Categorization of Brand Identity Elements

Categorization of Brand Identity Elements of Existing Models

What categories appear when the elements of 51 models are sorted without a template

Brand Identity Model Atlas

Introduction
Why Sort Without a Template

The page Elements of Brand Identity Planning Models goes through all 429 elements of 51 brand identity models and condenses them into one list. Elements with the same meaning are merged, so that each entry stands for one idea that at least one model puts forward. The list has 47 brand identity elements; ideas that belong to the analysis before or the work after the identity, or to the business behind it, are listed separately and play no part here.

This page asks a simple question: what categories appear when the 47 elements are sorted by meaning alone, without the blocks of the Brand-Building Canvas as a template?

Sorting
Three Independent Rounds Without a Template

The method is card sorting, the way user researchers find out how people group things when nobody tells them how. The elements, each with its name, a short subtitle and its explanation, were sorted in three independent sorting rounds. Every round started from the same material in a different order, saw no Canvas blocks and no other round, was asked for six to ten categories, and could leave an element on its own if it fitted nowhere. Each round named its categories from their content, defined each in one sentence and noted the elements that were hard to place. Brand Essence was not sorted, for the reason given under Result.

Round 1

10 categories, 0 elements left single

Purpose and Direction (5)
Beliefs and Conduct (6)
Roots and Heritage (2)
Offer and Capabilities (6)
Customer Benefits (3)
Positioning and Proof (5)
Personality and Relationship (3)
Audience and Self-Image (5)
Story and Language (6)
Signs and Touchpoints (5)

Round 2

10 categories, 0 elements left single

Purpose and Direction (5)
Beliefs and Stance (4)
Roots and Capabilities (6)
Brand Personality (3)
Offer and Product (5)
Customer Benefits (3)
Market Position and Proof (4)
Audiences and Self-Image (5)
Verbal and Visual Expression (7)
Brand Encounters (4)

Round 3

10 categories, 0 elements left single

Purpose and Beliefs (9)
Organisation and Proof (5)
Heritage and Story (3)
Product Offer (4)
Benefits and Positioning (7)
Target Audiences (3)
Customer Bond (3)
Personality and Voice (3)
Signs and Language (5)
Brand Touchpoints (4)

How Much the Three Rounds Agreed With Each Other

	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Round 1	100%	96%	90%
Round 2	96%	100%	92%
Round 3	90%	92%	100%

Reading the table: for every pair of elements, two rounds agree when both put the pair together or both keep it apart. 100% would mean identical sorting. The numbers are high by nature, because most pairs are kept apart in every sorting.

Result: The Categories That Emerge
9 Categories From 45 Elements, Plus the Summary Category Above Them

The three rounds were then combined. Elements form a category when, averaged over all their pairs, at least two of the three rounds put them together. This gave eleven groups. Two checks followed. First, every element was given a level: content of the identity or summary of the whole identity. Only Brand Essence is a summary. It condenses everything else, so it cannot be a member of one category; it stands above them. Second, every element was checked once more against the definition of its category, using the definitions of the underlying model elements.

This fit check made three changes. Signs and language on the one hand and the places and moments in which the brand is met on the other became one category, Brand Expression, with three sides: design, behaviour and communication. Corporate behaviour moved there from the organisation, because the models treat it as the third way in which a company shows itself, next to design and communication. Heritage and origin joined the organisation behind the brand. Nine categories remain. Their names were chosen afterwards from the names the rounds had given.

On each card, the number in the grey badge is how many models carry the element. The small number after it is the agreement with the other elements of the category: 1.00 means all three rounds put them together, 0.33 means one round did on average; fit marks corporate behaviour, the one element the fit check moved on its own. Brand Expression and Organisation and Roots show low numbers because the fit check joined groups that the rounds kept apart.

The Summary Category: Brand Essence, Core and Code

By its definition the essence condenses the whole identity into one idea, value, short phrase or a few central dimensions. It stands above the categories, not inside one of them. Models call it essence, core, brand core, brand code, core identity or core value.

What the Models Teach[...]

The essence stands above the categories because it sums them up: The Bates wheel reduces its four rings to one sentence in the hub, Unilever's Brand Key distils its steps from benefits to discriminator into one or two words, and Dentsu gathers six cells around its centre. Biddle's headline is his whole pyramid in one line. An element that condenses all the others cannot be one category among them.
One word, a few words or a few pillars: Kapferer and Wilensky name one central value, Whitlock one word, Yanenko two or three words, Woods two to four. Aaker works differently: two to five core elements carry the brand, and the one-phrase essence is optional, because a forced phrase can get in the way. Whitlock adds the connotations the brand wants its word to carry.
The content differs from model to model: For Kapferer and Wilensky the essence is a value, for Esch a competence that can be emotional or factual, for Dentsu a symbolic brand experience, for TAIKN and Llopis a core idea, for Yanenko the brand's mission and idea. Urde's hexagon puts positioning and core values together at the centre. The field name alone does not tell a team which of these to write.
A lasting core, a changing rest: Aaker's core identity is the part that lasts, de Chernatony keeps core values apart from peripheral ones that can be dropped, and the MarkenWesen model wants a brand that does not contradict itself over the years. Unilever and Bates write the essence last, from the other fields, while Aaker uses it to guide programmes: written last, read first.
The summary towards the market is the brand position: The essence sums the identity up for the inside: who the brand is. The position sums it up for the market: why choose this brand and not another. It needs no element of its own, because its parts are already in the Canvas: for whom the brand is built (Block 03), the field in which it wants to be strong, its strongest reason to choose and the qualities that back it (Block 02). Written as one sentence, they form the positioning statement. That is why Kapferer and de Chernatony derive positioning from the identity instead of adding it to it.

