Brand strategy: where to compete and why.
Brand strategy is choosing where to compete and why: what sets the brand apart, which opportunities it will pursue and which it will leave aside.
What brand strategy is
In strategy we do the most necessary work: understand your market, diagnose your brand's real position and make the decisions everything else will be built on.
Positioning is action. Everything a company does, above all where it puts its budget, is the clearest sign of its positioning.
- Positioning
- The space only your brand can occupy.
- Platform
- Purpose, values, promise and personality, tied into one thing.
- Brand narrative
- How your brand sounds when there is nothing left to speak for it.
- Brand architecture
- The hierarchy of the system.
How a strategy project runs
- 01 Kick-off
- The meeting where expectations and questions enter the process.
- 02 Interviews
- Founders and leadership speak about origin and intent; the team speaks about what actually happens; customers and partners speak about what reaches them.
- 03 Research
- Sector data, direct and indirect competitors, value chain, portfolio, trends and audience behaviour.
- 04 Diagnosis
- The distance between what the brand believes it communicates and what actually reaches the audience.
- 05 Brand platform
- Positioning, platform, narrative and brand architecture: the decisions the language will be built on.
What your company gets
- Quantitative and qualitative research
- Sector data
- Competitor analysis
- Portfolio analysis
- Brand diagnosis
- Positioning
- Brand platform
- Brand narrative
- Brand architecture
- Action plan
Strategies that changed the brand's position.
“Our partnership with BRBAUEN goes back a long way. We worked hand in hand and arrived at a material with real depth and personality.”
Managing Partner, Séren Incorporadora
“Working with BRBAUEN was a surprising experience — for the creativity, the ease of the relationship and the ability to propose innovations that truly make sense for the business and add value.”
Managing Partner, Telgo Telecom
“This moved me. I tell my children that when I grow old I will become a painter. They said I would need to learn how to paint, but my dream is to paint with food, expressively, the way you created the Cucina Mia brand.”
Chef and TV host, Grupo Globo / GNT
“We were impressed with BRBAUEN's portfolio and their focus on results. Location didn't matter; project management did. They excelled at communication, process and understanding our goals. Their responsiveness, attention to detail and talent made them one of the best decisions we have made.”
Marketing Director, Allnorth
“I am extremely satisfied with the investments we have made with BR/BAUEN. Ten years after they created the brand, we came back to evolve our positioning with them, for their professionalism and their ability to understand the company's goals and turn it all into a solid strategy, simply and objectively. I always recommend them; they will be with us for our whole journey.”
CEO and Founder, IBBRA
“Since the brand launched in June 2023 we have seen an average 30% increase in sales, a number that speaks for itself. The new brand not only captured the essence of what we wanted to convey, it also resonated deeply with our customers.”
Head of Marketing & CRM, Grupo Saga
“We thank the BR/BAUEN team for the work, dedication and brilliance. You met and exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to future projects together. Thank you for making our brand stronger and more relevant in the market.”
Founder, Além do Olhar
“After an excellent experience with Rodrigo and the BR/BAUEN team at a previous company, I couldn't think of any other team I wanted to collaborate with to build out the NewCastle brand. Their work illustrated that NewCastle Gold was a serious market contender for investors and companies looking to acquire or merge with a junior asset.”
Director, Communities & Social Performance, Rio Tinto · formerly Director of IR & Corporate Communications, NewCastle Gold
What are the stages of a brand strategy process?
Kick-off, qualitative and quantitative interviews, exploratory research, diagnosis and strategy, culminating in the brand platform. The interviews happen while research and diagnosis take shape; each piece of information feeds the next.
What is the difference between purpose, mission and vision?
Purpose is why the brand exists, beyond profit. Mission is what it does materially, every day, to put that purpose into action. Vision is the position it builds in the market as differentiation. Together they are the structure that supports every positioning, verbal and visual decision that comes after.
How does BR/BAUEN use data and quantitative research?
To confirm or knock down hypotheses. The hypotheses come from the interviews and the diagnosis; quantitative research, with customers, the market and stakeholders, says whether they hold at scale. When the number contradicts leadership's conviction, the number wins, and that is said in the room.
How do you align leadership around a new positioning?
By having leadership decide instead of approve. Each leader is interviewed alone at the start, before hearing the others' version; the gaps between those interviews become research questions. In the stages that follow, diagnosis, platform and identity, leadership validates against the data, and every decision is recorded with its reasoning.
How much does a brand strategy project cost?
The investment depends on the programme, of 3, 6 or 9 months, the size of the company and the depth of the research. The programme and the investment are defined from the first conversation, when we understand where the brand stands and the goal of the project.
How do we start a project with BR/BAUEN?
Request a meeting through the form on this page or via WhatsApp. In the first conversation we understand where the brand stands and suggest the most suitable programme. We reply within two business days.