The ACM method: how a brand’s coherence is measured
ACM Framework describes a brand from 4 perspectives, each as a 100-point profile across the same 12 archetypes. The distance between two profiles gives a gap; the 6 gaps, compared with the published thresholds, show where the brand breaks. Everything is read from the openly published instrument, with a DOI, before any measurement.
The 4 perspectives
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
Each perspective is a 100-point profile divided among the 12 archetypes, in the same order. The perspectives sit on two axes (the brand and the client) and on two levels (what should be and what is observed).
| Perspective | Axis | Level | Where the data come from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Believes | the brand | what should be (normative) | the leadership questionnaire |
| Does | the brand | what is observed | coding of published materials |
| Expects | the client | what should be (normative) | the survey about the category |
| Sees | the client | what is observed | the survey about the brand |
The 6 gaps
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
A gap is the distance between two perspectives: the sum of the absolute differences across the 12 archetypes, divided by two, so between 0 (identical profiles) and 100. 4 gaps aim for zero; the 2 that concern the category norm aim for a band, because a brand identical to its category is interchangeable.
| Gap | Pair | Question | Target | Weight in the index (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrity | Believes ↔ Does | Does it do what it says? | as close to zero as possible | 25 |
| Legibility | Does ↔ Sees | Is what it does seen? | as close to zero as possible | 20 |
| Mirror | Believes ↔ Sees | Is it seen as it believes itself to be? | as close to zero as possible | 20 |
| Promise | Expects ↔ Sees | Does the client get what they expected? | as close to zero as possible | 15 |
| Contrast | Does ↔ Expects | How different is the behaviour? | within the 5–35 band | 15 |
| Boldness | Believes ↔ Expects | How far does it depart from the norm? | within the 5–35 band | 5 |
The thresholds
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
- below 15: a small gap, the two profiles say almost the same thing;
- above 25: a large gap, the two say different things;
- the optimal band for the position gaps: 20 ± 15, that is, between 5 and 35;
- a category norm requires at least 3 brands, and a channel at least 10 materials.
The 3 tiers
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
The tiers are not different charts: it is the same dial, seen with however many perspectives have been measured. Each tier also states what it cannot tell. Only tier 3 (“Full diagnosis”) reports an index: calculated from a missing perspective, it would be a false figure.
| Tier | What it answers | Perspectives | What it cannot tell |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Internal coherence audit | Does the brand do what the leadership believes? | Believes, Does | It knows nothing about the public: how the brand is seen and what is expected of the category. |
| 2. With perception | Does what the brand does reach the public? | Believes, Does, Sees | It does not know what the client expects of the category, so neither how different the brand is. |
| 3. Full diagnosis | How coherent and how different is the brand? | Believes, Does, Sees, Expects | The index is reported only here. |
The diagnosis
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
The diagnosis has two words: coherence, from Integrity, Legibility and Mirror, and position relative to the norm, from Contrast and Boldness.
- Chaotic: The distances are large everywhere. The work does not start with communication; it starts with deciding who the brand is.
- Impostor: The brand says one thing and does another. This is not a communication problem but a behaviour problem: no campaign fixes it.
- Misunderstood: The brand does things well, but it is not seen. This really is a communication problem, and it is fixed relatively quickly.
- Aligned: The brand says what it does, is seen doing it, and is seen as it believes itself to be. From here the work is on differentiation, not coherence.
- Mixed: The brand fits no pattern cleanly. This is not a category to be ashamed of: the six distances are reported, not the label.
Inter-coder agreement
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
The published materials (“Does”) are read by trained people. From each batch, 20% of the materials (at least 20) are coded twice, independently. The mean distance between the two readings must stay below 15, and below 30 on any single material. Otherwise nothing is reported from that material, and the threshold is not adjusted.
The levels of evidence
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
Every rule of the instrument carries its level of evidence. All start at “declared” and move up only through a registered test.
- declared: Written before any measurement that could test it. Usable, but it is the author's claim.
- calibrated: Adjusted or checked against data collected for that purpose, in a registered study; not yet tested on an independent sample.
- confirmed: Held on data it was not built from, in a registered test.
- refuted: Failed a registered test. It stays in the history with the test that refuted it; the next version changes it.
How to cite
From the instrument · ACM 1.12 · 18.10.2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708 · proposed translation
Talmazan, D. (2026). Archetypal Coherence Matrix (version 1.12). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22926708. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
The method and the author
Platform material · not part of the published instrument
All the reference pages describe the same method: how ACM Framework measures a brand’s coherence. The terms are explained in the glossary. The instrument is openly published, with DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708, by Dumitru Talmazan.
Frequently asked questions
What does ACM Framework measure?
A brand’s coherence: how close together are what the leadership believes, what the brand publishes, what the client expects of the category and how the client sees the brand. Each is a profile across 12 archetypes, and the distances between them are the 6 gaps.
Where do the thresholds come from?
From the published instrument (version 1.12, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22926708), declared before any measurement. The platform neither writes nor adjusts them.
Why does an index not always appear?
The index requires all 4 perspectives. Until tier 3, the page shows the measured distances and says what is missing, not an approximate figure.