What this suggests for a planning model: place the essence above all categories, fill it last from them, allow one phrase or two to five pillars, and say what kind of content it holds and which parts must never change.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
4-D Branding	Brand Code	Gad's second model, a code formed from inputs such as product, positioning, style and values.	Show which inputs the summary is drawn from.
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Essence (Esencia)	The soul or heart of the brand, a central value that consumers recognise and value.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Core Identity	The lasting centre of the identity, usually two to five elements that do most to make the brand relevant and different.	Allow the summary to be a short list of pillars that do not change.
Brand Identity Prism	Brand Essence	The one central value at the centre of the prism, which makes a rich identity easier to pass on.
Brand Key	Essence	The final step, which names the brand's essence in a word or two drawn from the benefits through to the discriminator.	Derive the essence from the steps before it, as the last step.
Brand Vision Model	Vision Elements	The six to twelve associations the brand wants people to have, worked out step by step.	List the wanted associations before condensing them.
Brand Vision Model	Core Vision Elements	The two to five strongest and most distinctive associations, which state future promises and steer brand-building programmes.	Rank the associations and let the top ones steer budgets.
Brand Vision Model	Brand Essence	An optional single theme over the whole vision that can inspire staff and partners but may also get in the way.	Keep the one-phrase essence optional.
Corporate Branding Model	Corporate Identity Profile	The basic traits an organisation picks so that its publics can recognise it, distinguish it and prefer it.
Brand Essence Wheel	Brand Essence	The hub of the wheel: the four rings reduced to one short sentence.
Brand Flower	Brand Core	The most important value, found where the three brand values overlap, so that the brand is recognisable and distinct from rivals.	Let the core emerge from the overlap of the values.
Brand Identity Canvas	Essence	One word that states the brand's soul, defined in the field, with the connotations the brand seeks.	Add the wanted connotations to the essence word.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Brand Essence	The brand's most essential trait in two or three words, covering what it is, its mission and idea.
Brand Leadership Model	Brand Identity	Part of the work on a brand strategy for the main factors.
Brand Onion	Essence	A single word or brief phrase at the centre that reduces the brand's identity to its simplest form.
Branding for Builders	Headline	One line that sums up the whole pyramid and later also names an advertising campaign.	Write one line that could title a campaign.
CORE Discovery Framework	Brand Attributes	A brand statement the team writes together on what the organisation does, for whom, how, what it feels like and its effect on the world.	Write the summary together as a team.
Context Branding Model	Brand Identity	The company's own image of how the brand ought to be, which it hopes customers will take on.
Corporate Identity Mix	Corporate Personality	The personality at the heart of corporate identity, guided by the mission and shown through symbolism, behaviour and communication.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Core Value (Brand Essence)	The symbolic brand experience at the centre, which gathers the six surrounding cells into the position users give the brand.
Six-Station Corporate Identity Model	Corporate Identity	Corporate identity at the core, made up of the six stations and managed as a cycle.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Core	The core idea, placed at the heart of the identity model.
TBA Branding Model	Brand Essence	The single central idea behind every other block, placed in the centre of the identity.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Brand Essence	Two to four memorable words that sum up the whole statement and guide decisions.	Test the essence: can a team decide with it?

Brand Expression

How the brand shows itself: through its design, through what it does at the moments customers meet it, and through its words and story. 12 elements.

Design

Behaviour

Communication

What the Models Teach[...]

Three sides, unevenly covered: Birkigt, Stadler and Funck have the corporate personality show itself through symbolism, behaviour and communication, and Japanese CI practice gives the philosophy both a visible form (VI) and a form in daily behaviour (BI). The design side gets the most fields: Alves has five, Whitlock four. How the company acts appears as an element of its own in only four models: Japanese CI practice, Birkigt, Yanenko and Miltenburg.
Voice is fixed, tone moves: Dvornechuck separates the two: the voice is constant, the tone adapts to the moment, and four sliders, for instance between funny and serious, place the brand. Houraghan treats voice and tone as the personality speaking, and TAIKN bases the tone on the brand personality. Whitlock, Alves and Urde file voice under expression, next to design. Voice belongs to the words, but the personality sets it.
Signs matter, but they are not the heart: Costa sees the name as the basic sign of identity, and Japanese CI practice calls visual identity the most CI-like part. Urde disagrees: for him visual identity belongs to the identity of the corporate brand, though not to its heart. His hexagon adds that people judge company and brand names by feeling, and products with reason.
Specify the signs for every sense and down to the value: Whitlock wants exact hex values, so that the web does not fill with fifty shades of one blue, and rules for form, line, texture and space. Wiehrdt counts sounds and brand ambassadors among the assets, Aaker buildings, packages and people. TAIKN writes down the no-go's as well as the go's. Gardner adds objects that carry the story.
The touchpoint must deliver what the words promise: TAIKN warns that in the long run communication alone cannot hold up a brand; its promises must match what the company actually does. Unilever arranges moments of customer contact so that they prove the brand's claims, Gramco designs the setting of each experience, and Baumgarth checks shops through mystery shopping. Woods backs every key message with proof.

What this suggests for a planning model: give expression three equal parts (design, words, behaviour), let the voice follow from the personality, specify signs down to exact values and no-go's, and tie each key touchpoint to the proof it has to give.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Distinctive Features (Distintivos)	Features that let people tell the brand from others at once, even from afar.	Test the signs by recognition from a distance.
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Outer Level (Plano Exterior)	The visible level: logos, company colours and other visual signs.
Anatomy of the Brand	Verbal and Visual Brand	The brand name, sometimes tied to a parent brand, and its visual signs; the name is the basic sign of identity.	Note whether the name stands alone or leans on a parent brand.
Anatomy of the Brand	Environmental Design	The design of shops and exhibitions where people meet the brand, important for their emotional experience.
B*Canvas 2.0	Branding	The brand's signs such as name, logo and slogan, which work across all marketing instruments.
B*Canvas 2.0	PoS	The point of sale as a touchpoint, checked by observation, photos and mystery shopping.	Check spaces by visiting them as a customer.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Visual Imagery and Metaphors	Everything that shows the brand to the eye, from a character to a package, building or product design, including people.	Count buildings, products and people as signs, not only the logo.
Brand Steering Wheel	Brand Image	All non-verbal impressions the company builds on purpose: the appearance, not the image in people's minds.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Expression	The verbal, visual and further signs, including a flagship product, by which the company is recognised; not the heart of the identity.
Corporate Identity System	Visual Identity (VI)	Giving the corporate philosophy a form people can see and hear, for example a new name or symbol.
Corporate Identity System	Behaviour Identity (BI)	Rooting the corporate philosophy in everyday behaviour, the part that revives the organisation.	Treat staff behaviour as part of expression.
Brand Gestalt Model	Properties	The iconic elements that shape perception, such as symbols, logos, colours, sounds, characters or ambassadors.	Include sound and brand ambassadors among the assets.
Brand Identity Canvas	Voice	A short description of the kind of words and prose style used in all copy.
Brand Identity Canvas	Messaging	The few customer-facing messages, including the tagline, that say what value the products bring.
Brand Identity Canvas	Visual	A short description of the design style.
Brand Identity Canvas	Color	The palette as exact hex values, set early to keep the colour consistent.	Fix exact colour values early.
Brand Identity Canvas	Typography	Typeface and fonts for all copy.
Brand Identity Canvas	Form, Line, Texture, Space	Principles for form, line, texture and space that keep the other visual elements consistent.	Add rules for form, not only colour and type.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Narrative	Storytelling with plot, characters and causal links that draws consumers into the story, deepened by archetypes and myths.	Name the plot, characters and archetype of the brand story.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Tone of Voice	The brand's language, from friendly or direct to formal, with the words that describe it.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Symbology	The brand's symbols with their literal and implied meanings and how they are shown.	Write down what each symbol means.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Photography	Sample images that set the look of photos, such as angle, light, setting and clothing.	Add a photo style to the design fields.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Typography	Typefaces with samples and where they are used.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Colour	Main and secondary colours, how they combine, their intensity and shade.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Symbols	Logo, characters, icons, name, taglines and other graphics that carry the brand's values.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Message	The brand in words, drawn from vision, value proposition and personality, including a one-line slogan and possibly a story.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Design	The look of the brand: symbol, logo, secondary elements, colours and style.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Experience	Letting the key customers feel the world of the brand through trial, story and a designed setting.	Plan the setting of each experience.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Company Name and Brand Name	The emotional side of the hexagon, where customers judge company and brand names by feeling.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Verbal Identity	How the brand talks: name, slogan, tone, messages and content.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Visual Identity	How the brand looks, such as logo, colours and type.
Brand Thinking Canvas	People, Talent & Behavior	Who the brand hires and how they act with customers, putting purpose and values into action.	Ask who the faces of the brand are.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Places & Events	Locations in which the brand seeks visibility, and the events it can create.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Expression	The distinctive way the organisation speaks and presents itself, verbal and visual, across all communication.
Corporate Identity Mix	Corporate Design	Brand, product and graphic design plus architecture, taken together and changing over time.	Include architecture in the design side.
Corporate Identity Mix	Corporate Behaviour	How the company acts in its policies on products, sales, social matters and finance.	List behaviour by policy area.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Symbol	The logo and colour people remember with their senses, forming the first message layer.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Voice	How the brand sounds: a fixed voice from the personality and a tone that adapts, placed on four sliders.	Place the voice on sliders between opposites.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Tagline	A few memorable words for customers that fit the internal positioning and last for years, unlike a campaign slogan.	Keep tagline and campaign slogan apart.
MarkenWesen Model	Manifestations	The visible signals and symbols of the brand, like a person's looks.
Minimum Viable Brand	Assets	The name, tagline, logo and look that make the brand recognisably its own.
Minimum Viable Brand Canvas	Artifacts	Objects that express the brand story and involve people, ideally stirring emotion.	Ask which object could carry the story.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Craft Your Brand Storytelling Framework	Turning what the brand wants to say into a story for every touchpoint, since stories hold attention better.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Find Your Brand Voice & Tone	How the personality sounds in writing and in speech; familiar language makes people listen.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Define Your Brand Messaging Framework	Messages aimed at the problems, hopes and fears of the persona.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Design Your Brand Identity System	Handing the full strategy to the designer so that the visual identity gains from it.	Give the designer the whole planning sheet.
Sector Brand Identity Model	Visual Identity	What the sector brand's visual identity, such as its logo, should signal abroad.
Six-Station Corporate Identity Model	Creativity	Visual identity, the system of visual identification and advertising taken together.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	On-Brand Communication (Coding)	Coding the brand's appearance through language, images, symbols and other senses, with go's and no-go's written down.	List the no-go's as well as the go's.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Touchpoints	The points where people meet the brand, on the communication and the performance side; promises must match performance.	Pair each touchpoint with the performance it must show.
TBA Branding Model	Expression	The visible and tangible side of the identity: expression, facts and symbols.
The Brand Canvas Model	Corporate Design	The visual side of the bottom row, which should follow logically from the fields above.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Key Messages	Three to five messages repeated consistently, each with proof, tested for plain human speech and used in all copy.	Test each message: would a person say it aloud?

