Video summary

Курс «Как создать бренд». Урок 10: Пример платформы бренда

Main summary

Key takeaways

Business

High-level summary

This lesson presents a real-world example of a brand platform used by a branding agency during a rebranding. The platform is a flexible internal document that captures company philosophy, mission, positioning, values, principles and brand character — and is used to align team behavior, product decisions and client work.

The rebranding was iterative and resource-intensive: the agency changed design three times while reworking its platform. The effort was prompted after roughly 7+ years on the market as the agency’s product and approach deepened.

Key elements of the brand platform (structure and purpose)

Core components to include:

  • Mission — what you exist to do.

    Example (agency): “create true product and emotional value for people; inspire brands to have the courage to be real.”

  • Positioning — whom you serve and how you differentiate.

    Example (agency): “authentic brands for bold teams of product companies in cities and regions.”

  • Values — internal roots that shape behavior and decisions (agency examples: Freedom, Responsibility, Development).

  • Brand character / personality — tone and manner for communications and product experience.
  • Principles (optional but practical) — working rules that guide execution (agency examples: be true to yourself, be bold, be different).

Purpose: to enable team synchronization, honest/direct communication, product authenticity and consistent decision-making across hiring, onboarding, briefs and client selection.

Frameworks, processes and playbooks

  • Brand platform playbook: create a living document (mission, values, character, principles) and use it as a synchronization tool across teams and client projects.
  • Iterative rebranding process: expect multiple design iterations and platform revisions until alignment is achieved.
  • Strategic values sessions: facilitated workshops with targeted assignments to surface authentic values. These can be short (~1.5–2 hours) but may require multiple sessions to reach depth.
  • Responsibility lens (inspired by Transactional Analysis): use child/parent/adult states to encourage an “adult” responsibility mindset — people take ownership rather than offloading or over-rescuing.
  • Continuous learning system: maintain a knowledge library plus courses to embed “development” as an operational habit.

Concrete examples, case studies and context

  • Agency rebrand: internal case where the agency (formerly “Azbuka agency”) changed name/identity after ~7+ years, redesigned three times, and rewrote its brand platform to reflect a deeper product approach.
  • Client industries served: pharmaceuticals, logistics, catering, clothing — illustrating the methodology’s cross-industry flexibility.
  • Team structure: distributed, cross-regional/country “online office” — remote, mobile work with ideas sourced from anywhere.

Actionable recommendations and tactical practices

  • Build a flexible brand platform rather than a rigid manifesto: include mission, values and brand character as core elements and add principles as practical guides.
  • Use facilitated strategic sessions with targeted assignments (and multiple iterations) to reveal authentic values instead of inventing them top-down.
  • Live the values operationally:
    • remote/mobile work policies,
    • personal ownership of tasks,
    • investment in a knowledge library,
    • frequent learning opportunities.
  • Apply the “adult” responsibility frame: make responsibility explicit; each person is accountable for their results, and client responsibilities are acknowledged.
  • Be careful with naming: avoid purely descriptive names (e.g., “clothing store”); naming should support differentiation and commercial outcomes.
  • Treat rebranding as iterative and resource-consuming — budget time and resources for multiple design and platform revisions until internal buy-in is achieved.

Metrics, KPIs and timeline references

Explicit numeric metrics were not provided. Operational and timing references include:

  • Agency had been on the market for >7 years before rebranding.
  • Presenter’s experience: >12 years in branding.
  • Initial strategic session length for value extraction: ~1.5–2 hours (with additional iterations often required).

Suggested implied KPIs to track when applying this playbook:

  1. Team alignment / adoption rate of the brand platform (qualitative).
  2. Number of rebranding iterations until internal buy-in.
  3. Employee engagement with learning resources (knowledge library and course usage).
  4. Client perception metrics tied to brand authenticity (NPS, satisfaction, conversion from brand-led campaigns).

Leadership, management and organizational implications

  • Use the brand platform as an organizational alignment tool: reference it in hiring, onboarding, creative briefs, client selection and internal decision-making.
  • Encourage a culture of personal accountability while supporting cross-functional teamwork.
  • Make development part of performance expectations; embed learning resources into day-to-day workflows.

Presenter / Source

  • Alina Rakitina — brand technologist, presenter and author of an article about the agency’s rebrand.

Original video