New brand architecture for a fragmented, digital-first world.
Brands are suffering an overpopulation crisis. There are more trademarks in force in the world than individuals in Spain: over 50M. Digital environments make attention fleeting. Awareness is declining. A blizzard of brands is making people snowblind and marketing inefficient. But despite this, many companies retain complicated brand structures – often due to legacy, internal politics, or inertia.
This ain’t the Kansas of “branded house v house of brands” anymore. A new approach is needed. In today’s environment, the job of brand architecture is no longer about building portfolios that align with niche markets, but about maximizing simplicity and accessibility in a fragmented, distracted, digital-first world.
In recent client work, we’ve found there are three essential jobs for brand architecture today.
01. Achieve maximum brand power with minimum elements.
Ask yourself: which of my brands have true recognition and meaning? What could be clustered together or debranded? Which should really be named offerings?
02. Help customers navigate to what they need, with simple signposts under the minimal viable brands.
Ask yourself: is my brand structure organized by customer need, or by my company’s org chart? Are my product names functionally clear or creatively vague?
03. Join the dots.
Are the right connections in place between your offerings? Do they add up to a bigger story or purpose? Do they support each other and make cross-purchasing easy, without abrupt shifts of brand or context?
If your brand architecture starts to do these jobs, it will help your organization become simpler, more human, and more efficient – generating more value through how it shows up in the world.
By Neil Parker
Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Neil is the head of co:’s strategy offering, combining a unique mix of strategy consulting, innovation, and brand creation experience. In the twelve years since co-founding co: he has led brand creation and product launch work with clients such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Capital One, Home Depot, Chewy, MoMA, IBM and LinkedIn. He specializes in building new brands from rigorous strategic analysis that leads to a clear purpose, simple and powerful brand stories, and cut-through creative identities.