Like any architectural space, the first step is to create a vision, one that will drive and influence every other decision made. With brand architecture, the focus is on creating a structure for your brand from which every digital marketing strategy, campaign, and reach opportunity will stem. As a business, it is critical to focus on brand design and strategy as two components that must work together to help your business stand out. How do you achieve this?
In the United Arab Emirates and the broader region, branding is more complex than ever for 2025. It must be an omnichannel experience, one that creates multiple touchpoints for your customers and clients that all unify the experience.
Understanding Brand Architecture
Brand architecture refers to the structure of your brand. Typically designed using a diagram, this structure helps shape the brand by explaining the intricate details of the master brand and its relationship to sub-brands and other service lines. It is a type of guideline that governs the interrelationship between each of the individual components of your larger and overseeing brand.
Let’s consider the importance of this. If your organization has numerous sub-brands, various service lines, numerous individual departments, and other divisions, they must all work together to create a single brand image. This way, when your consumer interacts with any component of your brand, they get the same overall impression and experience no matter where that interaction occurs.
This is called omnichannel, and it creates a single, overseeing structure for your brand that unifies all subcomponents to ensure cohesiveness from the customer’s perspective, even if each individual brand has its own personality and unique offerings. Let’s take a closer look at how this works.
What Is an Omnichannel Strategy?
Omnichannel marketing strategy ensures that customers receive a consistent experience and a personalized brand message no matter where they are or how they reach your brand.
When you work with a strategy design agency, especially in the digitally-focused consumer regions of the world, such as the UAE, it is critical that your client or customer have access to you across social media, websites, mobile devices, and in-person interactions. Even though each of these is a different process, the experience should be consistent.
Why Brand Architecture Matters in Omnichannel Strategy
With brand design and strategy, every facet of your business must work together to achieve the same level of consistency. To create that brand, you need to begin with a framework that outlines expectations and the individual details you expect to communicate through it.
In other words, to create an omnichannel strategy to market your business, you must be able to know what that single strategy will be. To achieve that, build a brand architecture that lays the foundation of the process and messaging.
Brand Architecture Models and Their Fit with Omnichannel Strategies
Consider the following types of brand architecture and how they play a role in building your omnichannel strategy.
The Branded House
This is the most common type of brand architecture. The organization is the master brand, which owns several sub-brands. In this situation, these sub-brands may feature the master brand name or its logo with some variation to distinguish between each.
In this model, an all-encompassing, cohesive omnichannel marketing strategy works well. Each of the sub-brands does not operate independently from each other. Instead, they all follow the corporate brand’s guidelines and strategy.
The House of Brands
The second type of brand architecture is called a house of brands. In this model, the organization owns a collection of very distinct brands. They all fall under the parent brand, but consumers may or may not know that.
In this strategy, the omnichannel marketing strategy will allow each brand to have its own name, logos, and slogans. It is possible for an overall theme or influence to be present, such as all brands working towards sustainability practices. Customers do not recognize that each of the sub-brands is related, but they have the same positive interaction with each other.
Hybrid Brand Architecture
There are various potential differences possible through hybrid models. Most will incorporate some of each of the two brand architecture models within them. This may be called a Blended House. In this situation, each sub-brand will have some of the elements of both the Branded House and the House of Brands,
In this model, most often, the sub-brands have the same brand promises as the parent brand, but the difference is that they have their own messaging and unique presence. In this situation, an omnichannel marketing strategy will be focused on the individual needs of each sub-brand.
Key Trends in Brand Architecture and Omnichannel Marketing for 2025
Brand design and strategy will always change over time as consumer influences morph. In the fast-changing digital world present in the UAE, brands must be able to stay ahead of trends. Some of the most notable for 2025 include:
- Personalization focus: Brands will need to continue to create connection points with consumers through personalization. This includes using customer data to influence ads as well as messaging from brands.
- Voice search will play a role in omnichannel marketing and must be on-target with brand architecture to continue to build that strong statement and vision.
- Mobile marketing will continue to expand through the greater Middle East region. That will include, among other steps, the need to include more diverse and engagement-driven opportunities.
For organizations, creating brand architecture is a starting point in building a cohesive omnichannel experience for consumers. By working with a consultancy firm, such as Ollen Group, it is possible to build a robust and multi-faceted strategy that builds across all of your individual brands, creating a sense of unity as it fits and ensuring ongoing consumer recognition over time.
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