Purpose and Direction

The reason for the brand, the future it works toward and the goals it sets on the way. 5 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Many models write the foundation as one set: Akutsu and Ishida, Miltenburg, Wiehrdt and Llopis bundle mission, vision and values or purpose into one block, and Houraghan has the leaders settle the brand's reason, direction and principles in a single step. Both Urde models make the mission the starting point for brand-oriented firms. Alves adds a rule: the company's mission and values must not contradict the brand essence.
The labels do not match the content: Whitlock's mission is the purpose, the reason the company exists. Miltenburg's mission is the way up the mountain toward the vision, while for Akutsu and Ishida the vision points to steps toward the mission, the reverse order. Davis's vision is senior management's expectation of the brand's contribution to growth. The same word can mean a reason, a path or a target.
Purpose is never finished; everything else needs a horizon: Dvornechuck says a purpose, unlike a goal, is never finished. The horizons for the rest differ widely: Davis looks three to five years ahead, Burmann five to ten, Knapp twenty, and Biddle wants a purpose that inspires the team for fifty. Gramco places the vision beyond the medium-term business plan. Without a stated horizon, a vision cannot be told from a plan.
Goals get skipped: Brandcom notes that the goal is often decided along the way, although focused measures need it, and asks whether the brand aims to be a niche hero or a world market leader. Helder replaces the vision with a concrete objective and a timeframe. Only these two models give the goal a field of its own.

What this suggests for a planning model: keep purpose (why, lasting), vision (where, with a stated horizon) and ambition (what by when, measurable) as separate fields, and check all three against the parent company's mission.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
4-D Branding	Spiritual Dimension	The ethical dimension that links brand and society and covers what the brand gives.
Anatomy of the Brand	Concept and Management of the Brand	The black centre: the idea and raison d'être of the brand, with finances, business plan, objectives and positioning.	Tie the reason for being to the business plan.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Mission & Vision	The mission is what drives the company beyond money, the vision its direction; for brand-oriented firms the mission comes first.
Corporate Branding Model	Corporate Philosophy	Top management's picture of what is central, lasting and distinctive in the organisation, answering three questions.
Corporate Identity System	Mind Identity (MI)	Reviewing and rebuilding the philosophy: why the company exists, what it aims for and rules for running it.	Add operating rules that follow from the philosophy.
De Chernatony Brand Identity Model	Brand Vision	The core purpose (making lives better) plus an envisioned future; it inspires staff.	Picture the future world, not only the brand.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Vision	A direction for the long term, five to ten years, that motivates staff; brand goals are more concrete.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	What, How, Why	Sinek's three circles; the what is the core business for the coming five years.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	20-Year Roadmap	Notes on what the company might do at four dates up to twenty years ahead, with one item picked per date.	Sketch the brand at several dates.
Brand Frame	Ambition	A concrete objective within a set timeframe, used instead of a vision.	Give the goal a date.
Brand Gestalt Model	Principles	The purpose, the founders' vision, the mission and the key values meant to guide future decisions.
Brand Identity Canvas	Mission	Why the company exists, its purpose and values, the mark it wants to leave.
Brand Identity Canvas	Vision	What the company wants to become.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Organisation	The company's mission, vision and values in the background, which must not contradict the brand essence.	Check the brand against the parent company's mission.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Brand Essence	The core identity, drawn from ethos and brand values: what the brand represents, why it exists and why it should stay the same.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Brand Purpose	Why the world needs the company; increasingly placed at the centre instead of the mission.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Brand Vision	A long-term written commitment to a state not yet visible, beyond the medium-term plan.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Vision & Mission	The starting node: why the brand exists, together with strategy, identity, personality and its core values.	Start the planning from the inside.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Mission	The route to the vision, like the path up a mountain.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Vision	A core built on the change the brand wants to see in the world.
Branding for Builders	Something Bigger	Looking twenty years ahead for a purpose able to inspire the team for fifty.	Give the purpose a horizon.
Context Branding Model	Philosophy	One of four identity elements, consisting of mission, values and vision.
Context Branding Model	Mission	Why the brand exists.
Context Branding Model	Vision	Concrete steps toward the mission; a state to reach in the future.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Mission & Vision	What engages the organisation beyond money and what gives it direction, closely linked to the promise.	Link mission and vision to the promise.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Purpose	Why the brand exists beyond money, written as one statement with a fixed form; never finished, unlike a goal.	Use a fixed sentence form for the purpose.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Vision	Where the brand is going, bold yet believable.
Minimum Viable Brand	Why It Matters	The brand's larger purpose in the world.
Minimum Viable Brand	Why the Brand Exists	How the brand reaches its larger purpose.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Uncover Your Brand Core	The leaders settle the brand's reason to exist, its direction, its principles and its conduct.	Have the leaders set the foundation first.
Place Brand Identity Model	Mission	Mission, added to de Chernatony's model for places.
Place Brand Identity Model	Vision	A clear course to a better future: future environment, purpose and values.
TBA Branding Model	Mission, Vision, Purpose	Mission, vision and purpose together answer why the brand exists, to inspire and give direction.
The Brand Canvas Model	Objectives	The level the brand aims for, from niche hero to world leader; often decided along the way.	Add a goal field with a level of ambition.

