Every powerful and enduring brand owes its success to a well-crafted brand architecture. The way master brands and sub-brands are organized profoundly influences a brand's overall identity, its connection with customers, and its longevity.
While brand architecture might not always be immediately noticeable, when done right, it silently guides consumer perceptions and fosters loyalty. In today's digital age, where brand equity holds exceptional value, a strong brand architecture is more crucial than ever. Think of it as the sturdy foundation that houses all the brands within your company's portfolio. You want this foundation to be rock-solid, durable, and built to last.
This article acts as your roadmap to creating a brand architecture that not only captures attention but also leaves a lasting impression on your audience. Join us as we explore the key types of brand architecture, principles, strategies, and tools needed to construct a comprehensive structure that excels in today's competitive marketplace.
What is a brand architecture?
Brand architecture is a strategic framework that profiles a company's structure, including the arrangement of its different brands and product lines. As a foundational element of brand management, brand architecture helps businesses manage and communicate its brand portfolio to consumers, stakeholders, and employees.
The main goal of brand architecture is to create clarity, consistency, and synergy in how brands and sub-brands are presented to the market. Key components of brand architecture strategy include:
- Corporate brand: The overarching brand representing the entire company.
- Product brands: Individual brands or product lines that a company offers.
- Sub-brands: Variations of core product brands.
- Brand extensions: Related products or services introduced under the same brand name.
- Endorsed brands: Cases where a corporate brand endorses or lends its name to certain product brands without entirely subsuming them.
- Co-brands: Two or more brands coming together to create a new product or service.
Brand architecture guides strategic decision-making in terms of how businesses leverage their brands, allocate marketing resources, and communicate with their target market. By creating a clear, unified brand identity that resonates with customers, organizations can reinforce their overall mission and values.
Types of brand architecture
Companies have the flexibility to select from a variety of brand architecture frameworks that align with their business strategy and the dynamic relationships between their brands. Here are the main types of brand architecture:
Branded house
In the branded house model, the company leverages its corporate brand across all product and service offerings. There is little distinction between the corporate brand and the individual products or services. For example, IBM's corporate brand is closely associated with all of its products.
House of brands
The house of brands strategy entails operating multiple brands, each with its unique brand identity and positioning. All brands fall under the same umbrella brand but may not prominently display the corporate brand. Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a widely known corporate brand that owns numerous individual brands, including Tide, Gillette, and Pampers — each with its own brand personality.
Endorsed brands
An endorsed brand is when the corporate brand provides endorsement or credibility to individual products or services. In this strategy, the corporate brand is present but not dominant. Microsoft utilizes the endorsed brand model with products like Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows.
Hybrid brand architecture
Some companies combine the strategies above to create a unique, hybrid brand architecture. They may have a mix of branded house architecture, house of brands, and endorsed brand elements within their brand portfolio. This mix allows the company to address diverse business needs and market dynamics within their brand portfolio.
Benefits of a strong brand architecture
A well-designed brand architecture strategy offers a variety of benefits to enhance your overall brand management and market presence. Whether you are working with a sub brand, house of brands, branded house or something in between, a cohesive branding structure will improve your brand messaging consistency. It ensures that all communication is consistent and aligned with the company's values. A structured framework provides clarity for brand managers and marketers, helping them maintain a uniform and cohesive brand identity across all touchpoints.
As you develop your brand strategy, don't forget to focus on customer recognition and loyalty. The right brand architecture strategy will help build customer trust and confidence.
When customers consistently encounter clear branding and messaging, it makes it easier for them to understand the relationship between sub brands and their parent brands. Consumers tend to develop stronger emotional connections with brands they can easily recognize.
Brand architecture models allow companies to utilize the equity of an existing brand when introducing new products or services. This reduces the risk of brand dilution during brand extension because parent brands can endorse new sub-brands. Brand extensions are typically more cost-effective and have a shorter time to market when an established parent brand supports them.
Steps to build a strong brand architecture
Building a strong brand architecture is all about crafting a defined framework for your entire brand family. Effective brand architecture examples provide clarity, consistency, and a strong brand identity. Below are the key steps to building a powerful brand architecture model.
Conduct a brand audit
Before you start creating your brand architecture, it's essential to assess your existing brands and their performance. Identify all brand elements, including corporate, product, and sub-brands, to understand their strengths, weaknesses and relationships. Additionally, get insights into how customers perceive your brands by analyzing market perception.
Define brand positioning
Determine distinct brand identities by defining your unique selling propositions. This should include what makes your brand valuable to customers, especially against other brands. Understanding your audience is another key aspect of brand positioning, allowing you to tailor your brand to customer buying behaviors.
Establish brand hierarchy
A structured brand hierarchy defines the relationships between separate brands, including parent and subsidiary brands, as well as product and service brands. Determine how each type of brand fits within your brand portfolio.
Design visual and verbal identity
Your brand strategy should include consistent visuals and verbal messaging. Develop logos, color schemes, and design elements to unify multiple brands within your portfolio. Define the tone that aligns with your brand's offerings and positioning so that it resonates with your audience.
Implement consistent brand guidelines
Once you've successfully defined brand architecture, ensure that it's consistently applied across all brand touchpoints. Internally, educate your employees on the master brand and brand portfolio, defining their role in maintaining consistency. Externally, apply brand guidelines to all marketing materials and brand assets.
Common mistakes to avoid
Understanding the basics of branding will help you avoid common pitfalls when it comes to brand architecture. To develop clearly defined brand architecture, avoid making these mistakes:
Lack of consistency
Consistency is the cornerstone of a successful brand architecture. Failing to maintain consistent branding can dilute your brand's impact and confuse consumers.
Ignoring customer feedback
Because your customers are one of the most valuable sources of insights, ignoring customer feedback can be detrimental to your brand. Actively seek out customer feedback through surveys, social media, and direct communication.
Overcomplicating brand structure
Overly complex brand architecture types can confuse both internal and external stakeholders in regard to all the brands. A cluttered brand architecture model may lead to inefficiencies and complicate the relationships between the parent company and sub brands.
Tools and resources for building brand architecture
When it comes to building a successful brand architecture, there are many tools and resources available to support you. Whether you've chosen the house of brands architecture, a branded house, endorsed brands, or a hybrid brand architecture, lean on different resources to enhance your consistency.
Branding agencies can offer strategic guidance, creative design, and a wealth of expertise to ensure your brand architecture aligns with your business objectives.
Another great resource is branding workshops or training sessions. Hands-on guidance enables you and your team to develop a better understanding of brand architecture principles.
When creating brand architecture, online tools and platforms can assist in designing visual identities, creating brand guidelines, and managing your parent brand and sub brands digital presence. Effective online tools offer all-in-one solutions, enabling you to integrate different services seamlessly for achieving your overarching goals.
With Mailchimp's suite of marketing tools, you can create and communicate a compelling brand identity to your customers through email marketing, audience segmentation, and more.