The brand architecture is one of the fundamental pillars of the brand strategy, through its development it is possible to facilitate decision-making, promote the growth of a company and create business opportunities.
WE REFER TO THE CLIENTS’ SEEK ON STRATEGIC ADVICE ON HOW TO ORGANIZE THE DIFFERENT BRANDS THEY OWN, AS “BRAND ARCHITECTURE”.
The brand architecture is one of the fundamental pillars of the brand strategy and its objective is to define the structure of a brand portfolio, establish the relationships and interactions between the sub-brands and the parent brand.
The reasons why it is important to define a brand architecture can vary between internal structuring reasons or external brand perceptions.
For instance, a company may seek to restructure its brand portfolio to discover synergies that present cross-selling opportunities and find a more efficient way to structure its organization. In another case, a company may have observed that its customers express great confusion about its wide range of products on the market and the value proposition of each one, so it would seek to simplify the offer, eliminate duplicates and redirect efforts in order to strengthen the prevailing brands. The list of business solutions that a brand architecture can offer is extensive.
Brand architecture can also be a growth enabler for a company, as it can make existing brands more relevant, business operations more efficient, and at the same time provide clear guidelines for the development of new brands. But only a well defined and executed brand architecture can have an impact on an organization.
How do we build an effective brand architecture?
In the first place, we must consider the moment in which a portfolio restructuring is convenient. Times of corporate transformation are great to start a brand architecture project, taking advantage of the momentum and enthusiasm that transformations bring. It is the right time to assess the feeling, both internal and external, of people towards brands and understand how they relate to them.
Secondly, we must ensure that the brand architecture is rooted in the business strategy, following its purpose and vision, always with great clarity about the objectives that the company wants to achieve in the short, medium and long term.
Thirdly, the right people must be engaged: those who consume the products or purchase the services, those who are involved in operations as a matter of course, those who know the big picture, and those who make the final decision.
Finally, it is important to take the time to evaluate all the possible scenarios and the different factors that affect each one, since there will be some important decisions that will have to be made that may potentially impact the company’s commercial strategy.
By defining a brand architecture, we manage to reduce inefficiencies, facilitate decision-making, generate economies of scale, promote company growth and create business opportunities. Defining a brand architecture implies a lot of work and can be a complex process, but it is a long-term investment that can multiply a company’s assets and extract greater value from its initiatives.
How did the INNOVANT Brand Architecture come about and how has it helped us grow?
1. 2020: 180 degree turn
In 2020, with the arrival of the pandemic and a slight growth of iTranscend Solutions (name of the company at the time) and after several years of work; Eduardo Cuñarro and Ignacio Rohr, both partners in the company, decided to make a 180-degree turn to start working on the brand and marketing with a holistic business strategy and thus focus on the US and European markets.
Once this decision has been made, Marta, a business consultant and brand and marketing specialist, joins the company to lead this transformation and, after an initial diagnosis, proposes to change the name and create the corresponding corporate identity to focus on this new stage.
After going through the naming process with a long list of 150 names resulting from a creative catharsis and a short list of 8 that were much more in line with the image that the company wanted to convey, the name chosen was INNOVANT.
In order to start with the branding process, we made an initial brief and decided that the brand had to transmit innovation, dynamism, elegance, maturity, strength and timelessness, and for this we decided to build 5 versions of the brand in order to have diversity in the applications of the same.
In November 2020 we presented the INNOVANT brand to the entire team and in December we carried out the external launch; website and social networks.
2. 2021: Growth
In 2021, thanks to all the branding and marketing efforts that began at the end of 2020, the company grew by 304%. What did this involve? It implied that the brand had to be rethought and capture all the needs that had arisen.
These processes are usually carried out every 3 years to keep up to date with aesthetic and digital evolution, as well as with the growth and change needs of companies, but in our case such was the growth and change that we had the need to do it early 2022.
3. 2022: INNOVANT brand expansion
First of all, as in every stage of change, the question “What do we want to be?” arose, and given that, and with extensive research in brand conceptualization, we found that:
The pandemic created a pause in the economy and an opportunity to reexamine our assumptions about the way businesses operate. There is a new and broader awareness of people and businesses. The person in the center, the well-being in the center, a rethinking of how we live life, how we work, and how we decide to spend our time.
We are witnessing substantial changes in what society expects of companies and brands (and most likely also) changes in what companies expect of themselves.
Increasingly, leaders agree that short-term, profit-driven thinking must be replaced by long-term, people-centered, purpose-driven thinking. We read and repeat (convinced) that this is the route not only to corporate success, but also the way to address the climate emergency, the ever-increasing inequality, the pandemic and other social challenges.
In short: we are seeing a historic moment to redesign an economy that is more consistent with basic human values. Unlock the resources needed to be part of an inclusive, with low-carbon emissions, purpose-driven economy, guided by the pursuit of long-term well-being for all in an equitable, flourishing and resilient economy. Hi future.
For this reason, the objectives of change and expansion that we proposed were:
- Present INNOVANT from the heart.
- Propose the idea “INNOVANT Believe” the company’s environmental-humanitarian action platform.
- Inspire.
- Lead with eco-social empathy.
What sub-brands emerged as a result of brand conceptualization?
- INNOVANT Believe: The company’s environmental-humanitarian action platform.
- INNOVANT Culture: Department to promote and foster our commitment to culture.
- INNOVANT Benefits: Benefit plan for our collaborators.
- INNOVANT Career Path: Personalized personal and professional growth plan for team members.
- INNOBAND: It is “the dimension of the talent” that represents the employer brand and the bond with our collaborators.
- NEWSLETTERINN: It is the official communication that we have with our audience as an employer brand and with our collaborators.
- INNOVANT #DayExperience: It is a typology of motivational events of the company made to encourage teamwork and the experience that our collaborators have with the brand.
How was the brand architecture made so that each sub-brand had coherence as a whole and independently?
After this, we share the timeline of decisions that were made and actions that were carried out with respect to the brand since its launch in 2020 and how it is possible to develop a good brand architecture, always keeping in mind the needs and KPIs outlined in the Business Plan of the company.
What will the rest of the year and 2023 hold for us?
We are sure that very good things!
If you have an idea in mind and you don’t know how to carry it out, contact us at info@innovant.us and we will be happy to help you.