Offer and Products

What the brand offers: the range of products, the flagship, their design, their qualities and the price tier. 4 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

The scope needs limits in both directions: Aaker warns that too narrow a scope holds a brand back. Brandcom warns the other way: the range must fit the promise, so a brand that promises an easier life cannot sell a complicated offer. Burmann adds that the offer builds directly on the company's competences.
One product can stand for the brand: Wiehrdt asks for the iconic product that customers should connect with the brand, and Urde counts a flagship product among the signs of expression. Costa goes further: the design of the products defines the brand's tangible personality, whether the product is a household appliance or food. The product is then a sign as well as an offer.
Attributes form the base and keep changing: De Chernatony, Biddle, Woods and the Brand Onion start their ladders with attributes, the raw material for benefits. Biddle notes that features come and go, so new ideas show up at this level, and Kapferer counts emerging features as well as established ones. Esch adds that attributes can belong to the company, not only to the offer.
Price is a signal, and quality is not always the battleground: Wilensky sees a high price as a sign of quality and exclusivity, while a low price can damage the brand unless people judge it fair. Urde notes that people often read price as a sign of quality. Aaker separates arenas where the best quality wins from those where a basic level is enough to compete.

What this suggests for a planning model: list the offer with the areas it may and may not enter, name one flagship product, mark attributes as belonging to the offer or the company, and state what the price should signal.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
4-D Branding	Functional Dimension	What the product offers, as visible and experienced advantage.
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Economic Benefits (Beneficios Económicos)	Price tied to benefits: a high price signals quality, a low one can harm unless seen as fair.	State what the price should signal.
Anatomy of the Brand	Product and Service Design	A design idea that sets products apart and defines the brand's tangible personality.	Describe the design style of the products.
B*Canvas 2.0	Core & Complementary Products/Services	Core and added products or services, the means by which the brand reaches customers.	List the services around the core.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Product Scope	The products the brand is tied to, broad or narrow; too narrow a scope can hold it back.	State where the scope may grow.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Product Attributes	Features and the functional or emotional benefits they bring, whether better or unique.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Quality/Value	Whether the products count as premium or affordable; some arenas reward top quality, others a basic level.	Say whether quality wins or only qualifies.
Brand Identity Prism	Physique	Physical traits, either objective or still emerging.	Note emerging features too.
Brand Steering Wheel	Brand Attributes	Properties of the offer or of the company.	Separate offer and company attributes.
Corporate Branding Model	Competitive Attributes	The organisation as a business: traits that help win and keep customers.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Offering	The basic type of products and services, built on the competences, which decides how customers can use what the brand offers.	Derive the offer from the competences.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	What, How, Why	The what of the three circles: the core business for the coming five years.
Brand Essence Wheel	Attributes	The outer ring: the product as experienced with the senses.
Brand Gestalt Model	Product	The range of products and services, and the iconic product customers should connect with the brand.	Name one iconic product.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Physique	The physical attributes of each product and the unity of the brand's physical data.
Brand Onion	Attributes	The tangible, functional facts, the layer where the work starts.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Product Category and Product	The rational side; category and product kept apart, with quality linking the product to the centre.	Name category and product separately.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Quality	The product side of positioning; people often take price as a sign of quality.
Branding for Builders	Product Attributes	The base of the pyramid: features that deliver the benefits; features change.	Expect features to change.
De Chernatony Brand Pyramid	Attributes	The product's own features at the base.
MarkenWesen Model	Properties & Performance	What the brand is and what it is able to do, like a person's intelligence.
Personal Branding Canvas	Profession	What the person does and in what way: services, talents and skills.
Sector Brand Identity Model	Product	The characteristics of the sector's exported products.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Offering	The precise range of products and services on offer, part of the core identity.
The Brand Canvas Model	Services / Offers / Products	What the brand offers; the range should fit the promise.	Check the range against the promise.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Company/Product Features	What the product does, the raw material for benefits.

Audiences and Self-Image

Whom the brand is for, how customers see themselves through it and the group they feel part of. 5 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Target, pictured user and self-image are three different things: Kapferer separates the target group from reflection, the customer the brand seems to address, shown as he or she wishes to be seen. Self-image is his inner mirror: the way customers view themselves while using the brand. Yanenko follows this split. Dentsu warns that every other element moves when the ideal customer image shifts.
Customers are only one audience: Knapp asks teams to list all audiences and pick the three whose opinion matters most, customers or not. Miltenburg states for each audience what it should think and feel about the brand. TAIKN stresses this for corporate brands, and Konečnik Ruzzier's place model puts stakeholder groups in its outer ring.
Say who the brand is not for: Woods' anti-audience exercise names the people for whom the brand is explicitly not meant, and Knapp's slider runs from mass appeal to elite. Gramco names key customers while still serving others. Urde adds that a brand-oriented company does not chase every passing demand.
People use brands to belong and to become: Gad's social dimension rests on the wish to belong to a group, and Alves wants brands to build fan communities and co-creation. Gardner places the relationship in the match between who the brand is and who its audience wants to become, and de Chernatony wants presentation styles that mirror stakeholders' aspirations.

