OPEN SOURCE
Session Four :
Understanding Brand Architecture
Idris Mootee CEO Idea Couture Inc.
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Sept 21, 2007

All brand names mentioned and logos included in this presentation are registered trademarks of their
respective owners and are legally protected. Their inclusion in this presentation is only for the purpose of
illustration, criticism and analysis.
Disclosure: Starbucks, Nike, Kitchen Aid, Jordan, Virgin, BMW, Nintendo, Crate & Barrel are clients of
Blast Radius Inc. which I was formerly employed as Senior VP and Chief Strategist. The mentioning of
these names are solely for academic purposes and should not be considered as case studies. The
material here was prepared solely with public information supported by the author’s analysis during the
writing of the book 60-Minute Brand Strategist which was published in four languages. Other brand names
including Levis, Apple, Mercedes Benz, Sony, Coca Cola, Macys, Target, Daimler Chrysler, Citibank
mentioned here were at some point a client of mine in association with previous firms under which I was
employed or co-founded. No confidential or proprietary information were used or mentioned here.
This series of presentation is designed to provide relevant and up-to-date information for brand and
marketing practitioners and it is not to be used in marketing or rendering of professional services. Some
rights reserved. Idris Mootee 2001-2007. Presentation can be freely embedded in any website or blog
under creative commons license with prohibition of any commercial use.
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What is Brand Architecture?
It is the logical, strategic and relational
structure for all of the brands in the
organization’s brand portfolio. The
objective is to maximize clarity,
synergy and leverage to maximize
customer value and internal
efficiencies.
Master brand
Subbrands
Product brands
Stand-alone brands
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Why: A clear brand architecture is to
help structure a brand's position both
now and for the future helps
management in the task of building that
brand and ensuring that everyone within
the organization as well as their ad
agencies are working to a common and
clearly understood goal.
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Why do we need one? Consider GM has
32 brand names, P&G has hundreds,
BMW has 3, Nintendo has 2 and
Starbucks has 1. It gets more and more
complicated as most companies have
multi-brands from merger and
acquisitions, aggressive brand
extensions due to pressure for quick
profits and increasing complex structures
involving sub-brands, endorsed brands
and co-brands.
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Developing brand architecture: Often
the task includes periodic regrouping
multiple product groups, brand families,
reposition them to reflect their role in
the market and to create a structure for
immediate successful marketing. The
establishment of a clearly understood
and coherent brand architecture creates
the structure within which the vital day-
to-day tactical decisions can be made.
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Brand architecture is strategic: Because
many marketing (channel, pricing,
advertising and promotions) decisions
are mostly tactical in nature, without a
well organized brand architecture in
place, these day-to-day tactical
decisions become strategic and long-
winded in nature.
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What are main advantages of
developing a brand architecture?
1. It helps everyone in the
organization see and understand all
the connections between corporate
brands, sub-brands and master
brands.
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What are main advantages of
developing a brand architecture?
2. It makes decision making easier
when it comes to allocating and
sharing marketing resources such as
advertising and promotions.
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What are main advantages of
developing a brand architecture?
3.Protect brands by being over-
leveraged and being diluted by over-
stretching communications
messaging and graphic design
options.
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P&G’s brand architecture effectively
manage the relationships between
product, brands and market segments.
Head and Shoulders dominates the
dandruff control shampoo category and
Pert Plus targets the market for combined
shampoo and conditioner. Pantene is
positioned as a brand with a technological
heritage and the benefit of hair vitality.
These brands basically optimizes their
brand coverage instead all products under
a P&G brands.
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House of
Branded Brand Separation Spectrum
Brands
House
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The biggest mistake for any brand
portfolio is not having a brand
architecture. One can allow each brand
to be managed in isolation simply
because what is right for an individual
brand may be wrong for the portfolio.
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It is very difficult to generalize what and
how to put a vast number of brands in
categories and wed sets of them and their
relationships into a composite brand
architecture. Each industry and category
context is very different. The tendency is
towards having a “master brand” and only
when there is a compelling need for a
separate brand is one considered since
there is a lot of money involved in the
building of a new brand.
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Four steps to optimize your brand
architecture?
1. Start by looking at different ways to
look at segmentation and map your
brand portfolio to those
segmentations.
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Four steps to optimize your brand
architecture?
2. Examine segments with the most
profitability and/or growth potential,
then identify where your leadership
brands can provide the best leverage.
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Four steps to optimize your brand
architecture?
3. Synthesize those information and
perform analysis to see if there are
sufficient growth opportunities in
those leadership brands to make up
for the revenue-losing brands.
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Four steps to optimize your brand
architecture?
4. Explore opportunities to reduce
those underperforming brands by
extending those leadership brands or
opportunities for new brands for any
underserved segments.
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How often people want to create
another new brand? So the big
question is can the business support a
new brand? The needs usually consist
of one or more of the following:
- Create and own a different set of associations
- Develop a totally new product offering or a category
- Avoid conflict in brand association and identities
- Avoid channel conflict
- Create a price-driven label for competitive reason
- Fulfill needs for new geographies or unique customer
segments
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Brand Separation Spectrum
House of House of
Endorsed House
Branded
Sub-brands Brands
of Brands
House
Same Different Strong Linked Token Shadow
Umbrella Co-Drivers Not
Identity Identity Endorsement Name Endorsement Endorser
as Driver Connected
Gilette
Buick Thomson
Tide
GE Capital Courtyard Grape Nuts
BMW DKNY
Sensor
LeSabre (GE)
(P&G)
GE Appliance By Marriott from Post
Club Med Sony
Sony Lexus
HP Obsession by Saturn
McMuffin
Sony Singles v. Playstation
Trinitron (Toyota)
DeskJet Calvin Klein (GM)
Couples
DuPont Touchtone Nutrasweet
Friends & Docker's
Levi – Europe
Virgin Nestea
VW Beetle Stainmaster (Disney) (G.D.Searle)
Family by MCI LS&Co.
Levi – U.S.A.
Branded House of
House Brands
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A Brand Architecture Provides Structure and Clarity
Brand Separation Spectrum
House of
Branded Sub- Endorsed House of
Branded Sub- Endorsed
Brands
House Brands Brands Brands
House Brands Brands
The “LaserJet” is a ‘Marriott’ plays a
All products carry P&G is not
name of a product lesser role than
GE name (except represented
that is ‘equal’ with CourtYard
NBC)
HP
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Valentino Brand Architecture Support Market Positioning
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Sony Brand Architecture Provides Category Focus
Sony chooses a single-minded, powerful and yet
flexible architecture and leverages their corporate
brand in many different ways.
Corporate
Umbrella as Driver
Endorser Brand
Ingredient Brand
Shadow Endorser
Co-Brand
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Intel Brand Architecture Informs Platform and Pricing Decision
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FedEx Brand Architecture Provides Structure and Clarity
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Marriott Brand Architecture Provides Structure and Clarity
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Session four of eight.
For notes and discussion visit
www.mootee.typepad.com
Idris Mootee CEO Idea Couture Inc.
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