The
BRAND WHEEL™
Framework
Plugging into a repeatable branding process consistently delivers great outcomes. Our Brand Wheel™ framework organizes the work in four sequential, straight forward steps: 1) Brand Discovery, 2) Brand Platform, 3) Brand Expression, and 4) Brand Activation. Each step is a stepping stone to building a brand that scales.
Most brands are a work in progress with elements of their Brand Wheel at different stages of development, from red (not yet defined) to yellow (being defined) and green (defined). Working together, we will help your team tmake all of your Brand Wheel elements green to market your brand at scale.
Step 1:
BRAND
DISCOVERY
The first step is to uncover insights that inform your brand strategy. We dive deep to gather and synthesize company, customer, competitive and creative insights. These unique perspectives will direct and inspire the words, images and experiences that create your desired brand perception.
Step 2:
BRAND
PLATFORM
The Brand Platform defines the five foundational elements of your brand story: 1) Brand Purpose, 2) Brand Position, 3) Brand Promise, 4) Brand Pillars, and 5) Brand Personality. When all five of these elements are crafted correctly, they fit together like a seamless dovetail joint in a piece of fine furniture. And yes, we’re happy to fix do-it-yourself branding projects that have gone astray resulting in leftover parts and pieces or forced fits.
Step 3:
BRAND
EXPRESSION
Brand Expression include these outward expressions of your brand:
- Brand Architecture
- Naming
- Tagline
- Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
- Customer Personas
- Marketing Messages
- Brand Narrative: Elevator Pitch, About Us, Company Overview
- Visual Brand Identity (logo)
- Style Guide
- Brand Voice, Visual and Experiential Guidelines
Step 4:
BRAND
ACTIVATION
Creating your desired brand perception results from consistently communicating your brand promise across all of your customer touchpoints. Backstory writes copy to ensure your brand story goes to market as intended.
We partner with experts in every aspect of design, copywriting, content creation and digital marketing and performance marketing. Our consortium of brand marketing services includes graphic design, UX and UI design, website design and development, SEO and paid search (Google Ads/search ads, display ads and shopping ads, along with social ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.).
We also have relationships with agencies specializing in social media campaign management, media relations training, crisis communications, PR, content marketing, collateral and trade shows.
Please let us know what you need so we can match you with the right partners.

Take Our Brand Wheel Assessment
See the current state of your brand by completing our brief Brand Wheel Assessment questionnaire. You’ll receive a downloadable color-coded Brand Wheel to review with your team and help us tailor our recommendations.
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