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#003

The Brand Tree Method (Part 1): Where Brands Take Root

May 3, 2025 / Read time: 4 minutes

Your Brand Isn’t Lost—It’s Just Missing Roots

Discover how to build your brand from the ground up

The Common Branding Problem

Over the years, speaking with entrepreneurs and professionals, I noticed a recurring challenge: they can easily explain what their company does and even how it does it—but when asked it exists, clarity fades.

This gap isn't just semantic; it's strategic. A brand without a clear purpose is like a tree without roots: unstable, exposed, and unable to grow.

This insight was one of the sparks that led me to create the Brand Tree Method, first shared in my book Árvore da Marca. The idea was simple: develop a practical framework to help people—regardless of their background—understand branding by observing how nature works.

The Tree as a Brand Metaphor

Branding can seem abstract. But everyone understands how a tree works. It has an origin, a structure, and a process for growth. So does a brand.

The Brand Tree Method draws direct analogies between the parts of a tree and the essential components of a brand. It makes branding tangible, relatable, and—most importantly—applicable.

Here’s how the metaphor begins to take shape:

The First Three Elements of the Brand Tree

Let’s start with the internal structure—the elements that form the foundation of a brand.

1. Seed (Vision)
Just as every tree begins as a seed, every brand begins with a vision. The seed protects and carries the potential for future growth. In branding, vision is the imagined future—a long-term aspiration. It’s what the founder sees in their mind’s eye before anything exists.

Think of it as the blueprint of what the brand could become under the right conditions.

2. Root (Purpose / Essence)
Roots nourish and stabilize the tree. Similarly, the purpose (or essence) of a brand provides its legitimacy and resilience.

The purpose is the brand’s reason for existence—its internal truth. It’s not marketing language; it’s a foundational belief. It must be deeply understood and embedded in the culture of the company.

Purpose answers the question: Why do we exist beyond profit?

3. Trunk (Attributes)
The trunk is the visible, central structure. In a brand, this represents the attributes—the qualities and capacities that support the brand promise.

Attributes are how a brand shows up in the world. They must be in harmony with the root (purpose), or the brand feels disjointed. Think of this as the substance that consumers first recognize and engage with.

Practical Reflection

Look at your brand today:

Is the vision clearly articulated and understood by your team?
Does your purpose feel authentic and deep, not just a tagline?
Are your attributes aligned with what you promise to the market?

Start by answering these three questions. Because before any brand can flourish, it must first take root.

Next Up: Branches, Bark, and Leaves

In the next edition of My Self Startup, we’ll explore how brands grow from these foundations into structured, visible, and operational identities.

We’ll talk about the Bark (Values), Branches (Identity), and Leaves (Operation)—the next three layers of the Brand Tree that bring consistency, form, and function.

Until then, reflect on your seed, root, and trunk. That’s where the transformation begins.

For today, that's it. See you next Saturday.

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In under 10 minutes, explore the key ideas from this edition — designed for those who absorb insights better by listening.

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