What this suggests for a planning model: keep target customers (including who is excluded), other ranked audiences with the thoughts and feelings wanted from each, the pictured user and the self-image the brand offers as separate fields.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
4-D Branding	Mental Dimension	The deep link to the individual's self-image.
4-D Branding	Social Dimension	The need to belong to a group; people choose brands that fit their social identity.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Users	The type of people linked with the brand, by facts or attitudes.
Brand Identity Prism	Reflection	The kind of customer the brand appears to address, not the target; an ideal to identify with.	Keep the pictured user apart from the target.
Brand Identity Prism	Self-Image	The inner mirror: how customers view themselves when using the brand.
Brand Key	Target	The target group by demographics plus attitudes and values.
De Chernatony Brand Identity Model	Presentation	Presentation styles that mirror stakeholders' aspirations and self-images.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	Top Three Audiences	Listing all audiences and choosing the most important, beyond customers.	Rank the top three audiences.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Reflection	How consumers want to appear to others when using the brand.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Self-Image	The brand as a way to define oneself; in B2B, a sense of professionalism or status.	Include a self-image for business buyers.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Key Customers	The customers the brand cares most about winning; others are still served.	Name key customers apart from all customers.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Target Audience	How target customers understand the brand; the brand is a platform, not an answer to every passing demand.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Audience	Who needs to know the brand and how to steer what they think and feel.
Brand Thinking Canvas	What	For each audience, what it should think and feel about the brand.	State for each audience the wanted thought and feeling.
CORE Discovery Framework	Customer Profiles	Knowing, agreeing on and putting first what customers need.	Have the team agree on the top needs.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Ideal Customer Image	The wanted users and fans; if this image shifts, everything shifts.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Target Audience	A named typical customer with wants, obstacles, feelings and wishes.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Develop Your Buyer Personas	Understanding buyers in depth and the groups they fall into.
Personal Branding Canvas	Audience	Customers, influencers and communities as the receivers; the place to start.
Place Brand Identity Model	Stakeholder Groups	The outer ring of stakeholder groups.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Target Groups	Whom to reach and what they expect; priority groups described in psychographic terms.
The Brand Canvas Model	Customers	Customer groups by needs, expectations, problem and the situation in which they meet the brand.	Record the situation in which customers meet the brand.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Customer/User Insight	A portrait beyond demographics: how people think, what they are afraid of and what they aim for.

Values and Stance

What the brand believes in and stands up for, toward people, society and the issues of the day. 4 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Values count only when they decide something: Knapp admits that values often sound like consultant talk and treats them as principles for decisions, which few companies cut down and rank. For Woods they are guide rails for the inside, not copy for marketing. The Brand Flower gives each value three facets so that people can follow it in their behaviour, and Dvornechuck adds one line per value on what it means.
Stated or shown: Twenty of the 51 models ask for a list of values. Unilever's Brand Key advises against stating them outright; they should show in the advertising instead. Kapferer places culture at the brand's core and names the country of origin as a rich source of values.
Whose values, and which of them last: Burmann draws values from the beliefs of management and staff, but also from what target groups wish for. For a destination, the place model takes the values that its influential stakeholders share. De Chernatony separates core values that stay from peripheral ones that can be dropped or added, and Urde lets the core values lead up to a promise.
A stance needs an opponent and credibility: Gardner's story defines what the brand fights against as well as what it fights for. Wiehrdt warns that some brands lack the credibility to speak on every social issue, and Houraghan uses the brand's opinions on its industry and the world to make the personality credible. Llopis goes furthest: sustainability moves into identity, value proposition and positioning.

What this suggests for a planning model: rank about three values, give each a line on behaviour, mark which are core and which may change, and add a stance field that names what the brand fights against and on which topics it can speak credibly.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Inner Level (Plano Interior)	The values tied to the brand, less tangible and emotional.
Brand Identity Prism	Culture	The values that give the brand its inspiration, the source of its aspirational power, often drawn from the country of origin.
Brand Key	Values & Personality	The values the brand should speak to, best shown in advertising rather than stated.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Core: Promise and Core Values	Core values that lead up to a promise, which guides inside and is communicated outside.	Link the values to the promise.
Corporate Branding Model	Institutional Values	Principles toward society, culture and economy, adopted to earn trust.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Values	The beliefs of management and staff, expressing emotional parts and what targets wish for.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	Top Three Values	Values as decision principles, reduced and ranked.	Rank the values.
Brand Flower	Brand Values	Three values around the core, mirroring culture and strengths inside.
Brand Flower	Brand Facets	Three facets per value that make it concrete for behaviour.	Break each value into facets.
Brand Frame	Brand Values	Principles that shape how the brand keeps its promise, inside and out.
Brand Gestalt Model	Point of View	The brand's attitude on topics that matter to its target group; not every stand is credible.	Choose topics on which a stand is credible.
Brand Onion	Values	Beliefs and principles beyond profit.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Positioning: Core Values	Positioning and core values together at the centre, carrying the brand's meaning.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Values	The basic beliefs that guide identity and behaviour toward the team and audiences.
Context Branding Model	Values	What the brand holds dear, guiding people when they do branding.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Brand Core: Promise and Core Values	A promise plus the core values behind it, a hub linked to all other elements.
De Chernatony Brand Pyramid	Values	Values that grow from emotional rewards, split into core and peripheral values.	Mark core and peripheral values.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Values	Three to five lasting principles, each with one line, seen in how the brand acts.	Write one behaviour line per value.
MarkenWesen Model	Values & Character	The brand's emotional side: values and character.
Minimum Viable Brand Canvas	Story	Who the brand is, why it acts, what it fights against and for.	Name what the brand fights against.
Place Brand Identity Model	Values	The values shared by the destination's influential stakeholders.	Check whether key stakeholders share the values.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Values	Standards for measuring behaviour, showing the company's character and staff conduct.	Use the values as a yardstick for behaviour.
TBA Branding Model	Be	Sustainability moving into identity, value proposition and positioning; the commitment shows in mission and benefits.	Let a commitment change the offer and positioning, not only the words.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Company Values	Internal guide rails: nouns for what the company believes and how it decides.

Organisation and Roots

The company behind the brand: its culture, what it can do, the strengths it has proven and where it comes from. 5 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Culture is what people do, not what is written: Capriotti describes culture as beliefs and values that members share without writing them down, and Baumgarth looks at the culture actually lived. De Chernatony notes that staff assumptions steer behaviour above all in new situations. Aaker adds why it matters: traits of the organisation outlast product features and are harder for rivals to copy.
A competence is a claim; a proven strength is a record: Burmann, Urde and TAIKN describe what the company can do and where it beats rivals, and Esch even makes competence the brand core. The Institut für Markentechnik asks for more: building blocks the company has delivered the same way, over and over, for many years, each with its effect for customers, sought in every department.
Origin is narrower than history, and it is chosen: Burmann separates origin from history, which covers every past event. Aaker shows the gain: a brand from a place known for precision can borrow that image. Unilever looks back at the brand's first product and the one it is known for today. Whitlock goes further: the company decides which legends about itself it wants to start.

