Lately, I’ve been posting about brand management, how to build a brand, and why strong brand-building is essential for digital campaigns for brand equity. The brand constantly has different products, and they are branded under the brand. For example, Coca-Cola has Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and others. Also, BIC company is known for being a pens company, but they have lighters and magic clicks, among other things. How do these brands or companies know how to create these products? How do they know how to name and brand it or even how to sell it?
Companies or brands must develop a brand architecture strategy to make this happen effectively. Based on the Strategic Brand Management book by Kevin Lane Keller and Vanitha Swaminathan, a brand architecture strategy will help marketers determine which products and/or services to introduce and which names, logos, symbols, and so forth to apply to new and existing products. The role of brand architecture is to clarify brand awareness and to improve brand image. Clarifying brand awareness will improve consumer understanding and communicate similarities and differences between individual products and services. The brand image improvement will maximize the transfer of equity between the brand and individual products and services to improve trial and repeat purchases.
The following three themes are the core to developing a brand architecture strategy.
Step 1: Defining brand potential in terms of a market footprint
Step 2: Identifying brand extension opportunities or selecting the product and service extensions that will allow the brand to achieve that potential
Step 3: Branding new products and services, including deciding on the branding elements and positioning.
When considering step one, marketers should define the brand potential by giving thought to the brand vision, boundaries, and positioning. The brand vision is how management sees the brand’s long-term potential. Meaning how well the organization is able to recognize the current and possible future brand equity. Sometimes, brands have huge potential for brand equity, and management never realizes it or is unwilling to consider what the brand could and should become. To do this, the brand’s limits should be known to understand how brand architecture can shift the boundaries of the brand and how to transcend their initial market boundaries to become much more. A good example is Starbucks. Starbucks has gone from being only a coffee shop location or coffee company to a lifestyle company offering more products and environments to study, work, or meet with someone. To make this happen, the brand boundaries must be defined. Marketers can do this by asking themselves what products or services they can offer based on the brand’s vision and positioning and will satisfy a need. For brand positioning, marketers must be specific on the brand vision using the typical key four ingredients (part of building a strong brand): the competitive frame of reference, point of difference, point of parity, and brand mantra.
Step 2 is identifying brand extension opportunities, which means identifying or creating new products and services to achieve that potential through a well-designed and implemented brand extension strategy. This new product for the brand extension must be made under the main brand. This brand extension can be identified as line extensions and category extensions. Line extensions are when a new product is introduced under an existing category. For example, Coca-Cola has to diet Coke, which is still a soda. Category extensions are new products introduced outside an existing category. For example, Apple introduced iPhones after computers were already on the market. Nike is a company that has implemented both extensions. They started with running shoes and then expanded to clothing, accessories, other types of shoes, and more. The key to making an effective extension is to understand equal implications per each extension in terms of points of parity and points of difference.
The final step for the brand architecture strategy is to decide on brand elements to use for any particular new product or service under the associated brand. What is going to be the logo? The color? Or the name? How is the product package designed? How will all these branding elements be applied to the new product? Most companies start applying what is called a sub-brand. This is an extremely popular form of brand extension in which the new product carries both the parent’s brand name and a new name. The perfect example of this is the Kisses from Hershey.
A lot of companies do the third step in different ways. Not only do companies do sub-brands, but also branded houses endorse brands and houses of brands.
1. House of Brands: Imagine a big house with many rooms. Each room represents a different brand. In a house of brands, several separate and distinct brands are under one company’s roof. Each brand has its own identity, logo, and products. They might be completely different from each other and target different groups of people. It’s like having a big family where each member has their unique personality and interests. A good example is Amazon with Amazon Prime, Amazon Bookstore, etc.
2. Branded House: Now, picture a house where everything looks the same inside. The furniture, decorations, and colors all match perfectly. In a branded house, there’s one leading brand, and all the products or services that the company offers carry the same brand name and visual identity. It’s like every room in the house has the same style and theme. Everything feels connected and consistent, like a big happy family where everyone shares the same traits and values. An example of this is Frito Lays. They have Doritos, Lays, Ruffles, Cheetos, and more.
3. Endorsed Brand: Imagine a famous person you admire. They might endorse different products or companies by putting their name or face on them. In an endorsed brand strategy, a company uses the credibility and popularity of a well-known brand to endorse or support its other products or brands. It’s like having a trusted friend vouch for something new you’re trying. The endorsement adds value and trust to the product or brand, making people more likely to give it a chance.
So, whether it’s a house full of unique brands, a unified branded house, or a product endorsed by a famous name, these are all different ways that companies organize and promote their brands to make them stand out in the big business world.
Doing a brand architecture strategy will help companies grow and manage a brand portfolio that will increase the brand equity as a whole.
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