What brand management needs to consider in digital ecosystems

Only when the structure of your portfolio is set up optimally can strategic alignment, offering and communication work synergistically. If you take this further, you will create a digital ecosystem with which you can win over customers in the long term through intelligent applications and services with added value beyond your industry.

1. digitalization increases complexity

Classic brand architecture deals with the interaction between all of a company's brands. An overall construct is developed that regulates the roles, graphic appearances and relationships between the brands. The levels are structured vertically from the umbrella brand (Group) to the product brand (service or performance). A distinction is made between individual brands and multi-brand portfolios, with the aim of optimally serving the respective market.

Due to digitalization, the number of brand touchpoints has grown and the needs and expectations of users have changed. Differentiation and relevance are built up by addressing the user individually. From a marketing and sales perspective, the opportunities for cross-connections are increasing exponentially.

Patrick Wachner

2. the interface is the brand

The boundary between functional and information-providing digital product is blurred. Behind every user account there are numerous product brands, functions and offers. The differentiation levels merge at the user interface. In this sense, the interface becomes the defining brand moment. Consistent brand management across all touchpoints down to the functional level of digital services is a challenge for many companies due to organically grown structures. In order to maintain an overview, we analyze the status quo of all touchpoints in terms of content, structure and visuals as part of brand audits.

3. user first organization

When the interface is the brand, the organizational model also changes. There is no longer an offline business - the success of a brand in the digital age is largely determined by how user-centric it is, i.e. how easily its products or services work and how clearly it communicates.

According to Aaron Shapiro (Huge.inc), every company is surrounded by a software layer. Similar to a planet and its atmosphere. This layer forms the interface through which everyone interacts with the company. Every company is faced with the step of adapting its internal structure to the digital context. The most successful companies in the digital economy are consistently aligning their entire processes and structures with the new user behavior, thereby securing a decisive market advantage.

4. form and function become one

To ensure that digital innovations are not implemented as isolated solutions, the entire brand portfolio must be consolidated step by step. Only a new structure creates the conditions for a sustainable digital ecosystem to emerge. Starting with the brands, we first follow the classic process of building a brand architecture.

A. - The first step is to define the hierarchy levels, i.e. to work out a specific architectural logic. This involves recording the entire brand portfolio and setting up a logical, brand-independent hierarchy from the user's perspective. How many levels are currently available? How many are necessary - from the Group level to the function of individual digital products?

B. - In a second step, functions / brand roles are defined. All existing brands (services and products) are consolidated and assigned to the respective hierarchy levels. The necessity of each individual brand is decided according to relevance and differentiation.

C. - Once the brand levels and roles have been defined, the visual form needs to be clarified. The brands are weighted on the basis of their differentiation (visual / verbal) and the appearance of each individual brand is decided.

5 Connecting Experience and Architecture

Digitalization, understood as social innovation, offers opportunities for every brand. With this in mind, we have developed a model that combines classic brand architecture with user centricity. All analog and digital products and services are formed into a target image. Each hierarchy level has defined specifications as to how much leeway is possible in brand management within a level. This ensures that the respective roles and functions of the brands are optimally aligned.

The Elevate Brandframe® model combines the effectiveness of the single-brand strategy with the flexibility of the multi-brand portfolio as required, without losing sight of the overall picture from the user's perspective - from the brand hierarchy to the digital ecosystem.