What this suggests for a planning model: record the lived culture next to the intended one, list strengths the company has proven over years rather than claimed competences, and choose the origin and stories the brand will stress.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Anatomy of the Brand	Institutional Identity	The spirit of the company, carried into the brand project.
Anatomy of the Brand	Organisational Culture	The way of being shown through vision, mission and values; service attitude starts inside.
B*Canvas 2.0	Corporate Culture	The culture actually lived, seen as brand orientation.	Record the lived culture next to the intended one.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Organization Attributes	People, culture, values and programmes behind the brand; they outlast product features and are harder to copy.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Brand Heritage	History as a source of meaning; backstory and nostalgia.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Country of Origin	The tie to a country or region whose image the brand can borrow.
Brand Key	Root Strengths	The brand's first product, today's flagship and how the brand grew.	Name the starting product and today's flagship.
Brand Steering Wheel	Brand Competence	The brand core of Esch's wheel, summing up what is essential and lasting.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Culture	Attitudes, values and ways of working, including heritage, origin and iconic leaders.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Competences	Skills and processes, where the company beats rivals; the link to lasting advantage.
Corporate Branding Model	Corporate Culture	Shared, unwritten beliefs, values and ways to behave.
De Chernatony Brand Identity Model	Culture	The artefacts, values and assumptions of a company, which steer staff behaviour, above all in new situations.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Competences	The company's ability to combine resources so that the brand matches what the market asks for.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Origin	Origin as the foundation of identity, narrower than history.	Pick the origin to stress, not the whole history.
Brand Gestalt Model	Pedigree	The founding story and the myths told about the brand.	Write down the founding story.
Brand Identity Canvas	Stories	The legends the company wants to start and the stories it will tell.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Culture	Country image, history, traditions and values as the brand's culture.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Culture	Internal attitudes and ways of working, which shape how responsible the organisation appears.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Competences	Strengths and resources turned into processes that add value.
Genetic Code of the Brand	Genetic Building Blocks	Strengths delivered repeatedly over many years, each with its effect for customers.	List strengths proven over years, with their effect for customers.
Personal Branding Canvas	Competence	Abilities, contacts and skills of the person.
Sector Brand Identity Model	Country of Origin	Whether exported products reflect traits of their country.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Strengths	The brand's actual strengths, the first test of a positioning.	Claim only actual strengths.
TBA Branding Model	Internal Culture and Values	The company's inner values and culture, which steer what it does.

Difference and Proof

Where the brand claims expertise, what it promises, how it differs from rivals and what proves the claim. 4 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Proof is something the brand already has: For Aaker, proof points are skills and programmes already in place that make the promise deliverable. Dentsu asks what the brand does or what technology it has to be trusted, and the MarkenWesen model pairs the benefit with a support that says why the brand is able to deliver it.
The promise sits between customer wishes and rival offers: Brandcom wants it broad enough to cover every product, yet sharp enough to stand alone. Helder writes it as an equation: customer problem plus brand solution gives customer success. Wiehrdt asks that it solve an important problem in a way competitors cannot, and the Brand Thinking Canvas places the promises as an outer ring around vision, mission and values.
One point of difference, or several: Helder asks for the single most distinctive trait, the brand's superpower, and Unilever's discriminator for the real difference from other brands. TAIKN lists several differentiators, each of which must be real and noticeable in content. Brandcom adds that when the product hardly differs, the story can make the difference, and Houraghan builds difference from the openings rivals left.
Owning an occasion helps and limits: Aaker notes that owning one use works well for positioning, but a brand bound too closely to one occasion may find it hard to attract buyers for other ones. Centenaro names the arena in which a person wants to compete and be seen.

What this suggests for a planning model: write the promise as one sentence that covers all products and excludes rivals, name one main difference that is real and noticeable, and list only proof that already exists.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Brand Identity Planning Model	Uses	Owning a use helps positioning, but too tight a tie limits other uses.	Weigh the gain and the limit of owning one occasion.
Brand Key	Reasons to Believe	Reasons the target group can believe the brand is best, usable in communication and shown at moments of contact.	Arrange moments of contact as proof.
Brand Key	Discriminator	The real difference from other brands, the one most compelling reason to choose it.
Brand Vision Model	Proof Points	Skills and programmes already in place that show the promise can be kept.	List only proof the brand already has.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Core: Promise and Core Values	Core values that lead up to a promise, which guides inside and is communicated outside.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	What, How, Why	Sinek's three circles; the what is the core business for the coming five years.
Brand Frame	Mission	The promise written as an equation of problem, solution and success.	Write the promise as problem plus solution equals success.
Brand Frame	Brand Core	The brand's superpower: its single most distinctive trait.
Brand Gestalt Model	Promise	A relevant value that solves an important problem in a way rivals cannot.
Brand Thinking Canvas	Brand Promises	What the brand commits to deliver to its audiences, a ring around the core.	Give each audience its own promise.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Brand Core: Promise and Core Values	A promise plus the core values behind it, a hub linked to all other elements.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Base of Authority	What the brand does or what technology it has that earns trust.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Forge Your Differentiation Strategy	Working the openings rivals left into ideas for standing out.	Look for the gaps rivals left.
Personal Branding Canvas	Credibility	Facts showing why the person can be trusted.
Personal Branding Canvas	Arena	The area in which the person wants to compete and be seen.
Personal Branding Canvas	Promise	What is in it for the audience.
Personal Branding Canvas	Identity	What makes the person unique.
Personal Branding Canvas	Positioning	How the person differs from others, and whether that is clear.
Place Brand Identity Model	Distinguishing Preferences	Attractions or attributes that set the destination apart.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Benefit Promise	The exact benefit the brand promises, clear for stakeholders.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Differentiation	How the brand differs in content, really and noticeably.	Test the difference: is it real and noticeable?
The Brand Canvas Model	Brand Promise	The core link between brand and product, placed between customer wishes and rival offers.	Test the promise: does it cover all products and exclude rivals?
The Brand Canvas Model	Story / Differentiation	The story behind the brand, which can carry the difference when the product hardly differs.	Use the story when the product is alike.

Customer Benefits

What customers gain from the brand: practical advantages, feelings and the full set of benefits taken together. 3 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Benefits form a ladder: De Chernatony's pyramid climbs from attributes to benefits, emotional rewards and values. Woods calls it a ladder of abstraction that runs from feature via rational to emotional benefit, and Biddle requires that the attributes below make each benefit possible. A benefit without a feature beneath it is a claim without cover.
The difference lies in the feelings, yet many stop before them: Woods observes that most startups stop short of emotional benefits and sees them as the biggest chance to differ. Esch notes that customers often give psychosocial benefits more weight. Drömann finds that the Bates wheel names only practical benefits and that its values ring describes the image, not the identity. Biddle insists on feeling words.
There are more than two kinds: Unilever and Esch split benefits into functional and psychosocial. Aaker adds self-expressive benefits, Akutsu and Ishida let people stage self-expression, and Wilensky treats a fair price as an economic benefit. Urde and Greyser want the value proposition to win over stakeholders who do not buy.
The benefit belongs to the brand, not to one product: The MarkenWesen model names the benefit that the whole brand gives, not single products. Wolff Olins describes it as what the user does and how that changes their life.

