This presentation follows the one on brand differentiation and deals with the subject of brand integration between product and corporate brands, between several corporate brands within a conglomerate, and with newly acquired brands. It attempts to explain the need for brand integration and ways in which it can be achieved. You will find links to the relevant pages on my blog site, where I have written more in detail on the brands concerned.

1. Brand Integration
A presentation about brand building by Geeta Sundaram

2. In recent years, brands have not merely gained importance due to valuations, they are often
drivers of growth for companies and also represent intellectual property as intangible capital.
However, in the flurry of buying and selling of brands between companies as well as the
launching of new product brands, what is often forgotten is how these brands add value to each
other and to the company as well.
The following slides try to explain what brand integration is, how product and corporate brands
are related, ways to achieve brand integration as an evolutionary and dynamic process.

3. Brand integration is a method or mechanism that enables a corporate brand to better
integrate or connect with its product and service brands.
Not to be confused with integrated brand communications which refers to brand
communication across media channels and communication disciplines, brand
integration is a way for companies to find synergy, and connect with, their product
brands. It could even be a way for a conglomerate to better integrate its various group
companies/divisions in terms of building brands.
It is also not about merging brands, though those could well be special cases when
brand integration can be considered.
What is brand integration?

4. - Because it helps companies keep their product brands and corporate brands
together, as in keeping the flock together
- Because it facilitates the easy transmission of brand values from corporate
brand to product/service brand and vice-versa
- It enables easy comprehension by the consumer of the brand’s positioning
and all that it stands for, through the common values that are stressed upon.
Why brand integration?

5. - In a previous set of presentations, I had shared how product and corporate brands share a
relationship where brand associations and values tend to rub off on each other
- Ideally, corporate brand values should trickle down to product brands and product brands’
positioning and values should reflect the corporate brand
- This means working on product/service brand strategies that reflect the corporate brand
values which then get carried through into communication
- Equally, it could also mean that companies promote those brands that best reflect their
corporate brand values and positioning, rather than only those that do well in the
marketplace
- In fact, quite often those brands that do well in the marketplace best reflect the company
- Brand integration helps make all this a bit more of a science than merely lucking into a
happy coincidence.
How corporate and product brands are connected

6. - Work on corporate brand strategy first and finalise brand positioning and corporate brand
values
- Communicate these to all stakeholders
- Work on product brand strategies and values that best reflect the corporate brand values
- In cases where product brand strategies are already decided (for example in the case of
acquired brands, or those that have historically occupied a certain brand positioning), tweaking
product brand values and strategies in order to align them better with the corporate brand
would be required, followed by a product brand relaunch
How brand integration can be achieved

7. - Identify product brands that best reflect corporate brand positioning and values and promote
those with larger investments and communication budgets
- The last mentioned is even more important when target audiences for product brands and
corporate brands are likely to belong to similar demographic and psychographic profiles and
consume the same kind of media.
As we can see, it’s all about communicating a well-harmonised brand message to the
customer/stakeholder.
How brand integration can be achieved (contd.)

8. - A brand must have been acquired because it promises growth for the company in a
new direction, or because it has important intellectual property, that the company
can leverage to create still new products
- Acquired brand has strengths in either new product category, or new geographical
markets that can help company establish/strengthen its credentials in the new line of
business/market
- Company has strengths outside of that new category, and perhaps even connected
with it
- Brand integration would help combine product brand and corporate brand strengths
in a symbiotic way that will enable both to travel in the same direction in future.
Brand integration in case of acquired brands

9. Here are some examples of brand integration of acquired brands that I have worked on
and some that I would recommend
- Jaguar Land Rover with Tata Motors and the Tata Group. Jaguar Land Rover itself having
been formed after the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors, the
integration is through their individual brand positionings and common brand values
- The Pierre, New York with Taj Hotels. The Pierre having joined the Taj brand of hotels,
is to be integrated through common brand attributes and through certain Taj features
being introduced at The Pierre, as well as at all international Taj hotels
- Seagram corporate brand at the time of its launch in India. Here, the company itself
was launched through its best known international brands, so that when product brands
(all prefixed with Seagram) were launched in India, consumers would see all of it as an
integrated brand
Examples of brand integration with acquired brands

10. - Maggi and its integration with Nestle (never been attempted properly, though I had
recommended it at Perfect Relations, Delhi in 2007)
- Sony the corporate brand and its various divisions/companies is an integration that is long
overdue. Since the 1980s, when the company acquired CBS in the US, it has owned some of
the richest content in music, cinema and news broadcasting, along with sports, in the US
and has not capitalized on it. Therefore, still seen as a maker of televisions, since that is the
product they advertised most.
This, when technologies were converging and media and entertainment are all delivered
through the internet now.
Brand integration with acquired brands (contd.)

