Brand Architecture | The Power of Well-Defined Brand Architecture for Your Business
A framework called brand architecture
Brand architecture is a framework that organizes brands, products, and services to make them easily recognizable and relatable to customers. By engaging with or learning about one brand, consumers can develop ideas and preferences for the entire brand family, thanks to a well-defined brand architecture.
Well-designed brand architecture can benefit brand expansions, sub-brands, and new product development. It also serves as a roadmap for brand identity development and design, reminding customers of the entire brand family’s value proposition while maximizing brand value by using corporate and sub-brands to their fullest potential.
Effective brand architecture is an integrated system of names, symbols, colours, and visual vocabulary inspired directly by the customer’s cognitive process.
At Absolutecreative.ca, we could write a book on brand architecture, like most marketing subjects. However, we’ve provided enough information to serve as a helpful starting point, although some details have been omitted.
Brand expansions, sub-brands, and new product development all benefit from a well-defined Brand Architecture. It will also serve as a roadmap for Brand Identity development and design, as well as a reminder to customers of the whole brand family’s value proposition. It also maximizes brand value by utilizing both corporate and sub-brands to their greatest potential.
An integrated system of names, symbols, colours, and visual vocabulary inspired directly by the customer’s cognitive process is effective brand architecture.
We at Absolutecreaive.ca, like most marketing subjects, could write a book on it. As a result, some detail has been left out, but we have attempted to give enough information to serve as a helpful starting point.
What is master brand in brand architecture?
The master brand is the top-level corporate brand that encompasses all other sub-brands and goods. The master brand is used to sell a company’s many goods under the same name. The product connection of these trademarks with the master brands makes it simple for buyers to recognize the brands.
Customers link the larger brands’ brand characteristics with the smaller brands. However, in order for all of this to happen, buyers must leave a favourable review for the master brand. One of the primary tentpoles in brand architecture is masterbranding, which seeks to connect a company’s product lines with the core values the brand symbolises.
In effect, a master brand generates a single corporate trademark for a diverse range of items throughout a portfolio of offers. The goal is to bring together affiliates under the master brand, even if they operate independently and fulfil quite diverse roles. If done effectively, customers will quickly link related brands with the master brand’s attributes, even if just subconsciously.
The following are some of the benefits of using the master brand strategy in brand architecture:
- There is a greater awareness of the brand
- Customer feedback is used to improve customer communication
- The marketing expenditures associated with establishing a brand identity are minimised
- Mergers of brands are made simple when they are required
What is extension brand in brand architecture?
A marketing technique in which a company that markets a product with a well-developed image utilizes the same brand name in a new product category is known as brand extension or brand stretching. A spin-off is the name for the new product.
This approach is used by businesses to boost and utilize their brand equity. Jello-creation gelatin’s of Jello pudding pops is an example of a brand expansion. It raises brand exposure and profits by allowing the company to offer products in many categories.
While brand extension techniques might have considerable benefits, they can also have major hazards, resulting in a diluted or badly damaged brand image. Poor brand extension decisions can dilute and degrade the main brand, resulting in a loss of brand equity.
The majority of the research focuses on customer perceptions and their beneficial influence on the parent brand. In practise, brand expansion failures outnumber achievements by a factor of two. According to certain research, negative effect can sully brand image and equity. Despite the benefits of brand extension, bad associations and an ineffective communication strategy hurt the parent brand and even the brand family.
3 types of brand architectures
Within a corporation, there are 3 distinct methods to arrange brand architecture.
- Monolithic or Branded house architecture
- House of brands architecture
- Endorsed brand architecture
The branded house
A parent brand—usually one with considerable clout—runs the show in the branded house. All of the sub-brands report to the parent brand, and they generally have the same name as the parent brand, with a qualifier to describe what each sub-brand performs.
Advantages and disadvantages of branded house
Companies that offer several services or products under one branded organisation might profit from a Branded House approach, which includes:
1- Every offering is covered by a single marketing strategy and a single brand code
2- By having all offerings under the same brand, confusion and competition are minimized
3- Consumers are more likely to accept change from companies they currently trust; thus, a strong brand may lead to better success for future services and new goods
Despite the fact that Branded House tactics make sense for many organisations, there are still a few problems to consider.
1- Your products and services are linked to the public impression of your brand, causing some customers to take an all-or-nothing approach.
2- If the parent brand is weak or underperforming, a fantastic product won’t guarantee tremendous success.
3- Uncertainty about your brand’s mission (for example, Apple: Is it a computer company? Or is it a music store? Or a phone maker?)
FedEx’s branded house architecture
One example of a branded house is FedEx. FedEx Express, Ground, and Freight are just a few of the company’s sub-brands. As seen by the logos below, any brand extension is obviously FedEx first, followed by any other sub-brand. FedEx is always written in large letters, with the name of the sub-brand written in smaller form beneath.
Google’s branded house architecture
Google features a number of other sub-brands, such as Google Drive, Calendar, and Translate. This brand behemoth understands the importance of keeping its name connected to everything it does. Despite the fact that brand extensions such as Drive and Calendar are well-known on their own, Google is always placed before the name of the sub-brand in any branding.
Apple’s branded house architecture
Apple offers a number of goods; however, the iPhone, MacBook, and iPad are all identical to the company’s main brand. Apple’s branding is consistent across all of its sub-brands. All of the goods have Apple’s logo on the back.
