WASHINGTON DC — For just about any CPG baking company, the brand is everything. How a company builds, develops and maintains that brand is critical to the course of its business.
During an Emerge CPG webinar, Fred Richards, founder of The Hive Principle, outlined the key components of brand architecture and how those components can successfully build off one another.
By “architecture,” a company should consider how a brand is built, how it functions and what it stands for. According to Richards, building an architecture for a brand is the most practical way to manage the perception of a business, its growth potential and the relationships that exist within the business itself.
“You should be able to understand, on a page, who owns what — and why — and what the relationship is to each product offerings,” Richards said. “It’s as basic as that.”
While the concept may be simple, there are a host of factors to consider for ensuring a company — especially a commercial bakery producing a multitude of SKUs — designs an architecture that perfectly suits its brands. And with a host of architecture styles to choose from, the process to achieve the right one can have several layers to it.
“Understanding, visualizing and explaining your brand architecture can actually help you manage your portfolio more effectively,” he said. “It helps you document who you are, why you’re right — and your offerings are right — for your consumer and how your marketing design strategy will play out across the portfolio.”
This is especially important for companies who are selling products into multiple categories. In that respect, a clear brand identity is critical for creating perceived value across those categories.
“If you’re an early-stage CPG brand, and you have six SKUs, you want to be able to solve for those six SKUs while keeping an eye on your product development where even more products might be in the pipeline,” said Julie Pryor, Emerge Network CEO and host of the webinar.
Richards noted that there are four key components to a brand architecture: master brand, sub-brand, parent brand and umbrella brand.
The most common master brand would be Apple, whose products have the “i” commonality with the iPhone, iPad and so on. A sub-brand concept would pertain to the auto industry, with a make-model architecture. Meanwhile, Mondelez International represents a parent brand, where each product portfolio lives in its own right. Lastly, a prominent umbrella brand is Coca-Cola, which endorses the beverage brands it owns.
Then there are three types of architecture: branded house, endorsed brand and a house of brands. While a branded house looks something like FedEx, then Proctor & Gamble is an illustration of a house of brands. Each type has its own pros and cons, depending on a company’s strategic goals.
A branded house comes with strict brand standards for aspects such as color, typography and message. That’s great news for a company seeking solid brand recognition regardless of the category, market or region. However, that rigidity is restrictive and could leave little room for adjustment should the brand wind up with something negative associated with it.
A branded house must be built with some element of flexibility, and it must know its core consumer and need state beyond a shadow of doubt.
