The job of a brand architect can be compared to the job of a closet organizer, and by that, I don’t mean someone who organizes in secret, I mean an organizer of closets. Both jobs bring order to chaos, throwing out anything that’s no longer useful and developing a system for keeping things in check and off the floor.
Let’s explore this analogy. What guidance does it gives us about when you should be assessing your brand architecture?
The Spring Clean: Stuff accumulates. You buy things, wear them once or twice, then never again. But you keep them just in case. Every so often you need a purge. You need to throw things out so you can simplify your life and focus on the things that are really important. Same thing for brands and products—over time, more and more skus, line extensions, ingredient brands etc. are added, all chasing some growth opportunity or business plan objective. Eventually it’s time to wield the axe and discontinue stuff. It can be painful but the end result will be a streamlined portfolio of products, costing less to manage and market, contributing more than the bloated portfolio was doing before.
Too many shoes: Some people think you can never have too many shoes. Some people think that you can never have too many branded features. Closet organizers and brand architects beg to differ. Pick the best ones, dump the rest. Companies that have no control over the branding process end up with everything branded; every pet project, every undifferentiated feature, every notice that’s posted on the board—a veritable blizzard of branding and trademarks. At some point the madness must be stopped or the few things that actually deserve to be branded will be buried by everything else that doesn’t.
The Marriage: The happiest of times but one with logistical challenges. How to fit both parties possessions under one roof? In a real marriage, of course, there has to be compromise and sharing. Not so much in the world of business where, in mergers and acquisitions, compromise and fairness don’t necessarily lead to the best answer. It may be better for one brand to completely take over the other. Still, even in the world of M&A, the brand equity of the assets of both companies must be taken into account to develop a brand architecture that maximizes the value of the combined entity.
Family discord: How much time and energy is wasted over unresolved territorial disputes about where to put things or which things should have priority? When different people with a vote (heads of different divisions, for example) are not aligned over branded priorities (house of brands vs. branded house) and are making brand architecture decisions pulling in different directions, it’s time to take a step back and maybe bring in some professional help.
The New House: Time to move house! What closets does it already have, what needs to be built? Brand architecture is often a necessary part of an overall brand relaunch. It serves the purpose of describing the territory of the brand, a critical element for positioning the brand.
The New Job: You have a new job, you need a new set of clothes. Sometimes brand strategy is slow to adapt to new business realities, holding companies back from pursuing new markets and new growth opportunities. When brands are getting in the way of business rather than helping guide them in the right direction, it’s time for a rethink. Brand architecture provides the context for considering the launch of new brands or sub-brands that may unblock the path to growth.
A final similarity—for closet organizers and brand architects, the work is never done and constant vigilance is needed. There are always better ways to organize, more things to throw out and someone around the house or the company who is going to break the rules and mess things up. Never let your guard down!
The Blake Project Can Help: The Brand Architecture Workshop
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education
