure names an aspirational image and the brand positioning (p. 91, Figure 4). Vivaldi Group (2019) calls this challenge Positioning: "to originate a strategy which provides identity, differentiation, and empathy". The identity should be strong, memorable, focused and motivating; the authors' model for planning it centres on a brand identity system of four connected parts: essence and identity of the brand, its value proposition of functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits, the credibility it offers among other brands, and relationships with customers that resemble personal relationships (Campos Guzmán, 2012, p. 91; translated).

Source

  1. Aaker, D. (2014, July 2). Brands as Assets: The Idea That Transformed Marketing [Blog post]. Prophet. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://prophet.com/2014/07/200-brands-as-assets-the-idea-that-transformed-marketing/
  2. Aaker, D. A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2000). Brand Leadership. Free Press. [Original work. The book is not freely accessible; this profile draws on the other three sources listed here as substitutes.]
  3. Campos Guzmán, E. (2012). Modelos Contemporáneos para la Creación de Marcas Poderosas [Contemporary Models for Powerful Brand Building]. Ingeniare, 7(13), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.18041/1909-2458/ingeniare.13.627
  4. Vivaldi Group. (2019, July 1). Brand Leadership: The Next Level of the Brand Revolution [Web page]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://vivaldigroup.com/brand-leadership

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.