By: Liz Olsen, Head of Strategy at Siegel+Gale

The world of brands inside a business can be a complex place. With today’s customers, business or individuals, constantly inundated with marketing stimuli, understanding brand and discerning one from one another can be difficult. While good marketers go deep into the brands they work with, this can sometimes make it harder to see the complexities that people on the outside are confronted with. Brand and marketing owners need to provide clarity. 

Brand architecture is a process, and ultimately a tool, for organising all the different assets that make up an overarching brand ecosystem within a company. It helps inform which brands should be linked together, which ones should be kept separate, and which ones might not be providing value at all anymore. When the right set and structure is achieved, the highest-value brands can propel each other forward in the marketplace, often with a higher-level, consistent and compelling story. 

Arguably sometimes not as intuitive as other strategic frameworks, brand architecture is valuable. Via a sometimes-theoretical nature initially, this element of brands strategy is great for bringing order from chaos, but ultimately provides its value for driving clear, tactical actions and guidance for a set of brands. 

Guiding order and expression 

Deployed in the world, a strong brand architecture should be easy to navigate for customers and other stakeholders. As a framework, it is not ‘the end’ when visualised onto a summary page, but rather must be clearly activated. A useful brand architecture is a living, dynamic tool that can be used to make brand decisions both strategic and creative.  

When simple and clear, architecture is a guideline that explores and demonstrates how to create inspiring creative content that is faithful to the structure underpinning, ensuring that all brands within the portfolio are portrayed in their given roles and relationships to each other. 

We find that visualising your architecture with your most common and useful visual and experiential notionals makes it real, especially in the midst of significant changes or additions to a portfolio. 

Classic models of brand architecture 

The branded house. 

This is typically a corporate brand with sub-brands operating structurally below in the hierarchy, often sharing a name with the corporate brand. Virgin is a classic example of a branded house. With Virgin Money, Virgin Media, and Virgin Active as representative examples, each sub-brand is instantly recognizable by both its name and its penchant for the classic virgin-red in logo and visual identity. Having a strong, overarching corporate brand allows new brands to quickly springboard from the success and brand halo of their siblings. Word of warning though, that conversely, damage to the corporate brand or even a subsidiary can have knock on effects throughout the ecosystem. 

House of brands. 

This model sits at the other end of the spectrum. Instead of operating closely to the corporate brand, portfolio brands tend to exist on their own with no clear or discernable links. This model is classically seen in FMCG, where strong, successful product brands are the assets of value, having been operating highly distinctively and separately under a corporate brand for long periods of time. Product brands within a house of brands don’t have the luxury of utilizing the success or halo of their corporate umbrella, or their product-level siblings. However, they also avoid the risk of being associated with problems or risks that may arise for other brands in the portfolio. 

Hybrid models: Defining endorsement. 

Here we land in the middle of the spectrum, where most more complex brand portfolios are likely to sit. Sub-level brands sit under the umbrella of a corporate brand, and the connection between these brands may vary more than in a branded house, though stronger than a house of brands. Michelin, with its tires and it star guide, is a good example of a hybrid system of endorsed brands that still create some important distinctiveness to build credibility in different businesses. 

Creating a good brand architecture 

Lead with simplicity 

We believe in the power of simplicity, of building and structuring brands around a simple truth. Although important to ensure a leveraging of the power of brands across a portfolio, less is usually more. The most valuable brands are those that can stretch as necessary and allow you to remove brands that add more complexity than value. 

Reinforce the strategy 

Alongside evolving customer expectations, linking brand structure to strategic imperatives like brand purpose and business priorities is key to creating consistency and clarity. 

Protect the core 

Ensure you understand and protect the core of your business – don’t change what’s working for connecting to customers and building your business. Keeping what works allows space for flexibility to try new things as well. 

Create a flexible future 

When developing architecture, consider the evolving business and industry. Define brands for growth so that the architecture can support a future growth view, not just the present. 

Bring the outside in 

Spend time understanding what customers want, and prioritise the external view of your internal structure (often, easier said than done). Today’s technology allows us to parse clear communications from customers. Capitalise on this opportunity and align with how audiences buy and engage with your brands. 

More on architecture 

For more thinking and practical tips for simple, impactful brand architecture from Siegel+Gale, check out our recent white paper.