Brand Architecture

Brand architecture refers to the structure of the hierarchy and inter-relationships among various brands owned by your business. Advance planning your business' brand architecture is strategic in that it exploits the potential impacts of a parent brand's visibility, pre-existing brand awareness and reputation on other brands as you grow. This matter is ideal for businesses of any size, even ... or perhaps I should say, especially small businesses. Previously, I discussed the Ansoff matrix of growth strategies as they relate to different levels of risk (of failure). Brand architecture strategy can manage some of this risk. How you plan to group them into families and establish hierarchy is somewhat like family planning.  You can create support systems of brands that end up stronger than otherwise. This type of planning is even more critical today in a very noisy marketplace.

This post will discuss types of structure with 1) branded house and 2) house of brands structures existing on extremes of each other. Specifically, while the branded house structure presents support and safety, the house of brands presents complete freedom and independence. In-between these two extremes are 3) endorsed brands that have the best of both worlds to varying degrees and 4) hybrid brands.

1) Branded house  (brand support & safety net)

A branded house aka an umbrella of brands refers to a set of subordinate brands that are exposed to the public as being clearly derived from a visible master brand. The subordinate brands are derivatives of the master brand. Sub-brands may retain some aspect of the master's brand personality in that they often look and feel similar. Sometimes, the name of the master is integrated into the names of its sub-brands. However, they vary slightly to accommodate their own specific individual personality. I think of them like a close-knit family household with a shared culture but still every family member does his or her own thing. They all live under one roof with a placard hanging from it with their name. Each time a new member brand is 'born', the pre-existing brands give the new brand an unfair advantage into the market through familial association. The benefits include the following.

+ Each sub-brand can appeal better to its unique segment. It can therefore exist as a standalone brand. 

+ Each new sub-brand benefits from the brand awareness and strong reputation of the master brand. It does not need to start from scratch in building trust. This minimizes the greater risk asspcoated with risky growth strategies like diversification. As previously discussed with the Ansoff matrix, there is an elevated risk of failure with growth strategies. The benefit of this was evident in the new product development case of FedEx Office, whose offering is unlike all the other sub-brands. 

+ Consumers can easily make the connection among the sub-brands and remain likely to buy and use entire families. Examples include Google and Microsoft.

Master brand

• sub-brand 1
• sub-brand 2
• sub-brand 3

FedEx (master brand)

• FedEx Express
• FedEx Ground
• FedEx Freight
• FedEx Trade Networks
• FedEx Office

With only a small color variation, the affiliation with the FedEx parent brand is unmistable. 

Marriott (master brand)

• JW Marriott
• Courtyard
• Marriott Executive Apartments

Google (master brand)

• Google Docs
• Google Analytics
• Google Forms
• Google Adsense
• etc

Other examples

• Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, etc)
• Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc)

2) House of brands    (freedom & independence)

Unlike the branded house, a house of brands is like a  structure with different households of extended family members. Each household has its own entrance and living area but remain aware of each other. Specifically, the master brand is largely invisible from the public thereby allowing sub-brands to look and feel very different and unrelated to each other. In other words, the average consumer is unaware of the relationship between the various sub-brands. In many cases, consumers do not even know the name of the master brand,

> The business can use ostensibly unrelated brands  to reach far more different segments. Segmenting  the market with different brands avoids confusion in the minds of consumers, especially when some aspects of the unique value proposition (UVP) of one brand may be deemed unaligned with another. For instance, if a business' core value involves veganism or some other 'ism that is a deal breaker for its sensitive market regarding the related core values but it wants to compete in non-vegan markets, that business will be better off creating an apparently different non-vegan brand. As evident in the case of BMW and Mini Cooper, the segments are very distinct. These diametric segments allow the business to exploit other areas in the market. 

+ From a brand risk management perspective, this structure avoids the risk of a harmed reptutation if one brand encounters bad experiences in the market. This is ideal when some of your brands are in industries that carry greater risk levels of bad press, product liability, etc.

+ This structure allows brands to become more diversified. This is evident in cases like Unilever (below), whose sub-brands have even diversified in to entirely different industries.

+ To an extent far greater than branded house cases, unrelated brands can be even more individualized to target more precisely to segments or niches in ways that would have been impossible if they had remained connected with other brands. In other words, consumers can be clearer about each brand's offering. To extend this facility, BMW further created its numbered series which go even further in allowing consumers to figure which one is right for them and to have aspirations of upgrading, which many people do.

- Having multiple standalone brands requires a larger investment of time, human resources and finance (than the alternative option of piggy backing off of master and or sister brands).

UniLever (master brand)

• Dove
• Lynx
• Ben & Jerry's
• Flora
• Lipton

P&G (master brand)

• Duracell
• Pringles
• Gillette
• Febreze
• Ariel
• Pampers

BMW (master brand)

• BMW
• sub-brands
• Mini Cooper
• sub-brands

3) Endorsed brands    (in-between)

This 'endorsed' brands exist somewhere in between the 2 extremes, enjoying the best of both worlds. It is like the grown child who lives in an apartment in her parents' house. Sub-brands like this enjoy independence but still have the safety net of the parent brand. 

There is no one fixed extent to which endorsements occur. Some master brands are more visible than others. In such cases, the master brandname is used as a prefix for the new brand. On the other extreme within this gray area, the master brand's visibility is limited to a mention in barely legible print on the back panel of a sub-brand's product label.

Some of the cases listed above should arguably be placed in this section.

Apple (master brand)

• iPad
• iPhone
• iMac
• Aoole Watch
• Apple TV

4) Hybrid brand structure    (combination)

A hybrid structure combines the 2 extremes much like a household with some grown independent children in their own apartments and otherse still living in their parents' household.  

CONTENT RELATED TO BRAND ARCHITECTURE

• Ansoff Matrix, a tool of strategic growth that can result in the creation of different brands with different levels of risk.
• branding 101'
• Brand personality
• Brand Positioning, Strategy
• Brand style guidelines
• core values.
• mascot
• brand voice (tagline, campaign slogans)
• brand strategies (lifestyle branding)
• products (product mix)
• brand story
• Abovementioned case studies in other content

• Apple
• FedEx
• Google
• Marriott
• Mimi Cooper
• P&G
• Unilever