What is it called when a company has different brands?
Remember in first grade when you had to create a family tree? You start at the top of the tree with your great, great grandparents, work downward to great Aunt Rudy and Uncle Alphie, and eventually to the bottom – you! Everyone on that tree is related by blood, yes, but everyone is still unique. Show
Think of a company’s brand architecture as their family tree — they are all connected, but likely look a little different from one another. Now that you’re reminiscing about the woes of your last family reunion, lets dig deeper into the importance of a consistent brand architecture and all of the possible brand family layouts. What Is Brand Architecture?Simply put, brand architecture is the relationship between brands within an organization and how they interact with one another. As organizations grow and appeal to different audiences through different product lines or company acquisitions, brand architecture is the key organizational system that makes sure each type of product or company is intuitively linked with the right audience. Why Is Brand Architecture Important?No matter how many products or services you offer, think about how your target audience will recognize each of them. Brand architecture helps you define what that relationship is, and helps your brand stay organized internally. It’s a road map for brand identity, development and design, and increases flexibility for product or service expansion in the future. From a messaging and communications standpoint, an organized brand architecture helps you reach your target market for each product or service that you offer. And no, your brand is not too small to benefit from brand architecture. The ability to uniquely pair your products with the right target audiences through branding is a key element in positioning your organization for healthy marketing and healthy growth. What Are the Different Types of Brand Architecture?There are four main types of brand architecture:
The main difference between each type of brand architecture is the dominance and emphasis of the parent or umbrella brand: House of brands offers the most flexible architecture by detaching the parent brand from other ‘standalone’ child brands, while, on the other end of the spectrum, a branded house closely incorporates the parent brand into every child brand. How Do You Choose Between Brand Architecture Types?The goal of brand architecture is clarity in storytelling: aligning your own aspirations and authenticity as an organization with the desires of your audience. If you’re able to add a third dimension – becoming distinct in your space – you’re positioning yourself to own the right perceptions. That’s all we define branding as: what perceptions do you own?
A Helpful Psychological PrincipleIn Rory Sutherland’s Ted Talk Perspective Is Everything, he explains that in the days of DVDs, you would go to the store, see a combination DVD player & TV, and, without knowing anything about the quality, assume it’s generally a bad DVD player and a bad TV. Instead of buying the combo DVD & TV, you’d walk out of the store with one of each. “Google is a great, great technological success, but it’s also based on a very good psychological insight. People believe something that only does one thing is better at that thing than something that does that thing and something else.” This is principle called “Goal Dilution” and it’s a helpful consideration when you’re looking at your audience, analyzing your competitive space(s), and considering the right brand architecture. Why Separating Your Brands – A La “Goal Dilution” – Isn’t Always the Way to GoWhile a standalone brand that does one thing well can be a good strategy, it doesn’t always effectively answer the question of how to break into an industry and gain name recognition. If your parent brand has a strong audience following, it can be helpful to attach it to a child brand as a signal of brand equity: we’re a brand you trust, and we’re bringing you another product line or type of service you can trust in. Deciding on the role of the parent brand is the key to choosing the right brand architecture. To help navigate that sometimes tricky decision, here’s a breakdown of each brand architecture type: House of BrandsA house of brands separates the master brand from brand extensions, and detaches each extension. So, the master brand can have competing brands underneath them. An example of a house of brands is Procter & Gamble. P&G has dozens of products underneath the parent brand. Each brand extension is separate from one another – you don’t associate Vicks with P&G or with Pantene. (Or maybe you do?) Each brand, including P&G, is responsible for their own brand equity. That way, if Bounce had a brand crisis, no other brands would be impacted. On the back of your Crest Toothpaste or Pampers Diapers, in the fine print, however, P&G is listed. But, how often do people read the fine print? Endorsed Brand (and an example of a ‘Hybrid’)The endorsed brand model packages brands under a master brand. Each brand extension has its own identity, but is still associated with the master brand. The master brand equity can be used, or each brand extension can develop its own independent strategy. An example of an endorsed brand is Marriott: Marriott also is an example of ‘Hybrid’ brand: one employing more than one model of brand architecture. While the majority of its brands are explicitly endorsed by Marriott, brands like Sheraton live under the parent in a ‘House of Brands’ category. Sub BrandSub brands are related to a parent brand, and both support and benefit from that parent. Sub brands tie back to the parent brand’s qualities, values, and message, while also having their own unique qualities. Apple, for example, has multiple technological products. While these products may not have Apple in their name, they are branded as Apple and promote the parent brand. Apple is not a product itself, but each sub brand takes advantage of Apple’s brand equity, and releases different products to cater to many consumer segments.
Branded HouseThe branded house offers a very logical path to brand extensions, as the master brand is always present. Take FedEx, for example. Each brand offers a different (but complimentary) service to the master FedEx brand. The credibility of the master brand is shared, and each brand helps build equity for FedEx. Large vs. Small CompaniesThere is a myth that brand architecture can only benefit large companies. When you have a vision for where your company is going, no matter your size, part of that vision should be brand architecture. Do you want your two or three product lines to be related to each other? If you were to acquire a competitor or expand into a new marketing, would these new brands detract from the perceptions you own now? Can each brand stand on its own, or would an endorsement from your ‘parent’ help by carrying the weight of your loyal following? Can we use multiple brand architectures?The more architectures you layer on, the more complex your story gets. The real compass of brand architecture decision-making is threefold:
While implementing two types of brand architecture is common – i.e. Marriott – it’s rare to see an effective company that layers on more than that. If you’re struggling to limit yourself to two types of brand architecture, it’s worth evaluating your system collectively. Dropping one may unlock the same effect that adding a third would, and it will help simplify your structure and storytelling. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:
Branding is an act of contraction – ensuring that each company’s brands make sense in relation to one another. While it may seem that marketing and branding compete with each other in their goals, they actually help each other: Brand is the foundation, and marketing is the rocket fuel. Wondering which brand architecture makes the most sense for your business? We can help! Name That ArchitectureHave you mastered brand architecture? Let’s play #NameThatArchitecture! Choose the most dominant brand architecture type for each of these: Answers: Branded House, Sub Brand, Endorsed Brand. How did you do? Bonus Points: Amazon also employs a House of Brand models for brands like Kindle and Whole Foods, just like Kellogg’s does for Morning Star and Austin. * All trademarks are property of their respective owners.** This post was originally published on Jan 8, 2019, and has been updated to reflect the landscape of brand architecture in 2021.What do you call a company with multiple brands?Umbrella branding (also known as family branding) is a marketing practice involving the use of a single brand name for the sale of two or more related products.
What is it called when a brand has other brands?Co-branding is a marketing strategy that utilizes multiple brand names on a good or service as part of a strategic alliance. Also known as a brand partnership, co-branding (or "cobranding") encompasses several different types of branding collaborations, typically involving the brands of at least two companies.
What is a multiWhat Is a Multi-Brand Strategy? Having a multi-brand strategy means having a portfolio of products with different brands or names, all owned and managed by the same company. An example of this is Nestlé, with a multi-brand portfolio of over 2000 different brands, including Nespresso and KitKat.
What are mixed brands?Mixed branding is a type of branding strategy that involves using two or more brand names to market the same product to different audiences. Companies may determine that their brand identity doesn't align with an audience segment that it wants to target.
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