How brand pyramids helped me rethink character development

In the autumn of 2024, I hung up my marketing and communications hat to pursue the funny square kind with tassels you get at graduation. I was off to get a master's degree in creative writing, and all too ready to leave the land of strategies and planning behind.

I quickly realized three things:

1.       Mortarboard graduation caps were not to be permitted at my ceremony.

2.       My strategy hat still had a lot of life left in it.

3.       Creating a credible character isn’t much different from developing a brand pyramid.

Allow me a moment to explain…

A brand pyramid (sometimes called a brand ladder) is a tool used to develop a baseline understanding of a product or service, the value it brings, how it fits in the marketplace, and its essence. It is a foundational exercise that can help marketing teams align before they develop key messages and communication strategies.

The ideal outcome is to establish a fundamental understanding of a brand so storytelling efforts clearly reflect its value, credibility, and authenticity—all of which are essential in driving engagement. This is a goal that writers and marketers share.

Let’s dissect the brand pyramid

Brand pyramids vary, but most follow a similar five-tier structure, each layer informing the next.

1. The base of the model contains all of the Features of the brand. This section should highlight the core functional attributes of the product or service.

2. Going up a tier, we think about Functional Benefits. These are the tangible benefits to the end user. What problems does this brand solve?

3. Next are the Emotional Benefits. These are the emotional perks that a customer gets as a result of the features and functions.

4. Nearing the top is the Personality of the brand. These are attributes that answer the question: if my brand were a human, what would some of their defining personality traits be?

5. Tier five is the Essence of the brand. It is an emotion-driven word (or a few words) that encapsulate what makes the brand special.

Brands That Punch offers some excellent examples of this structure, using an archetypes instead of personality traits.

The character pyramid

With a bit of creative fairy dust, the brand pyramid structure can be transformed into a useful tool for characterisation and understanding how your character fits within your story using some of the same principles.

1. Features, skills, and values: A summary of the things that define your character, including special skills, career, interests, appearance, and values. These are often the things we think of first when we build a character.  

2. Functional purpose for the story: What is their practical role in the story you are trying to tell? You may also wish to identify the character’s want.

3. Emotional purpose for the story: What are the feelings their journey is meant to evoke in the reader? Think about the character’s need (different from want) and how it is/is not realised.

4. Personality: What personality traits/attitude should they have, informed by tiers one to three?

5. Essence: In a nutshell, what does this character represent/stand for?

Why a bit of structure matters

Your readers are savvy. The first few interactions with your characters will condition your reader on what to expect from them throughout the narrative. Deviations from that expectation (excluding intentional, plot-driven choices) can call your character’s authenticity and motivations into question and hinder the reading experience. The reader can also tell in short order whether your character has well-defined purpose. Without it, you risk your audience's trust. Establishing a clear understanding of a character’s purpose and essence going into a project will help you better craft the action in your plot and earn you good will with the reader.

Even if you choose to revisit your pyramid as the process of discovery while writing unfolds, the structure can be a useful touchpoint to ensure consistency and intentionality shines through your work.

How to complete the exercise

Start the exercise in tier one and work your way to tier five. Jot down as many thoughts as you can under each tier. Bullet points are fine! Then, sleep on what you’ve written. When you return to the exercise, are you able to see any gaps? Next, see if you can refine tiers one to three into one sentence per tier.  Can you reduce tier four into three non-negotiable traits representing the character’s personality? Can you bring tier five down to one evocative word that the character’s entire journey stands for? (I know it's scary... we love words!) When you are finished, save the pyramid someplace where you will see it often. Use it as a reference point to keep your characterisation on track and resonant!