Think of Brand Architecture or Brand Structure as a brand’s family tree or its hierarchy. It is how an organization organizes the various named entities within its portfolio. Ideally, the brand architecture is simple with no more than two levels: brand and sub-brands. In fact, brand/sub-brand is the type of architecture most often used. It takes many forms, mostly based upon the type of name used for the sub-brands. Some organizations add a third level: named products. But, any more than two levels can be confusing.
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The four general types of architecture are:
(a) Master Brand/Branded House,
(b) Brand/Sub-Brand,
(c) Endorsed Brand, and
(d) Separate Stand-Alone or Independent / House of Brands.
Brand architecture addresses the following:
• number of separately named entities,
• criteria for becoming a separately named entity,
• levels of relationships between separately named entities,
• naming and other brand identity conventions for each level, and
• the nature of the relationships between the named entities at different levels.
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