The Brand Apartment

Build brand architecture using the right design of product-market context

Brand architecture becomes complex as more product lines are introduced. Effective brand management involves understanding the brand in the context of both the product and market and designing the portfolio structure and portfolio graphics.

Product-Market Context Roles

There are four sets of these roles that work together:

• Endorsers and Sub-brands: This is an established and long-standing brand that provides credibility and substance to the offering (Compaq gets credibility when Intel endorses it). The sub-brand modifies the associations of the master brand to relate to a specific context.
  
• Benefit Brands: This is either a branded feature (Lakme Revolutionary Lip Gloss), component ingredient (Videocon’s Bazooka) or service (Ford’s Quality Care) that supplements the brand offering. A branded benefit becomes powerful when it adds the ‘extra something’ to the product or service.
  
• Co-Brands: Co-branding takes place when brands from different organisations combine to create an offering in which each plays the driver’s role in pushing the brand forward. The co-brands could be in various combinations: One can be a component or ingredient brand (Tarla Dalal’s Cake mixes with Nestlé’s Chocolate) or an endorser (such as Intel for Compaq). It can also be a combination of brands in a single product. (Look at credit cards with multi-brands on one card - Visa, MasterCard and Citibank.) Co-branding enhances associations between the brands.
  
• Driver Brands: The driver role represents the extent to which a brand drives the purchase. It defines the experience and hence commands more loyalty than the others. These driver brands have priority in brand building. Brand architecture also defines the prime responsibility of that brand.

Brand Portfolio Structure

Brands in a portfolio share a relationship with each other. The question is: Do these relationships lead to confusion or clarity in the consumer’s head? Does a brand portfolio structure provide a sense of order and purpose to the entire organisation? There are three varied approaches to understand the brand portfolio structure:

• Brand Groupings. A brand grouping refers to a coming together of brands that have common characteristics. The groupings provide logic to the brand portfolio and help guide them over a period of time towards healthy growth. Segment, product and quality that are common across brand groupings play a major role in defining the market structure.
  For instance, Nike has a set of brands grouped around applications in daily lives - individual sports, outdoor activities etc.
  
• Brand Hierarchy Trees. This has two dimensions - the horizontal focus reflects the endorsed or sub-brands that reside within the umbrella or family brand. (For instance, Colgate Gel, Colgate Super Shakti all reside under the family brand – Colgate). On the other hand, on the vertical dimension are a number of brands and sub-brands required for single-market entry. The brand hierarchy tree provides direction to plan the number of brand extensions and how resources should be distributed among them.
  
• Brand Range. A major issue is the extent to which endorser or driver brands must be extended. To what length can they be stretched in other territories or product categories? Which brands can be leveraged?
  For instance, Amul is a master brand with a driver role i.e. everyday use, easy-to-prepare meal solutions for the entire Indian household, extending to cheese, butter, and other dairy products.

Portfolio Graphics

Visual representations of a brand are called portfolio graphics. The identifying logos, trademarks, packaging, symbols, product designs, taglines and even the touch and feel aspect of the product are all included in portfolio graphics. These are helpful towards building a strong brand, and drive the purchase toward the brand.

The unique shape of Tupperware containers, the Swoosh of Nike, the colour blue which is synonymous with IBM, are all signs of strong pictorial brand associations.
When compared to Indian Airlines logo, the Jet Airways logo definitely stands out, because of its relative signage.

Changes in brands and brand management systems are but obvious, especially with regard to the varied functions a brand performs. Hence the role of brand architecture is to maintain equilibrium between so many brands within and outside the organisation. In the new world of competition, survival essentially depends upon the effective management of brand architecture.

Related Reading:
“Brand Leadership”; Aaker, David and Joachimsthaler, Erich; Free Press; August 2000.