11. -- Here, company would identify its best brands, those that have the potential to
best reflect the company, its positioning and brand values
- This might even include some newly acquired brands.
- These product brands would be better known and better regarded than the
corporate brand and therefore presents an opportunity to integrate them through
the relevant set of attributes and values.
Brand integration to improve corporate brand profile

12. Examples of integration I would recommend
- Jaguar and Land Rover and JLR with Tata Motors, the parent company
- The Pierre, New York and Taj Hotels
- Sony, and what might have been, had they integrated their brands
- Chivas Regal and The Glenlivet for Pernod Ricard, the new owners of these
brands, since the acquisition of Seagram
- Parker and Waterman for Newell Brands and Rubbermaid

13. - Usually, a company is known by the products it makes, but
occasionally, it could also be that a company that was highly
regarded in an industry is suddenly faced with stiff/disruptive
competition in the market at the product brand level
- Here brand integration could help by leveraging corporate
brand strengths to maintain/improve product brand position
Brand integration to improve existing
product brand profile

14. Examples of integration to improve product brand
- Vodafone-Idea and Airtel using integration to improve their product brands,
which are suffering hugely from Reliance Jio onslaught in India. Unfortunately,
the new merged brand, Vi, is not the solution to the problem
- Tata Motors transferring some of its corporate brand attributes and values to
the passenger vehicle range in India
- Mercedes-Benz using AMG as a weapon in its arsenal to take on competition
and tackle its ageing. Must be used very carefully and tactically, though, as AMG
values are quite opposed to those of Mercedes-Benz.

15. - In a true conglomerate, it is the corporate brand that rules, with all other brands
subservient to it
- However, even in the case of large corporate groups or industrial houses, there
is a need for brand integration between the various group companies
- While they might all be in different sectors and therefore addressing different
customer segments, they must reflect the brand positioning and values of the
larger corporate group
- Here brand integration would help each company stand apart in its own
industry, yet stay aligned to the values and positioning of the overall group.
Brand integration between corporate brands
in a conglomerate

16. Examples of such brand integration possibilities
- GE, Philips, Siemens
- In India, all the industrial houses and large corporates such as Tata,
Aditya Birla Group, Reliance, Mahindra, and others would be candidates
for intra-group brand integration
- In luxury, LVMH, Kering, Richemont
- Japanese and Korean conglomerates

17. - The biggest danger is in not being able to capitalize on synergies and
alignments between brands
- There is a huge opportunity cost to that
- The other danger lurking could be a product brand strong enough to march
off on its own, unless management is conscious of it, or is desirous of it
- These are what could be called stand-alone brands and they exist either
because they enjoy undisputed leadership positions in their industries or
because they were acquired brands and never integrated well in the first place
- Sometimes, they could have a following quite distinct from that of the
company
Dangers of not integrating brands

18. - Brands like Maggi, Fastrack, AMG have the potential to be
stand-alone brands and do not need the corporate brand for
survival
- In the case of Fastrack, it might have been a deliberate
decision to separate Titan from Fastrack, which besides being
unwise, also seems a missed opportunity to me
- Titan Fastrack represented Titan’s chance to make a serious
foray into fashion with just watches and sunglasses that made
for a particular lifestyle.
Examples of stand-alone brands

19. - Most of all, because most companies don’t think of themselves as brands
- Brands are usually only product brands that are the concern of the marketing
department
- Many companies haven’t taken the trouble to understand how product and
corporate brands are connected
- Therefore, they don’t or can’t see the benefit of integrating them, or simply
haven’t considered it.
Why brand integration is neglected

20. - Keep trying to make client organisations see the benefit of first
building their corporate brand
- Demonstrate ways in which product brands and corporate brands are
connected at every opportunity
- Work on corporate and product brand strategies that are aligned and
integrated to help companies realise the value of brand integration
- Keep adding value to their corporate and product brand strategies in
ways that are linked.
What can be done about it?

21. For more on brand building, visit the Business and Brands page on my
blog, www.peripateticperch.com