Brand Architecture: Building Brand Value

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Brand architecture often comes down to an evaluation of tradeoffs. In my experience, there’s rarely a cost-free benefit or a no-foul cost. That’s why I have found the concept of brand value so helpful. It focuses on the net effect of an initiative -- are the benefits worth more than the costs of getting those benefits or are cost-saving initiatives doing more harm than good?  

Brand value has been defined by C.W. Park, professor of marketing at USC Marshall School of Business, as: “The difference between customers’ willingness to bear the costs to obtain the brand’s benefits and the firm’s costs expended to create these benefits.”  

A house of brands strategy -- as exemplified by P&G and its huge range of brands, from Tide to Crest to Gillette -- benefits from the fact that each brand has a focused positioning, but it costs a lot to market all these different brands. So P&G (and other packaged goods manufacturers) have been aggressively reducing their brand portfolios. This strategy has a cost -- there are lost sales and share from the discontinued or sold-off brands, and the remaining brands can become overextended. But so far, the benefits seem to be worthwhile, and brand value has been increased.

On the other side of the spectrum, the single brand strategy of Accenture is very efficient, and pours all the equity into a single brand. But the downside is that it’s more difficult to highlight specific areas of competitive advantage. Single branded companies typically allow brand architecture “exceptions” when they decide that, for example, folding an acquired brand into the existing business will cost too much in terms of lost brand equity -- or that one business does not fit well with the remainder of the portfolio and must be kept at a distance.

Some common drivers of the benefits and costs of brand architecture initiatives are:

Increasing benefits

1. Targeting the drivers of specific product categories

2. Targeting the needs of specific consumer groups

3. Focusing attention on product innovation or other areas of competitive advantage

Reducing costs

1, Reducing marketing costs necessary to support multiple brands

2. Reducing the management costs of running a complex brand portfolio

3. Reducing buying costs by giving customers fewer options so that they can find what they’re looking for more quickly

One common brand architecture issue is brand proliferation. Over time, either through organic growth or acquisition, companies increase their portfolio of brands and eventually find that the cost of supporting and managing all these brands is impacting business performance.

This issue is particularly well-served by brand value thinking -- anything that dies not add value should be eliminated. Brand value puts the burden of proof on keeping brands that add complexity and cost for little benefit. For growth-minded companies that are prone to brand proliferation, it provides a useful check and a source of control.

Brand value also puts a premium on simplicity. The simplest brand architecture will be the least expensive solution, so it should be the default choice, all things being equal. All other things may, of course, not be equal -- there can be strong arguments for more brands. But since brands are a source of cost and complexity, they should only be added or kept if the benefit outweighs the costs incurred.  

In terms of an overarching principle, brand value thinking says that businesses should cover the market and target consumer groups with the least number of brands necessary.  Fewer brands are easier to manage, less expensive to operate and create stronger pools of brand equity. Less, in brand architecture terms, is often more.

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2 comments on "Brand Architecture: Building Brand Value".

1. Gregory Zimmer from Coho Creative
   

   commented on: March 28, 2012 at 5:55 p.m.
   Good article! We need to keep coaching companies on the value of brand architecture work for their business, and that this also is work that should be led by experts. It's a challenge though. Too many corporations don't understand what it really is, and too many agencies/firms who claim to do this work, mistakenly use the term to describe executional activity like package design. It's REALLY about defining (and making choices), stretching (where to play and NOT play), and strengthening a brand's portfolio to fulfill its potential with its target consumers. As you discuss, if done right, Brand Architecture can provide a foundation for sustained, long-term brand equity growth. Thank you for the thought leadership!
2. Martin Bishop from Landor Associates
   

   commented on: March 29, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
   Gregory: Thanks for your comment and I agree that one challenge is that "brand architecture" covers a wide territory from the strategic to the tactical. Job#1 on a brand architecture proposal is to find out what kind of architecture help the client really needs.

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