The brand began as a symbol that represented a product or service and a whole connotation of feelings and values, but its communication messages were one-way: brand-public. It wasn't until the arrival of social media that it began to communicate in two directions. However, with the arrival of multi-agent AI systems and workflow automation, a systemic approach to branding became possible.
The systemic approach to the conceptualization of a brand is a very powerful tool, since it provides it with the ability to:
- The brand perceives information inputs that represent the environment in which the brand operates, the individual behavior of each customer, and their status within the sales process.
- All of this information passes through an identity subsystem to ensure that the response is consistent with the brand identity and positioning.
- The communication subsystem prepares the response, whether in text, audio, or video format, taking into account the customer's status, profile, personality, and other information available about the customer, as well as information about the environment within the brand's story.
- The brand issues the response at the stage of the Customer Journey in which the customer is.
- Thanks to customer experience, brand value increases for that particular customer.
- Through interactions with a large number of customers, emerging properties of the brand system are generated. These properties are brand heritage and brand culture.
Brand System Inputs
The framework system's inputs are all the social interactions of customers, competitors, and media outlets with the brand. These interactions are generated by the brand's messages across all communication channels. Customers, potential customers, and onlookers react, and the brand responds based on its brand identity, communication strategy, and brand story.
Environment data
Since communications are real-time, it's important to know what's happening in the environment: brand sentiment, time, weather, and the geographic location of the communicating customer.
Marketing data
What campaign is the message coming from? What hashtag is active, what's being said? What social media is it communicating on?
Sales data
What has the customer purchased? Which e-commerce products are trending? Which products can you upsell? , etc.
CRM data
Does the client have any open leads?
Customer service data
Do you have support tickets? How were they resolved?
Social interactions
Analyze your social media communication style, your social media lifestyle, etc.
Brand Identity Subsystem
The brand identity subsystem humanizes the brand. It gives it personality, communication style, visual image, and tone of voice so that AI-generated communications have integrity and always respond in accordance with its identity.
Identity
Brand identity is the set of visual and conceptual elements a company uses to present itself to the world and differentiate itself from its competitors. It includes tangible elements such as the logo, colors, and typography, and abstract elements such as the brand's personality, values, mission, and the tone of its communication. Its goal is to create a coherent and distinctive image that generates emotional connection and loyalty in consumers.
Image
The image of a product or company is a mental representation in the collective imagination of its various stakeholders of a set of attributes and values that function as a stereotype and determine the behavior and opinions of these interest groups. It is a structure of meanings that is never finalized, so it is not a state, but a process.
Thus, a brand develops a positive relationship with its consumers by establishing a favorable brand image that a given audience perceives about an organization through the accumulation of all the messages they have received about it. In any case, the image should be a reflection of the identity, which should give value, meaning, and credibility to said image.
Target audience
Brand Identity and Image allow us to approach the definition of the Target Audience as an entity that describes the set of actual and potential customers to whom the brand will be directed. To do this, we will examine their beliefs and attitudes regarding the brand, the behavior of the sector, and the competitors who compete in the market with their offerings.
Value proposition
This concept is defined as a presentation of functional, emotional, and self-expression benefits provided by the brand that would have value for its target audiences. Some specialists use the term "Brand Contract" to take the concept to an extreme formalism, since the value proposition must be conceived as a set of expectations regarding the product, service, and experience established by the brand. These expectations will be approached as promises that satisfy current customers and can attract new ones.
Identity Subsystem Outputs
Positioning
The concept of positioning as part of the identity and value proposition that will be actively communicated to different stakeholders allows for establishing links with other elements of the proposed model, since it is based on the identity subsystem and requires the brand to acquire adequate relevance, relevant semantics, and the necessary level of exposure to its audiences.
Formal identity
This term defines the set of signs that identify a brand, differentiating it from others, understood as recognizable manifestations whose mission is to make an entity perceptible.
