CRAFTED Confidence: A Configuration-Oriented Framework for Brand Management (V 12)

Brand management involves coordinating strategic qualities whose value depends on how they operatetogether. This paper introduces CRAFTED Confidence, a configuration-oriented framework integratingClarity, Resilience, Authenticity, Flexibility, Transparency, Empathy, and Determination. A 40-item internalassessment produces a seven-dimensional profile evaluated through an interaction matrix and explicitconfiguration rules. Complementary diagnostics connect this profile to 23 reference archetypes, a 21-questiontarget-identity instrument, and external customer perceptions. The paper develops the theoretical architectureand establishes an exact connection between its base function and the multilinear extension of a normalisedmonotone capacity. This representation identifies 21 effective pair interactions, supports an interpretableallocation of criterion importance, and provides direct profile contrasts for parameter calibration. Analyticalresults establish strict base-function monotonicity, bounded overall scores, and deterministic bounds on scorechanges under coefficient perturbations. Worked examples demonstrate the assessment procedure. Theframework contributes a reproducible approach to modelling joint brand qualities and strategic tensions, withliterature-informed mechanisms, explicit calibration procedures, and testable propositions connecting internalbrand configurations to external trust and managerial outcomes.CRAFTED addresses the design of a reproducible diagnostic assessment of internal brand profiles. Theguiding research question is: how can the interplay of seven strategic brand qualities be formalised, and underwhat conditions does the resulting assessment provide additional insight into brand trust and brandmanagement? The formal model and instruments are specified in version 12.0, retaining the numericalreference specification established in version 11 (Müller, 2026).The paper pursues three objectives: to develop the seven principles as a connected conceptual architecture; tospecify and analyse its measurement and calculation rules; and to formulate testable propositions about itsrelationship with brand trust and managerial outcomes. The contribution combines theoretical development,algebraic derivation, and computational demonstrations.