From Brand Identity to Spectral Identity: Formalizing Aaker's Framework for Testable, AI-Operable Brand Analysis

Aaker's Brand Identity Model (1996) remains the most widely taught brand management framework, yet it relies on practitioner judgment at three critical points: which identity perspectives matter, which elements are core versus extended, and how to resolve the identity-image gap. This paper proposes Spectral Brand Theory (SBT) as a conceptual formalization that preserves Aaker's multi-perspectival structure while adding parametric precision, testability, and computational operability. The paper demonstrates that Aaker's four perspectives map onto eight parametrized perceptual dimensions; that core and extended elements correspond to empirically discoverable spectral weights; and that the identity-image gap becomes a formally specified rendering problem. The formalization advances a threefold contribution: an explicit perspective-to-dimension mapping showing why eight dimensions are required, spectral counterparts for Aaker's core/extended distinction and brand essence, and observer-specific predictions the original framework cannot express. Applying both frameworks illustratively to Patagonia, IKEA, and Tesla shows that SBT reproduces Aaker's strategic diagnoses while generating new predictions about coherence type, disruption response, and AI operability. The relationship mirrors behavioral economics to classical economics: the predecessor is preserved as a limiting case within a more general theory. Includes zharnikov-2026n-spectral-identity.yaml (Paper Spec v0.1.0) – a machine-readable specification of the paper's claims, assumptions, and dependencies. See https://github.com/spectralbranding/paper-spec for the standard. This PDF is generated programmatically from that machine-first source under a research-as-repository model.