Beyond the models; the real intent of architecture

Esther Hastings
Strategy Partner

What do you think of when you think of brand architecture?

I’m betting it’s that chart. 3 different models? Going from Branded house to house of brands? Handy ‘doesn’t quite fit’ hybrid option in the middle? I’d guess that the second thing that comes to mind is a lengthy bit of theoretical deliberation and deep thought. An academic pursuit that results in a categorical system, with everything neatly in a place and ‘finished’. There’s a reason those are the things that come to mind, because they are, unfortunately present in a lot of brand architecture projects out there. But for us they obscure the real intent of architecture. Every Forbes article will tell you that Brand architecture is 4 or 5 models – because outwardly when you look, most brands find themselves—broadly —in one of those configurations.

But these are solutions. Blunt, reductive tools that belie architecture’s real potential.
Great brand architectures intention is to seek to solve problems. External, commercial problems like how to arrange your portfolio to unlock future revenue and profit, or how to compete and win in a crowded or consolidating market.

And internal, cultural challenges like how to give people clarity and pride in where they belong in the organisation, or how to find unity of purpose in a fragmented portfolio group that has grown by acquisition.

Great architecture is designed with intent to drive action. It’s not something done for its own sake. It’s a tool that helps us actively, consciously change how people think, feel or behave. It’s a tool that helps us design better behaviours.

And as such it should be judged in its effectiveness to drive changes not models.

It’s practical. It is often simpler than tearing the existing structure down and starting from scratch (though that is often useful). In today’s lightning speed world, great brand architecture needs to be about prioritising the ‘fixes’ that will get you into action as fast as possible. So you can start to reap the rewards of those changes. It’s projective. An exercise that’s as much about strategic inspiration as logical rationalisation, that asks how it can open future opportunity as much as how it can order and organise the now. It’s our opportunity to rehearse the future; a solution for tomorrow that we get to put into play today.

It’s creative. More than a rational ‘filing’ exercise of products and services, it’s an exercise in communication of what you stand for. Where your brand idea is baked in, not bolted on. And crucially it’s always on. Those static models can make you believe there is an answer. To life the universe and everything. (it’s 42 by the way). But the truth is that really there is no finish line; for as long as you have an innovation pipeline, competitors, customers, you have a need to have an eye on your architecture. Your architecture, like your brand needs to be plugged into category and culture, reflective of and responsive to the world around it. It’s agile. Essentially architecture should be considered to be always in beta. And for us that’s the joy – it’s the rational satisfaction of creating a system that works for the now, but it’s the creative exhilaration of imagining an opportunity that will shape a future in flux. It’s the ability to design better futures for our brands.