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Brand architecture refers to the structuring and organization of a company's product/brand portfolio—naming, positioning and marketing of the products. It establishes a hierarchical relationship among a company's brands. While brand portfolio refers to the actual basket of brands of a company, brand architecture determines how the brands are mutually related. Depending on business needs, the individual brands in the brand portfolio may be added, deleted or extended to new categories. But the brand architecture would remain comparatively unchanged for long periods and would serve as a guiding framework for brand portfolio management.
The
first possibility is that all products/services of the company
carry the same brand name, usually that of the company/organization
itself. For example, all products/services of IBM carry
the company name and there are no distinct brand names for
individual products/services.The
second approach would be to have endorsed branding strategy.
Here, the products carry a dual brand name—a specific
brand name for the product to aid unique identification
and positioning, preceded by the company name for indicating
the source and authenticity of the product. Nestle KitKat,
for example, would fall under this category.
The
third method is to have independent brand names for each
of the products, with no reference to the source/company.
Unilever and Procter & Gamble are classic examples of
companies that follow this kind of a branding framework.
Here, each brand has its own distinct identity and are marketed
with their own unique positioning. This model offers two
distinct advantages. The company can have multiple brands
in the same product category—catering to different
segments. Any negative downturn of an individual brand does
not directly affect the company's image. The principal disadvantage
is that a much larger budget would be required to build
and support several brands with distinct identities and
positioning. |
