Brand architecture is the strategy used to help marketers determine which product to introduce and which brand elements to apply to new and existing products. The goal is to organize the structure of a company’s portfolio, which can have brands and sub-brands. This will ensure that marketing reinforcement is done by the brands to maintain and strengthen brand associations.
As a brand, you want to create a brand architecture to help with staying organized and seeing how your brand is seen from a customer’s point of view. This will help in finding opportunities within the organization. It will also benefit in managing the perception of the brand and all offering done within the organization.
There are different type of architecture:
Branded House: The master brand is always represented, and it’s linked to extensions within a brand. Meaning the company is its own brand, and some products and services are extensions to the brand. For example, Google, you have Gmail, Google Ads, Google Maps, etc.
Sub-Brands: The brand will use a branded house strategy for its offering. For example, Apple, with its iPad Pro. iPhone, iWatch, etc.
Endorsed Brand: Are brands that are own by a parent brand but have their own brand identity but emphasize the parent corporate brand — for example, Residence Inn Marriott, ExecuStay Marriot, Courtyard Marriott. Marriott is the parent brand, but the others are their brand.
House of Brands: These will have a parent brand and manages sub-brands. For example, P&G is the parent brand of Tide, Olay, Bounty, Pampers, to name a few.
Creating your own brand architecture will allow you to have synergy among brands. This will help with knowing the relationships between your different brands within the same family.