Brand Architecture: How To Turn Chaos Into Clarity
Companies develop brand architectures to sell different products or offer different services that need to be in some way structured.
Brand architecture simply brings order to chaos.
Brand architecture refers to the hierarchy of brands within a single company.
At some point, you can come to the conclusion that what you do is not just one company.
And that you offer different products or services and they need special attention.
So how do you organize your offerings, divisions or products?
That’s what we call brand architecture — the interrelationship of the parent company, subsidiary companies, products, and services within one organization.
What are the types of brand architecture?
We can distinguish three different ways to organize brands within a company.
Types of brand architectures:
These are the three basic types and they each have different strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes companies use a combination of the above — Alphabet is an example of a hybrid architecture.
So in this article I will describe each type of brand architecture and give you some examples so that you can get a sense of how to use them to structure your organization.
Remember to start with developing your brand strategy first, which will allow you to make more meaningful decisions when it comes to your brand architecture.
1. Monolithic Brand Architecture
Monolithic architecture (or branded house) is characterized by a strong, single master brand.
Brand extensions use the parent’s identity with descriptors.
FedEx is an example of a monolithic brand architecture.
In this type of brand architecture the master brand takes under control of the whole operation.
All brands bear the parent brand’s name — it’s always visible.
Benefits of using monolithic brand architecture:
- Customers make choices based on brand loyalty.
- Features and benefits matter less to consumers than the brand promise.
This type of branding is also known as an umbrella or a corporate brand.
In this model the parent brand and all sub-brands are clearly from one organization.
Famous brands that use monolithic brand architecture:
- Google — Google Maps, Google Ads, Google Pay
- GE — GE Healthcare, GE Energy, GE Aviation
- Virgin — Virgin Mobile, Virgin Records, Virgin Media
The risk of alienating customers that have already made up their mind about a specific brand
2. Endorsed Brand Architecture
Endorsed architecture is characterized by marketing synergy between the product or division, and the parent.
The product or division is endorsed by the parent company.
Apple is an example of an endorsed brand architecture.
Endorsed Brand Architecture.
This type of brand architecture simply contains independent brands which are endorsed by an organizational brand.
Benefits of using endorsed brand architecture:
- The endorsement adds credibility to the sub-brand.
- The new brand is linked to the positive equity from the existing brand.
- Allows to compete in the market without alienating the existing audience.
The difference to monolithic branding is that endorsed branding will use a parent brand that can sometimes be hidden.
However, in general, we all know the master brand but it
Famous brands that use endorsed brand architecture:
- Apple — iPay, iPad, iPhone
- Marriott — Courtyard, Fairfield, SpringHill
- Nestle — Nesquik, KitKat, Cheerios
The benefits are that the new brand is linked to the positive equity from the existing brand.
3. Pluralistic Brand Architecture
Pluralistic brand architecture (or house of brands) is characterized by a series of unrelated brands.
The name of the parent is invisible, new brands are developed.
This program doesn’t rely on the master brand at all, but instead, each sub-brand gets its own image.
Procter & Gamble is an example of pluralistic brand architecture.
This type of brand architecture simply contains independent, unconnected brands.
Benefits of using pluralistic brand architecture:
- Each independent brand can maximize its impact on the market.
- Avoiding a brand association that is incompatible with an offering.
- Owning a new product class by using a powerful name.
A company that launches different brands in different segments usually needs to create separate brands in order to position well in different markets and to different customers.
Famous brands that use pluralistic brand architecture:
- Procter & Gamble — Gilette, Tide, Old Spice
- Unilever — Dove, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s
- Coca-Cola — Sprite, Powerade, Fanta
Did you know that the Volkswagen Group owns Audi, Bentley, Skoda, Volkswagen, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Ducati?
Leave a comment below.
[Click here to continue reading this article on my blog…]
Clap if you liked it 👏
