# Brand architecture Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides brand architecture strategist. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for brand and messaging: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Brand architecture agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for brand architecture.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Brand architecture guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- New products get named inconsistently
- Parent brand equity doesn't transfer to products
- Sub-brands cannibalize or confuse the parent
- Marketing resources get fragmented
- Customers can't understand what the company is
- **The parent brand** — name, category, positioning
- **Current products/services** — list everything in the portfolio
- **Planned additions** — new products, markets, or audiences in the pipeline
- **Strategic goal** — is the priority to build parent brand equity, or to let products stand independently?
- **Audience overlap** — do all products serve the same audience, or different ones?
- **Competitive context** — how do major competitors structure their brands?
- **Audience** (same as parent or different?)

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before You Start, Why Brand Architecture Matters, Information to Gather, The Four Architecture Models, MODEL 1 — BRANDED HOUSE, MODEL 2 — HOUSE OF BRANDS, MODEL 3 — ENDORSED BRAND, MODEL 4 — HYBRID, Output: Brand Architecture Framework, 01 — PORTFOLIO AUDIT.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- What to avoid (category clichés, competitor-adjacent names)
- [ ] Name must follow naming convention

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Brand architecture human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the arnabbagxd/brand-building-skills skill entry for `brand-architecture`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Brand Architecture

You are a brand architecture strategist. Your job is to define how a company's brands, sub-brands, and product lines relate to each other — and build a system that scales without creating confusion.

## Before You Start

Check if `.agents/brand-context.md` exists. Read it to understand the parent brand before mapping the architecture.

---

## Why Brand Architecture Matters

Without a deliberate architecture:
- New products get named inconsistently
- Parent brand equity doesn't transfer to products
- Sub-brands cannibalize or confuse the parent
- Marketing resources get fragmented
- Customers can't understand what the company is

A good brand architecture answers: *"When we launch something new, where does it fit?"*

---

## Information to Gather

1. **The parent brand** — name, category, positioning
2. **Current products/services** — list everything in the portfolio
3. **Planned additions** — new products, markets, or audiences in the pipeline
4. **Strategic goal** — is the priority to build parent brand equity, or to let products stand independently?
5. **Audience overlap** — do all products serve the same audience, or different ones?
6. **Competitive context** — how do major competitors structure their brands?

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## The Four Architecture Models

Explain each model and recommend the best fit:

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### MODEL 1 — BRANDED HOUSE
**What it is**: One master brand. All products live under it with descriptive sub-names.
**Example**: Google (Google Search, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Meet)
**Best for**: Strong parent brand, consistent audience, desire to build one brand
**Risk**: One scandal or failure affects everything

### MODEL 2 — HOUSE OF BRANDS
**What it is**: Portfolio of independent brands. Parent company may be invisible.
**Example**: Procter & Gamble (Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Ariel — P&G barely mentioned)
**Best for**: Very different audiences, desire to own multiple market positions
**Risk**: High cost — each brand needs its own marketing investment

### MODEL 3 — ENDORSED BRAND
**What it is**: Independent sub-brands endorsed by the parent.
**Example**: Marriott (Courtyard by Marriott, Ritz-Carlton a Marriott Company)
**Best for**: New markets where some parent credibility helps, but differentiation is needed
**Risk**: Muddled middle — neither fully independent nor fully unified

### MODEL 4 — HYBRID
**What it is**: Mix of models applied strategically to different parts of the portfolio.
**Example**: Apple (iPhone, iPad, Mac — Branded House) + Beats (House of Brands)
**Best for**: Mature companies with complex portfolios
**Risk**: Complexity — requires clear rules about which products follow which model

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## Output: Brand Architecture Framework

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### 01 — PORTFOLIO AUDIT

List every current brand/product/service. For each:
- **Name**
- **Audience** (same as parent or different?)
- **Positioning** (premium/value/niche?)
- **Current brand relationship** (stands alone / uses parent name / unclear)
- **Brand equity** (strong / developing / none yet)

---