What this suggests for a planning model: build the benefits as a ladder from feature to rational, emotional and self-expressive benefit for the brand as a whole, written in plain and feeling words, and include people who do not buy.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Functional Benefits (Beneficios Funcionales)	Meeting needs through what the product does; owning a vital benefit becomes an advantage.
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Emotional Benefits (Beneficios Emocionales)	Feelings, desires and pleasant experiences; with rational benefits they make a brand strong.
Anatomy of Brand Identity	Appeal (Atractivo)	What draws people: benefits from the product and from the consumer.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Value Proposition	Functional, emotional and self-expressive benefit, named in the figure but not defined.	Add self-expressive benefits.
Brand Key	Benefits	The brand's benefits, functional or psychosocial.
Brand Steering Wheel	Brand Benefits	Functional or psychosocial benefits; the psychosocial ones often weigh more.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Value Proposition	Appealing arguments meant to build relationships, purchases and reputation.
Brand Essence Wheel	Benefits	Only the functional benefit; social or emotional benefits remain unclear.
Brand Essence Wheel	Values	Emotional values users link to the brand, which belong to the image rather than the identity.	Keep wanted feelings apart from the measured image.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Brand Value Proposition	The value only this brand gives, with emotional and functional sides.
Brand Onion	Benefits	The practical and emotional outcomes of the attributes.
Branding for Builders	Customer Benefit	The way the product helps customers; this answer moves into the pyramid.
Branding for Builders	Product Benefits	How the product makes lives better; the attributes must make it possible.	Check that each benefit has an attribute behind it.
Branding for Builders	Emotional Benefits	How customers feel when expectations are beaten, said in feeling words.	Write emotional benefits in feeling words.
Context Branding Model	Benefits	Layered benefits: functional, pleasant feelings and self-expression.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Value Proposition	What wins customers and stakeholders who do not buy, backed by competences.	Include benefits for people who do not buy.
De Chernatony Brand Pyramid	Benefits	What the attributes achieve for the consumer, leading on to emotional rewards.
De Chernatony Brand Pyramid	Emotional Rewards	The step from benefits to values.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Functional Benefit	The practical value that matches what users expect.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Emotional Benefit	The feeling and sensory value, part of the second message layer.
Minimum Viable Brand	What Can You Do	What the user does with the product and how it changes their life.	Describe the benefit as what the user can now do.
Minimum Viable Brand	How It Will Feel	How using the brand should feel.
Place Brand Identity Model	Functional Value	One of the two core values through which the identity keeps the promise.
Place Brand Identity Model	Emotional Value	One of the two core values through which the identity keeps the promise.
Place Brand Identity Model	Benefits	The rewards people expect from a destination, practical or psychological.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Rational Benefits	What the features mean for customers, the first step on the ladder.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Emotional Benefits	The higher-order payoff where most stop and where the most difference lies.	Do not stop at rational benefits.

Personality and Relationship

The brand as a person: its character, the people who embody it and the role it plays toward its customers. 3 elements.

What the Models Teach[...]

Personality is the source of voice and conduct: TAIKN bases the tone of communication on the personality, Woods lets it guide tone and voice, and Gramco fixes it as a guide to behaviour. Houraghan adds archetype, personality and voice up to one character that shows at every touchpoint. Brandcom notes that the design shapes it, yet it deserves a description of its own.
The brand's character is not the customer's: Kapferer warns against confusing the brand's personality as sender with the reflected customer. Urde notes that a product brand's personality tends to be tied to how its users are seen. For places, Konečnik Ruzzier's place model draws the personality from the people who live the brand, and Burmann sees it shaped by typical representatives and origin.
Define it by its limits: Whitlock lists antonyms, the traits the brand avoids, so that a wanted trait does not come across as an unwanted one. Dvornechuck adds what the brand loves and hates, and Knapp places it between extremes such as playful and serious. Simple tests help: Biddle's cocktail party guest, Whitlock's friend, Brandcom's form of address.
The relationship is a way of acting: Kapferer sees it as the conduct by which the brand is best identified, important above all for services, banks and retailers. Aaker gives the brand a human role such as friend or adviser. De Chernatony puts staff at the centre of relationships, and Urde wants the conduct to match the culture.

What this suggests for a planning model: describe the personality with traits, antonyms and a role toward customers, derive voice and staff conduct from it, and name the people who embody it.

Model	What the Originator Calls It	What the Author Means	Inspiration
Brand Identity Planning Model	Personality	Personality shown through look, voice and advertising, which lets customers express themselves.
Brand Identity Planning Model	Brand–Customer Relationships	A human role the brand plays, such as friend, family member or adviser.	Name the role the brand plays.
Brand Identity Prism	Personality	The character built by how the brand talks; the brand as sender, not the reflected customer.	Keep the brand's character apart from the customer's.
Brand Identity Prism	Relationship	The mode of conduct, especially important for services.
Brand Key	Values & Personality	Values and personality the brand should appeal to, best shown rather than stated.
Brand Steering Wheel	Brand Tonality	The emotions the brand should trigger, captured among other ways through its personality.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Personality	The human traits of the company's character; a product brand's personality is linked to its users.
Corporate Brand Identity Matrix	Relationships	How the company serves and relates to customers, matching its culture.
Corporate Branding Model	Personality Traits	The traits and behaviour of the organisation viewed as a person.
De Chernatony Brand Identity Model	Personality	A metaphor for emotional values, growing from core values and positioning.
De Chernatony Brand Identity Model	Relationships	Relationships defined by the brand's values, with staff at the centre.	Cover relations among staff too.
Identity-Based Brand Management	Brand Personality	Human traits that fit and matter for brands, shaped by typical representatives and origin.	Name who represents the brand.
Three-Hour Brand Sprint	Personality Sliders	Four scales between extremes for attitude and style.	Place the character between opposite poles.
Brand Essence Wheel	Personality	The human character consumers give the brand, which strengthens their bond.
Brand Gestalt Model	Personality	The personality the brand should radiate, for bond, difference and consistency.
Brand Identity Canvas	Characteristics	The core traits of the brand; the friend test.
Brand Identity Canvas	Antonyms	What the brand is not, so that a wanted trait is not read the wrong way.	List the traits the brand avoids.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Personality	Tone and human traits that people recognise, kept consistent.
Brand Identity Canvas (Alves)	Relationship	Fan communities, dialogue, events and co-creation that deepen attachment.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Personality	Personal traits of the brand, onto which consumers project their wishes.
Brand Identity Formation Model	Relationships	The way the brand acts, delivers service and relates to consumers.
Brand One / Gramco Brand Model	Personality	A character that overlaps with the organisation's culture and guides behaviour.
Brand Onion	Personality	How the brand would behave as a person: tone, style and character.
Brand Orientation and Brand Hexagon	Personality	The brand's human side, offering a relationship no other brand gives.
Branding for Builders	Personality	What a party guest should say after meeting the product.	Ask what a guest should say after meeting the brand.
Context Branding Model	Personality	A key part of identity, image and communication, the only one with its own chapter.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Personality	The human traits of the corporate brand, inside and outside at once.
Corporate Brand Identity and Reputation Matrix	Relationships	The relationship the organisation wants with its key customers and with non-buying stakeholders.
De Chernatony Brand Pyramid	Personality Traits	Values showing as traits at the top; a metaphor that pulls the levels together.
Dentsu Honeycomb Model	Personality	The sort of person the brand would make; the third message layer.
Ebaqdesign 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework	Brand Personality	A primary and a secondary archetype plus what the brand loves and hates.	Add what the brand loves and hates.
MarkenWesen Model	Values & Character	The brand's emotional side: values and character.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Align Your Brand Archetype	Reading the audience's type and shaping a personality that attracts it.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Shape Your Brand Personality Strategy	Opinions on industry, world and life that fill in the archetype.
PRO Brand Strategy Framework	Uncover Your Human Brand Persona	Archetype, personality and voice as one character, shown at every touchpoint.
Place Brand Identity Model	Personality	A destination's personality, which depends on the people who live the brand.	Draw the personality from the people behind the brand.
Sector Brand Identity Model	Personality	Personality traits of the sector brand.
Six-Station Corporate Identity Model	Head Station	Mission, vision, values, leadership and board as the head station.	Count leaders and the board as faces of the brand.
TAIKN Brand Identity and Management Model	Brand Personality	The basis for the tone, measured inside and outside with Jennifer Aaker's items.	Measure the personality inside and outside.
TBA Branding Model	Personality	How the brand speaks and behaves toward others, in style and tone.
The Brand Canvas Model	Brand Personality	How the brand behaves, for instance close or distant, casual or formal; the form of address is a test.	Test with the form of address.
The Brand Strategy Canvas	Brand Personality	The outward expression of the values, guiding tone and voice.

