A leading information technology company devised a business strategy: unite two of its major product platforms under a single brand. To support this change, it turned to MSI for guidance in developing a brand architecture that would be consistent across both platforms and a logical extension of the corporation’s well-known master brand.

MSI came up with a two-phase research approach aimed at corporate executives, and business and IT managers in medium and large companies in several regions: North America, the UK, Asia and EMEA. We constructed a multi-step model to understand what drives purchase consideration for our client’s product and competitive products. We quantified the decision process emanating from product features (e.g. dependability) to higher-order brand attributes (e.g. leadership) to potential emotional benefits (e.g. peace of mind) to brand perception; in short, modeling a viable brand hierarchy.

We then identified viable strategies for a unified brand by indicating which features could best be leveraged to forge the strongest link to brand attributes and ultimately generate customer interest. With the insight we provided, our client was able to develop a formal brand strategy, a unified brand positioning, and relevant supporting messages consistent with the master brand.