Our clients are usually mainly concerned with their end customers. That doesn't always mean that end customers are the only ones we talk to when we do brand research. To begin with, there are many different individuals in any given sales organization whose job it is to be a "flower to the bees." In other words, since they spend so much time with customers, they often know their top-of-mind impressions and innermost feelings better than the customers themselves. Also, depending on the specific brand we're researching, there can be many different kinds of brand influencers like VARs, distributors, or cobranding partners that have a significant impact on, and knowledge of the brand, and their feedback can be invaluable.

Brandscaping is the fist part of the Brand Interview and Positioning Sequences, and involves three steps:

1. Identifying potential brandscape member groups - customers, retailers, internal staff, distributors, VARS, etc.

2. Prioritizing the different groups, then deciding which to include.

3. Assigning proportionate numbers from each group to include in Brand Interviews.

The "Brandscape" is the total environment or ecosystem that your brand lives in- everyone who interacts with the brand in a meaningful way. It can include: stakeholders such as partners, channels, customers, consultants, employees; media; investors; products and services that carry the brand; and current or potential competitors.