Brand architecture

In the marketing field of brand management, brand architecture is the structure of brands within an organizational entity. It is the way brands within a company's portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. According to J.-N. Kapferer, the brand architecture should define the different leagues of branding within the organization;[1] how the corporate brand and sub-brands relate to and support each other; and how the sub-brands reflect or reinforce the core purpose of the corporate brand they belong to. Often, decisions about brand architecture are concerned with how to manage a parent brand and a family of sub-brands – managing brand architecture to maximize shareholder value can include using brand-valuation model techniques.

One may regard the designing of a brand architecture as an integrated process of brand building through establishing brand relationships among branding options in the competitive environment.[2] The brand architecture of an organization at any time is, in large measure, a legacy of past management decisions as well as of the competitive realities brands face in the marketplace.[3]

  1. ^ Kapferer, Jean-Noël. (1994) [1992]. Strategic brand management : new approaches to creating and evaluating brand equity. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-02-917045-1. OCLC 29389852.
  2. ^ Fournier, Susan (March 1998). "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research". Journal of Consumer Research. 24 (4): 343–353. doi:10.1086/209515. ISSN 0093-5301.
  3. ^ Rajagopal; Romulo Sanchez (2004). "Conceptual analysis of brand architecture and relationships within product categories". Journal of Brand Management. 11 (3): 233–247. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2540169. S2CID 167718768. Archived from the original on 2009-10-25. Retrieved 2009-09-20.