What the Originators Themselves Keep Together
A Few Hard Facts From the Models

The sorting rests on the explanations of the elements. The models themselves offer one more, much narrower kind of evidence: how their originators group their own elements. Kapferer puts physique and personality on the sender side, Aaker groups elements under the brand as product, organisation, person and symbol, Esch separates hard facts from soft facts. Most of these groupings are containers such as core, inner ring or phase two and say little about meaning. But where every model that carries two elements puts them into the same group, that is worth stating. The table lists these pairs; only pairs that at least four models carry are shown. Two of them cross the categories found here: the guiding philosophy and the brand culture, and the brand values and the brand promise. The originators keep them together; the sorting by meaning puts them into different categories.

Element	Element	Models That Carry Both	Of These, Same Group
Brand Purpose	Brand Vision	6	6 of 6
Functional Benefit	Emotional Benefit	6	6 of 6
Guiding Philosophy	Brand Culture	4	4 of 4
Brand Values	Brand Promise	4	4 of 4

Compared With the Canvas
Where the Emergent Categories and the Canvas Blocks Cut Differently

The table places every category against the blocks of the Brand-Building Canvas. An element is listed under the Canvas block where the Elements page finds it, fully or in part; elements the Canvas has no field for are listed under Not in the Canvas.

Purpose and Direction is the Canvas block Brand Vision. Audiences and Self-Image is the block Brand Customers, with key stakeholders as an addition.
The block Brand Offering splits into four categories: Offer and Products (what the brand sells), Customer Benefits (what customers gain), Difference and Proof (why they should choose it and believe it) and, with competences and proven strengths, Organisation and Roots. The price and quality tier has no field in the Canvas. The emotional benefit sits in Brand Customers in the Canvas, as part of the brand-related self.
Values and Stance and Organisation and Roots both draw on the Canvas element Brand Culture. The sorting separates what the brand believes from what the company is and can do. Rallying cause, heritage and origin have no field in the Canvas.
Personality and Relationship merges the Canvas element Brand Persona with the block Brand Relationship: the sorting reads the relationship as part of the brand's character.
The category Brand Expression joins the Canvas blocks Brand Expression and Key Touchpoints and takes three elements from other blocks: the narrative and corporate behaviour from Brand Character and the voice from Brand Relationship. The line between design and communication runs between signs and words: the voice and the verbal identity belong to communication, logo, colours and objects to design.
Brand Essence stands above the categories here and has its own block 08 in the Canvas; on this point the sorting and the Canvas agree.

Emergent Category	01 Brand Vision	02 Brand Offering	03 Brand Customers	04 Brand Character	05 Brand Relationship	06 Key Touchpoints	07 Brand Expression
Brand Expression				Brand Narrative, Corporate Behaviour	Brand Voice	Brand Experience, Branded Spaces and Events, Key Touchpoints	Brand Name, Tagline, Verbal Identity, Key Messages, Distinctive Brand Assets, Brand Artifacts
Purpose and Direction	Guiding Philosophy, Brand Purpose, Brand Mission, Brand Vision, Brand Ambition
Offer and Products		Product Scope, Product Attributes, Price and Quality Tier					Product and Service Design
Audiences and Self-Image			Target Customers, Key Stakeholders, Prototypical User, Brand-Related Self, Brand Community
Values and Stance	Rallying Cause			Brand Values, Social Responsibility, Brand Point of View
Organisation and Roots		Brand Competences, Proven Strengths		Brand Culture, Brand Heritage, Brand Origin
Difference and Proof	Brand Promise	Reasons to Believe, Frame of Reference, Key Differentiator
Customer Benefits		Functional Benefits, Value Proposition	Emotional Benefit
Personality and Relationship				Brand Persona, Brand Face	Brand Relationship

Method
What Was Done, Step by Step

Input: the 47 brand identity elements from the Elements page with their explanations. Each rests on at least one element of the 51 models; the list and its sources are documented on the Elements page.
Sorting: three blind card-sorting rounds, same input in a different order each time, no Canvas blocks, a range of six to ten categories; each round documented categories, definitions and borderline cases.
Level: each element marked as content or as summary of the whole identity; Brand Essence, the only summary, stands above the categories.
Consensus: for every pair of elements, count how many of the three rounds put them together; merge elements step by step into categories as long as the average agreement inside a category stays at two of three or more (hierarchical clustering with average linkage). Names chosen afterwards from the names given in the rounds.
Fit check: every element checked against its category definition using the definitions of the model elements; two groups merged, one group dissolved into another, one element moved, all with reasons.
Originator groups: for every pair of elements, the models with a group structure that carry both were counted, and those that put both into the same group; the table shows pairs that every such model keeps together, with at least four models.
What the models teach: for each category, the definitions of its model elements were read side by side to find where the models agree, differ or add something new.
Limits: a sorting by meaning is a judgement, and three rounds are a small number; borderline elements are marked by low agreement. Counts of models favour ideas that many derivative models repeat.

Status: 28 October 2026. Part of the Brand Identity Model Atlas by Klaus Heine. The elements and their sources are documented on the page Elements of Brand Identity Planning Models.

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.