These elements will combine differently with the appropriate media, keeping in mind that the corporate brand creates awareness and recognition through a name contained in the logo, and that a clever design has little intrinsic value on its own. However, when the explicit brand promise (value proposition) has been consistently maintained and experienced over time, verbal and visual identifiers acquire that intrinsic value.
Communication Subsystem
Communication Subsystem Outputs
Brand History
Rather than focusing on the product, the brand story positions the customer as the hero facing a challenge in their "ordinary world." The brand is not the protagonist, but rather the wise mentor who offers the magic tool (your product or service) to overcome obstacles. By guiding the customer on their transformation journey, the brand helps them achieve their "reward" and return victorious, creating a deep and lasting emotional connection that goes beyond the simple sale. The brand story, combined with the experience of using the product or service, is essential to generate loyalty and recommendations.
Customer Journey
Each stage of the Customer Journey requires a different narrative based on the brand's story and customer profile. This allows for a much more personalized user experience. The most common stages are:
- Awareness.
- Consideration.
- Buys.
- Experience.
- Loyalty.
Brand System Outputs
Brand Value
Brand equity (also called brand capital in the literature) is defined as the assets (and liabilities) linked to the brand name and symbol that are incorporated into (or subtracted from) the product or service and that must be managed as value generators.
It is generated through advertising, products sold, and user experience. Brand value is built from interaction to interaction with customers.
Emergent Properties of the Brand System
Through social interactions, purchasing, and user experiences, the brand is creating emerging properties that reinforce its power.
Reputation
Reputation is the result of a company's positive image. It should reflect values that reflect the company's commitment to its stakeholders and the degree to which these commitments have been met over time.
Brand culture
Brand culture can be defined as the DNA and values that govern each brand experience, how it expresses itself and interacts with customers and employees.
A brand's culture has many advantages and allows it to redefine the relationship between the brand and consumers, especially with regard to the latter's assumption of "power."
Brand culture is built through the brand's interactions with customers. When a brand is successful, brand culture influences a society's cultural system and becomes part of that society's cultural capital.
Brand heritage
Brand heritage refers to the value and history a brand has built over time, including its history, longevity, values, and use of distinctive symbols. This heritage creates an emotional connection with consumers, generating trust, authenticity, and nostalgia, which can positively impact loyalty and purchase intentions.
Extensions
When the brand is already part of the culture of a social system, brand extensions emerge. These are products or services that revolve around the brand name.
Control System
Human-on-the-loop (HOTL) involves having humans supervising an automated system powered by AI agents. In the case of the brand system, supervision falls to humans within the commercial system to evaluate and improve its performance at each stage of the system (Marketing, Sales, Customer Service).
Hyper-Personalization
Hyperpersonalization involves the use of data, automation, and AI to deliver highly personalized experiences, content, and offers to individual customers in real time. This goes beyond traditional segmentation by analyzing detailed customer information, behavioral patterns, and immediate context to create truly unique interactions. It uses advanced analytics and machine learning to proactively anticipate customer needs, increase engagement and loyalty, and boost conversions, ensuring that every customer touchpoint is relevant and impactful.
A systemic approach to branding allows for the significant automation of hyperpersonalization processes, giving each interaction a sense of integrity with its identity. The primary goal is to substantially increase brand value.
Conclusion
Branding as a system is a practical approach that allows us to conceptualize the brand as a social agent, just like humans. The brand emits information, people receive it, and some interact with it. The brand receives the responses, the identity subsystem prepares the response according to the brand's personality and image, and the communication system adapts it to the brand's history and the customer's location in the customer journey. This generates a perception of value in customers, who, through the purchase of the product or service, become part of the brand community. All automated by multi-agent AI workflows.
The brand is now a social agent, just like any person within the social system.
References
- García, M.M., González, G.B., Li, Z. and Guerrero, F.P. (2018). Modelo de administración de marcas: un enfoque teórico basado en la teoría general de sistemas. ESIC MARKET Economic and Business Journal, [online] 49(159), pp.93–117. doi:https://doi.org/10.7200/esicm.159.0491.2e.https://doi.org/10.7200/esicm.159.0491.2e.