The branded house in brand architecture is often the most effective brand approach. Rather than being split across numerous teams for various brands, all resources are dedicated to the single brand. Google and Apple are both big brands, so there’s a good possibility of making a good first impression.
The House of Brands
A Branded House is the polar opposite of a House of Brands. A House of Brands, in contrast to a Branded House, retains the focus on a single, well-known, and consistent brand, is home to several brands, each with its own audience, marketing, look, and feel.
A House of Brands is exemplified by P&G and Unilever. You wash your clothes with Tide, not P&G’s Tide Detergent, for example. You bathe with Axe, not Unilever Body Wash, when you’re an adolescent trying to impress someone. Many major consumer firms benefit from a House of Brands, although it is not appropriate for every brand.
Marriott is another company that has successfully implemented this strategy throughout its portfolio of brands, which includes anything from the high-end Ritz-Carlton to the business-class Courtyard.
Advantages and disadvantages of house of brands
As part of brand architecture, a House of Brands approach may provide organisations with a range of offers the freedom and flexibility to flesh out each brand individually. The following are some of the advantages:
1- A better capacity to establish distinct target groups and offer goods that expand a brand’s demographic reach
2- Businesses may take greater chances with new products since they know they can fall back on strong, well-known brands if required
3- In the event of negative news, the individual brand may bear the brunt while the company’s reputation is preserved
It’s not simple to keep a brand alive. It might be difficult to keep track of all of them. When building a House of Brands, there are several factors to consider.
1- Creating and implementing numerous marketing strategies, as well as maintaining different service lines, is time-consuming and expensive.
2- Because the parent business has less clout, it can’t be counted on to boost the image of individual brands.
3- There may be a lot of uncertainty over who represents the parent business (do they represent the brands, or do the brands represent the firm?)
We at Absolutecreative.ca, provide you anything you need from logo creation, slogan statement writing to branding strategy and brand architecture.
P&G is a good example for house of brands
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American global consumer products firm headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. William Procter and James Gamble started the company in 1837. It focuses on personal health/consumer health, as well as personal care and hygiene goods; these products, as a brand architecture, are divided into many categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine, & Family Care. Pringles’ product portfolio includes food, snacks, and beverages until it was sold to Kellogg’s. P&G is based in the state of Ohio.
Tide, Ariel, Bounty, Pampers, Crest, Gillette, Venus, Oral-B, Braun, Head and Shoulder, and so many other skincare and grooming devices are produced under P&G’s umbrella.
The Endorsed Brand
Endorsed brands, sometimes known as endorsed branding, is a phrase that has developed with the sector. As a discipline, branding attempts to simplify the meaning of organisations, and endorsed branding is a method that can help accomplish that goal. Flexible frameworks are necessary when organisations change and their portfolios of brands expand in order to keep things simple. This is a feature of brand architecture that allows for different tactics to be implemented.
There is a parent brand and related subsidiary brands in an endorsed brand architecture, each with its own market presence. The sibling brands profit from their parent brand’s affiliation or endorsement. Within an endorsed brand architecture, the ties between sibling brands are frequently mutually advantageous, with one benefiting from the strength of the other. Kellogg and Nabisco are two examples of companies that proudly display their parent brand’s name on the packaging of their goods.
This method of packaging products under a master brand is more versatile. Brand extensions have their own identities and may or may not be connected with the parent brand, depending on the situation. This allows you to have autonomous brand extension plans while still leveraging the master brand’s value when it’s appropriate. Toyota, with its Lexus and Scion brands, is an excellent example.
What is the purpose of brand architecture?
Companies combine with one another and acquire new businesses and goods, which complicates branding, nomenclature, and marketing decisions. Marketers, cost, time, and legal consequences are all factors considered by decision makers. Brand architecture isn’t only for the world’s finest brands or for-profit businesses. Any expanding firm or institution must choose which brand architectural plan would best support future development.
What Is the Best Way to Create a Brand Architecture?
It takes a lot of study to figure out the best structure for your brand. You must have a thorough grasp of your brand strategy, positioning, and offerings. Before deciding on brand architecture, consider the following questions:
- What are the advantages of sticking to a single brand name?
- Is it necessary to separate the new business from the parent company?
- Will customers be confused by co-branding?
- Should we alter the name or capitalise on the company’s current brand equity?
- Should we keep the parent business in a secondary position at all times?
- What is the best way to market this new acquisition?
Absolutecreative makes impossible possible
It’s not simple to create a strong brand architecture, which is why Absolutecreative exists. Finally, it’s about analysing your brand’s subtleties and, through thorough research, determining how to effectively use each of its offers to benefit the total. You may reduce the risk associated with any altered brand architecture by carefully evaluating each of the critical criteria outlined above.
We, at Absolutecreative.ca create brand architecture and brands themselves that have their own life. They remind us of youngsters. They go from us and make their ways into the world. Now, how successful they are is a reflection of how much good we have invested in them.
We’re not talking about good in the sense of well-behaved kids, we’re talking about good in the sense of correct, as in having the proper approach.
Understanding who you are as a company and what makes you unique, who your rivals are, who you’re trying to reach, and who your main customers are all our duties to make impossible possible for you and your company.