The Brand System Framework
The reputational brand system runs throughout the organization and extends from its central hub, i.e., headquarters, to the furthest reaches of its most distant outpost. It functions (not always harmoniously) by dint of a diverse universe of people who are asked to give all to a unifying purpose even as they are hemmed in by policies, administrivia, and resource constraints and beset by unreasonable customers, demanding bosses, and mercurial coworkers (the brand playbook leaves all that to the “see ‘Leadership’” footnote).
Despite those fluctuating headwinds, to the extent the brand system assumes a recognizable structure it does so largely through the organizational framework. The details of this framework matter for brand discovery and development, and especially for brand differentiation and performance. The difficulty lies in finding the brand signal through the noise of organizational effluvia.
Most brand-attentive organizations have invested considerable money, time, and energy to arrive at their brand (trade name and logo) and the larger brand platform. They may have engaged brand agencies or consultants to conduct customer, market, and employee research; perform competitive analysis; and create the brand mark, identity system, positioning, and associated brand infrastructure. Internal teams will have exerted a similar amount of energy, if not more, while also assuming the ongoing responsibility of brand stewardship.
Certainly, brands of newly established organizations require an exhaustive process of discovery, design, and codification as part of building awareness, mobilizing culture, and, over time, increasing brand equity. Sometimes, established organizations must refresh or realign their brands following changes to their value proposition, whether as the result of acquisitions or other transformative shifts.
Whatever the approach to brand and branding may be, there is an inherent sequence to the overall brand development or repositioning process. Ideally, the brand journey starts with an understanding of the hoped-for value an organization offers to the world. That value usually comprises something unique, better, or innovative. Value can be manifest in the organization’s products or services. Or, value can derive intrinsically through better ideas or operational methodologies.
However we may identify or interpret our organization’s value paradigm, it serves as the foundational construct for the brand system framework. Value the reason the organization exists, which means it also shapes the fundamental essence of the brand.
Indeed, all that a brand is or will become begins with a central value premise.
The Framework of the Reputational Brand
By now it should be clear that understanding the nature of organizational value is the linchpin of any brand development effort, from which all other brand efforts follow.
These subsequent brand-shaping efforts include identifying the authentic character and hallmarks of the organization’s culture; orienting brand within the organization’s strategy; and securing the operational readiness of the organization. Thus, the brand system framework encompasses four key areas:
Organizational Value — It is essential to know what we are good at and what we aspire to before we can develop a legitimate brand-aware strategy and supportable brand promise. Arriving at the organization’s “central value premise” is key in shaping the subsequent framework components of culture, strategy, and operational priorities. The organization’s core expertise, honed and refined as unique, exceptional, or high-barrier commercial value, forms the foundation of the brand.
Organizational Culture — Fulfilling our brand promise depends on the collective contributions of people and workplace experiences that support their success. Yet, culture is a tricky web of countervailing currents, intensified by the size and convolution of the organization itself. Understanding its complexity helps to manage brand through its most challenging system component, which is the organization’s people. The skills and attributes necessary to achieve unique, exceptional, or high-barrier commercial value governs the nature of the organization’s talent and the society that emerges from that talent.
Organizational Strategy — If we are serious about fulfilling our brand promise, the plans we develop must encompass brand-critical priorities and address gaps in delivering ideal brand experiences. In turn, these plans dictate the necessary competence and character of the organization’s people and sets forth operational imperatives. Strategy is the pragmatic expression of organizational purpose. The organization’s strategy prioritizes and mandates how expertise and talent will deploy.
Operating Culture — Delivering ideal brand experiences requires an integrated and aligned operating culture that’s predicated on defined brand criteria. This brand-oriented operating culture must be supported by an operating system with high-functioning processes, procedures, and technologies that reliably and predictably contribute to ideal brand experiences. The organization’s operational competence determines how effectively expertise, talent, and strategy will align to express unique, exceptional, or high-barrier commercial value.
Certainly, many organizations have succeeded without applying a formal lens to their source of value, the methodology to harness and multiply that value, or the framework that governs value creation.
For example, entrepreneurial visionaries (like Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, or Sam Walton) either intuitively guide or deliberately shape their brands by virtue of their foundational genome. In other words, they supply the DNA of their brands. Their brands, and those of other founders, may not need the strategic and cultural insights that a framework-based brand analysis would provide, even though having one clarifies the reputational brand’s road map.
However, as founders age out, leaders change, or businesses evolve, the organization’s value proposition may also require adjustment or complete overhaul. In this case, overlaying the framework would yield insight for any modifications to the brand-shaping mechanisms of culture, strategy, and operational priorities.
Ultimately, it’s not unusual for nimble organizations to adjust their value proposition from time to time. Responses to market shifts, technological advances, changing customer tastes, emerging competitive threats, and business reprioritizations may require such re-evaluation.
In any event, we shouldn’t presume that brands will find their footing over time or without purposeful effort, expecting that some type of osmosis will reveal the value and values of their organizations. The brand system offers a road map for the reputational brand in a way that accounts more for the organization’s distinctive signature than most brand development strategies and tactics. It’s harder, higher-level work, but it’s a better path toward an authentic brand.