What Makes a Good (Brand) Architect?

In a minute, I'll share some thoughts on how to build or rebuild a good brand architecture. But for now, let's look at what makes a good architect.

I’ll bet at one point, many people thought – however briefly – that being an architect would be a cool job. I know I did, even growing up in the architectural wasteland of central Massachusetts. I remember “designing” a round school building in fifth grade, distinguished only by its shape, but at least it was different.

I’ve since learned what it means to be a good architect. Their training includes a wide variety of disciplines I hadn’t expected, but now makes perfect sense.

They learn how a structure not only needs to fulfill a purpose, but also how it must communicate that purpose. They learn how a structure needs to acknowledge its environment, and maybe even set itself apart from it. They’re also constrained by space, of course. And they have to know a lot of technical stuff – concepts like load, circulation, massing and some pretty hardcore engineering principles.

And then there’s the art of architecture. The creativity and vision. Defining an identity for the structure that supersedes its physical form.

Frank Gehry said, “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.”

Okay, now it’s time to take the not-so-great-leap to brand architecture.

Brand architecture is how a company “structures” its various brands, sub-brands and product or service names. Like the architecture ideas above, a brand architecture needs to not only fulfill a purpose – in this case, a strategic business purpose – but it must communicate that purpose.

And it only has a certain amount of space. And it must acknowledge its surroundings --- whether immediate (such as a website or trade show booth) or global (such as the competitive environment).

It’s got to anticipate its “load” – some brands have a dizzying array of acquisitions, sub-brands and product names. And it’s got to figure out if everything’s under the same roof, or whether a looser set of buildings makes more sense.

And like Frank Gehry said, it’s got to solve today’s problems while “yearn for timelessness.” Trust me, you don’t want to re-do your brand architecture very often.

And like I learned in fifth grade, there’s no one way to design a school. There’s no “right” or “wrong” brand architecture. The right one is the one that fulfills your business strategy while making sure you don’t confuse the hell out of your customers.

I won’t lay out the different kinds of brand architectures here. There are a few – the branded house, the house of brands, endorsed brands and others. Start a conversation with your favorite chatbot if you’d like the full panoply of varieties. But if it starts spewing out terms like Doric and Italianate, give it a moment to de-hallucinate.

What’s the best way to take a fresh look at your current brand architecture (or prepare for new brand acquisitions or sub-brands)? I’d suggest asking a few questions:

1)    How related are the various entities to each other? I’d argue that entities that have the exact same customers should have a cozier brand architecture than those that have entirely different customer sets.

2)    How familiar is the parent company to customers? And by familiar, I don’t mean having high awareness. “Familiar” in this case means the customer knows what the brand stands for, how it positions itself to its customers, and what makes it stand out.

3)    How much of its own space does a particular entity need? Will they get into a fight if put in the same room? If you’re smiling at that, you’ve helped inform the brand architecture immensely.

4)    What are your marketing resources? Maintaining and promoting a large number of brands or sub-brands is expensive. Think of all the social media sites, campaigns, and all the other things that will keep your creatives working past midnight to keep up with.

5)    Is there “bridge” strategy that allows you to gradually bring an acquired brand into the fold without getting its customers all worried. There are architectures that can help with this kind of strategy.

Brand architecture is an art and a science. But above all its something that understands your customers and what they need.

I guess any architect will tell you that.