What is a brand model, and why do you need one?

Every brand needs a framework. Whether it’s a pyramid, house, onion or doughnut, a clear model brings structure and meaning.

The purpose of a brand model

A brand model defines how your brand fits together. It turns scattered ideas into something people can see, understand and build on. It doesn’t matter what shape or metaphor you use — what matters is that you choose one, and use it consistently.

Many frameworks exist:

• The Brand Pyramid, with your values and purpose forming the base and a single promise at the top.
• The Brand House, a classical structure held up by pillars of values.
• The Brand Onion, built from layers of ideas leading to a core.

Each does the same thing: it connects vision, values and belief.

When you have a model, your team can finally see what your brand means. It stops being a loose collection of words in a strategy document and becomes a visual language everyone can share.

Use what ever shaped model suits you. Just use one.

The Brand Doughnut™

I use a doughnut. Who doesn’t like doughnuts?

At the centre is the Brand Core — the jam, if you like — surrounded by five essential elements:

Vision, Position, Offer, Values, and Mission.

Together they help you understand why your brand exists, how it stands out, and what difference it makes.

The model’s simplicity makes it memorable and adaptable. You can fill it in on paper, share it in a meeting, or build strategy around it. When clients use it, they often say it’s the first time the brand feels tangible — something they can actually hold onto.

The brand doughnut with a jam core.

Why it matters

A brand model is not a business plan. It’s the bridge between insight and expression — the point where your research, story and design meet. It gives structure to ideas, clarity to teams and confidence to communication. Inside your organisation, it creates shared direction. Outside, it makes your message coherent and consistent. When every conversation, proposal and piece of marketing comes from the same centre, you stop reinventing the brand every time you write or design something. The model becomes the quiet reference behind every decision — simple enough to remember, powerful enough to guide complex work. It’s the glue that holds your brand together.

How to create one

Start with insight.

Ask questions, interview people, read reports and review what’s already been said.

Look at your audience, competitors and culture.

Then bring it together through workshops — spaces where ideas can be tested and shaped in collaboration with your team. You’ll see the pattern emerge naturally as the conversation unfolds.

A strong model is built with participation, not presentation. When the people behind the brand help to define it, they believe in it. They carry it forward because it feels like theirs.

Ask questions. Lots of questions. Even more questions.

How to use it

A brand model gives meaning to every part of your business. Think of the classic four Ps:

Products — what you sell

Place — where and how you work

Promotion — how you communicate

People — who delivers the experience

When your Brand Core is aligned across all four, your message feels natural, your decisions are clearer and your brand becomes stronger from the inside out.

You’ll start to see practical results:

• Product ideas that fit the vision instead of drifting off-course
• Campaigns that sound like they belong to the same company
• Employees who can describe what the brand stands for without needing a script

The model becomes a daily reference point. You’ll use it when briefing designers, planning marketing, writing proposals or pitching for investment. It helps you decide what to do — and, just as importantly, what not to do.

Align your core across all brand experience and customer touchpoints.

The psychology behind the shape

There’s a reason brand models endure. Humans understand stories and systems better when we can picture them. Shapes help us remember — a pyramid feels like hierarchy, an onion like depth, a house like stability, a doughnut like completeness.

That visual shorthand gives abstract ideas emotional weight. It’s not just neat design; it’s how we process meaning. When you draw your model and talk it through, you move from vague description to shared vision.

It’s the same reason we sketch on napkins and whiteboards. Seeing the idea gives it life.

Key takeaway

It doesn’t matter whether your model is a pyramid, a house, an onion or a doughnut.

What matters is the clarity it brings. Because what sits at the core of your business — not the shape you draw it in — is what people truly connect with. And if it happens to be a doughnut, make it jam-filled

Next step

If you’re ready to explore your own brand more deeply, start with the Brand Doughnut Guide — a simple, free workbook that helps you define your vision, values, and core idea in six clear steps.

Or continue reading the Untangle Your Brand Vault for more short lessons and ideas to help you build a brand that is relevant, unique, and memorable.