Brand Architecture

What is Brand Architecture and why is it important?

Brand Architecture is the structure of brands within and organisational identity.

It is the way in which the brands in a company portfolio are related to – or differentiated from – one another. The architecture should define the hierarchies within an organisation: how the ‘parent’ or corporate brand works in synergy with the sub-brands; how they support or detract from one another; how the sub-brands reflect or strengthen the strategic objectives of the corporate brand to which they belong.

Brand architecture has long been regarded as a static fixture, clearly categorised, with fairly low priority given to proactive management despite the fact that the brand architecture of most organisations is always a legacy of past and present, and can often provide an opportunity for significant value creation if managed properly. In addition to this, organisations today navigate far greater complexity in rapidly changing markets; because of this, brand architecture should be fluid and reactive in order to continually leverage maximum value.

Brand Structures

If a company has a single brand that appears on all its products or services, it is known as corporate brand (or umbrella or family brand), working in a monolithic structure. A corporate brand identifies the organisation as the supplier of each product or service in its portfolio.

Other companies will use a corporate brand to identify all of its products, but it will also use another brand for each individual product. These individual brand names are known as sub-brands or endorsed brands: they are subordinated to the corporate brand, so in the mind of the customer, they will not exist independently from the corporate brand.

Other brands will operate as ‘stand-alone’ brands, where each individual brand within a portfolio operates independently under its own brand ethos, building up its own customer loyalty and identity with no dependence whatsoever on the organisation it belongs to.

Choosing which type of brand architecture to use is a critical decision for a corporation. Using a corporate brand makes it easier to introduce new products to consumers who are already familiar with the company, and may engender a greater level of customer loyalty and trust. However, adopting an individual brand strategy eases new brands into the company’s product mix in the event that another company is acquired, and allows a company to integrate new products that are outside the scope of its core business. The strategy of the sub-brand bridges the gap between corporate branding and individual branding. The selection of a brand architecture is not easily changed, so companies must consider carefully the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

It is important to bear in mind the equity associated with a brand when realigning the architecture; it must be determined both by logic and sensitivity to the emotional attachment customers may have to any element of the portfolio.

What we do

Brand Architects help organisations take control of their brand equity through proper understanding and subsequent management of their organisational structure.

By clearly defining the parent brand through our rigorous processes and establishing the guiding identity and strategic objectives of the organisation as a whole, we can interrogate the role of individual brands and align the overall portfolio into a coherent architecture that powerfully supports the newly defined brand strategy. Using our experience and expertise, we work from the inside out to establish core strengths, cultural traits and market opportunities. This ensures that the brands we create are the most effective ones available to our clients: providing the strongest possible point from which the overall architecture can be determined and managed to both protect and enhance the overall equity while leveraging the strength of each individual sub-brand.