Brand Architecture Strategies Flashcards
what is brand architecture
relationship between brands within an organization and how they interact with one another
3 Steps in developing a brand architecture
Step 1: Defining brand potential
Step 2: Identifying brand extension opportunities
Step 3: Branding new products and services
3 important characteristics of defining brand potential
- Brand vision (long - term view, what possibilities are) (aspirational but attainable)
- Brand boundaries
–>Broad brand (transferable POD) - Brand positioning
–> what should you be offering
–> think about market coverage
key ingredients of defining brand potential
- Competitive frame of reference
- POD
- POP
- Brand mantra (emotional, functional, descriptive modifiers)
brand equity implications of each extension needs to be understood in terms of:
(a part of identifying brand extension opportunities)
- Points-of-parity
- Points-of-difference
New products and services must be branded in a way to maximize the brand’s overall _________
clarity
branded house strategy
Umbrella corporate or family brand for all its products
–> strong master brand name along with product designation
- capitalizing on brand loyalty
- consumers care more about central brand promise than actual product/service features
- ex. FedEx
house of brand strategy
Collection of individual brands all with different names
sub-brands
Brand extension in which the new product carries both the parent brand name and a new name
- tie back with value, message, but have own values as well
- look at individual brands to see about own impressions of sub brand (ie Apple Watch might not have same quality impressions as iPhone)
brand portfolios
Includes all brands sold by a company in a product category
how is a brand portfolio judged?
by its ability to maximize brand equity
what criteria should the brands in a porfolio satsify
- Any one brand in a portfolio should not harm or decrease the equity of the others
- Ideally, each brand maximized equity in combination with all others
Reasons for introducing multiple brands in a category (4)
- Increase shelf presence and retailer dependence in the store
- Attract consumers seeking variety who may otherwise switch to another brand
- Increase internal competition within the firm
- Yield economies of scale in advertising, sales, merchandising, and physical distribution
what are some possible special roles of brand in the brand portfolio
- To attract a particular market segment not currently being covered by other brands of the firm
- To serve as a flanker and protect flagship brands
- To serve as a cash cow and be milked for profits
- To serve as a low-end entry-level product to attract new customers to the brand franchise
- To serve as a high-end prestige product to add prestige and credibility to the entire brand portfolio
- To increase shelf presence and retailer dependence in the store
- To attract consumers seeking variety who may otherwise have switched to another brand
- To increase internal competition within the firm
- To yield economies of scale in advertising, sales, merchandising, and physical distribution
What are the 4 kinds of brands in a brand portfolio?
- Flankers
- Cash Cows
- Low-End, Entry-Level
- High-End, Prestige Brands
flankers
- newly launched brand in an area/category where you already have a brand
- protective or “fighter” brands
why are flankers introduced
- introduced to try to augment market share
- can protect companies’ existing brands’ price premiums
- To create stronger points-of- parity with competitors’ brands
characteristics of fighter brands
- Fighter brands must not be so attractive that they take sales away from higher-priced comparison brands
- If connected to other brands in the portfolio, must not be designed so cheaply that they reflect poorly on other brands
cash cows
- brands that have reached maturity in product life cycle but are no longer continuing to make money
characteristics of cash cows
- Despite dwindling sales, some brands are retained
—> Due to their sustainability with virtually no marketing support
—> cheaper to keep these brands than introducing complete new brands
-Milked by capitalizing on their reservoir of existing brand equity
low-end, entry level brands
Role of a relatively low-priced brand is to attract customers to the brand franchise
high-end, prestige brands
- Role of a relatively high-priced brand
- To add prestige and credibility to the entire portfolio
-halo effect
levels of a brand hierarchy from top to bottom (5)
- Corporate or Company Brand Level
- Family Brand Level
- Individual Brand Level
- Modifier Level
- Product Descriptor
corporate or company brand level
- Highest level of hierarchy
- Corporate image:
- **Consumer associations to the company or corporation making the product or providing the service
- ** Relevant when the corporate or company brand plays a prominent role in the branding strategy
not always present in branding
family brand level
Used in more than one product category
* But is not necessarily the name of the
company or corporation
* Also called a range brand or umbrella brand
- If the corporate brand is applied to a range of products, then it functions as a family brand too
- If products linked to a family brand are not carefully considered, the associations to the family brand may become weaker
individual brand level
- Restricted to essentially one product category
–> * Although multiple product types may differ - Customization of the brand and all its supporting marketing activity
- If a brand runs into difficulty or fails, risk to other brands and the company is minimal
- Disadvantages of difficulty, complexity, and expense of developing separate marketing programs
**each brand has dominant position in its own category
Modifier level
Must further distinguish brands according to different types of items or models
*Modifier
* Designate a specific item or model type or a particular version or configuration of the product
- Function of modifiers is to show how one brand variation relates to others in the same brand family
- Help make products more understandable and relevant to consumers
product descriptor
- Helps consumers understand what the product is and does
–> Helps define relevant competition in consumers’ minds - In the case of a truly new product, introducing it with a familiar product name may facilitate basic familiarity and comprehension
what are the 5 challenges in setting up a brand hierarchy? ( ie what do you have to decide)
- Specific products to be introduced for any one brand
- Number of levels of the hierarchy to use
- Desired brand awareness and image at each level
- Combinations of brand elements from different levels of the hierarchy
- Best way to link any one brand element to multiple products
Guidelines for Brand Hierarchy Decisions (ie which principles to consider): 1. Decide on which products are to be introduced
- Principle of growth: Invest in market penetration or expansion versus product development according to R O I opportunities.
- Principle of survival: Brand extensions must achieve brand equity in their categories.
- Principle of synergy: Brand extensions should enhance the equity of the parent brand.
Guidelines for Brand Hierarchy Decisions (ie which principles to consider): 2. Decide on the number of levels.
- Principle of simplicity: Employ as few levels as possible.
- Principle of clarity: Logic and relationship of all brand elements employed must be obvious and transparent.
Guidelines for Brand Hierarchy Decisions (ie which principles to consider): 3. Decide on the levels of awareness and types of associations to be created at each level.
- Principle of relevance: Create abstract associations that are relevant across as many individual items as possible.
- Principle of differentiation: Differentiate individual items and brands.
Guidelines for Brand Hierarchy Decisions (ie which principles to consider): 4. Decide on how to link brands from different levels for a product.
- Principle of prominence: The relative prominence of brand elements affects perceptions of product distance and the type of image created for new products.
–> visibility
Guidelines for Brand Hierarchy Decisions (ie which principles to consider): 5. Decide on how to link a brand across products.
- Principle of commonality: The more common elements products share, the stronger the linkages.
corporate image dimensions
- Common Product Attributes, Benefits, or Attitudes
- People and Relationships
- Values and Programs
- Corporate Credibility (trustworthiness, likeability)
components of managing the corporate brand
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Image Campaigns
- Corporate Name Changes
brand product-matix and brand hierarchy help businesses to do what:
- Evaluate and create structures in business’ portfolios
- Gain a clearer overview of their brands and future brand extension
- Assess the brand’s key features and differentiations with the competitors, and given room for improvement for further product development
- Prevent brand-clash, in which businesses are offering the similar features or PoDs of a product or service of an already existing brand
what is the main difference of different brand architectures
dominance and emphasis of parent brand
what is a problem with the branded house strategy
- dilution
- whenever have problems with one are, more spillover, the whole branded house pays the price (this doesn’t really happen with sub-brands)
what to think about when deciding positioning/category for brand extensions
want to minimize overlap while also maximizing market coverage
–> each brand should have its own target market and positioning
to which kind of brand architecture is central brand promise very important
branded house
