1. Compare the brand strategies and architectures of different companies. How and why are they different?
The definition of Brand Architectures:
Brand architecture refers to the hierarchy of brands within a single company and brings consistency.
FedEx Branding Strategies:
FedEx’s branding is focused on the frustration that is present in every office around the world, and how FedEx can make it better. After looking at hundreds of branding examples from FedEx, we found that most of their ads follow the same formula. It starts by identifying a business problem that FedEx can solve, and then follows up by ridiculing the most dysfunctional thing about office life.
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FedEx Branding Architectures:
Their operating companies and portfolio of solutions all falling under the name of the master brand. FedEx Express, Ground, Freight are all examples of sub-brands within the corporation. Each brand extension is clearly FedEx first before any other sub-brand. FedEx is always in large font, with the name of the sub-brand underneath in smaller text. This structure makes for a consistent experience, minimizes confusion, and builds equity for the corporate brand.
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Unilever Brand Strategies:
Consumers
Its critical for marketers and brands at Unilever to keep the consumer as their "true north". The role of Unilever's brands is to help make life simpler by cutting through the chaos, anticipating the needs of the empowered consumer and providing assistance.
Connect
While advertising isn't dying, it has to evolve. Today, it's about connecting in real time, in the context and with relevance. The digital ecosystem needs to be cleaned up or consumers will continue to get a poor experience online.
"Today’s ad experience is not in line with the empowered consumer's expectation of faster, better, more relevant content," Weed is due to say.
Content
Empowered consumers have better filters than ever, and will not tolerate inauthenticity. Trust is at an all-time low across media, business, government and NGOs. The empowered consumer is looking for purposeful brands, brands that have meaning, brands that matter. And is quicker than ever to reject brands that do not fit with his or her values.
"People don’t hate advertising. They hate bad advertising. As an industry, we have a responsibility to put out good creative. We balance our assets across traditional interruption advertising and seek out content, which specifically appeals to people’s needs or passions. This is a huge shift in the way we tell stories and build our advertising," Weed will say.
Community
For Weed, this is about "harnessing the creative power of the 7 billion people on the planet".
Unilever plans to listen and engage with its community of consumers in real time, using data to co-create, build deeper relationships, and spot trends before they appear.
Commerce
Commerce is no longer about buying. It's also about browsing, convenience, utility, experience and even entertainment.
"We are experimenting with new business models, new ways to directly reach the empowered consumer," Weed will explain.
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Unilever Brand Architecture:
Unilever has a rich portfolio of sub-brands that range all the way from food to hygiene products. You might have Lipton products in your fridge, and Dove in your shower, but they’re all connected to the same parent brand. While companies following the Pluralistic Brand Architecture often try to make new acquisitions and products part of the master brand with marketing and communication strategies, they also maintain a distinction between the overarching companies, and the organizations they own.
The Unilever brand architecture is the kind of structure most experts recommend when an organization attempts to target different audiences with unique propositions and products.
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i) What are the common brand strategies and architectures do your chosen companies use? If not, why?
In my chosen companies, they don’t have common brand strategies and architectures.
For brand strategies, FedEx is focused on emotional connection with customers, they observe the frustration that is present in every office around the world, and how FedEx can make it better. However, Unilever is more focus on the feature of their product, help make life simpler by cutting through the chaos, anticipating the needs of the empowered consumer and providing assistance. Also, to make their product connecting in real time, in the context and with relevance.
For Brand Architecture, as the brand strategies of FedEx is focus on emotional connection, it helps FedEx to build up a loyal customer, therefore, because of the brand name, even FedEx have a different kind of products, the customer will buy the products. As the result, FedEx uses Monolithic brand architecture, which has an only single master brand, one trademark followed by descriptive names for each product/service, one system (promise, personality, visual and verbal identity) used for all the products/services that corporate develops. The Strengths of monolithic brand architecture are:
· It is easier for consumers to recognize the products and to understand them because of the descriptor.
· It increases brand awareness
· Focusing brand marketing (and marketing spending) on a single brand strategy and brand image
For Unilever, as they are a focus on the feature of products, they have different target customers on different product’s area, so Unilever uses pluralistic brand architecture, which has separate identities for each brand: brands have their own names, personalities, audiences, and sometimes they compete with each other. They are designed to stand apart and be independent of the master brand or the other house brands. It is common for the consumers to not be aware of the parent brand. The Strengths of pluralistic brand architecture are
· If a free-standing brand goes through a crisis, it is not “contagious” to the other brands
· Full liberty in creating the identity: freedom to create a different brand strategy, name, logo, design, and creative campaigns
· Presence in different market niches, targeting different audiences
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2. What brand architecture models do companies you know to use?
Coca-Cola operates as a Monolithic model. Coca-Cola is both the name of the company (that’s one brand) and the name of the company’s principal product (that’s the second brand). And, because that product has been enormously successful, they’ve been able to create dozens of a spin-off, Coca-Cola sub-brands like Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Life, Coca-Cola Zero, ad infinitum. Part of this, of course, is so they can dominate shelf space at the supermarket and crowd out weaker competitors. But it also allows the company to attract more and more customers. The parent brand lends its cachet – in what’s called a halo effect – to the sub-brands, tempting consumers to sample them and, perhaps, get into the habit of buying them. The advantage of the Branded House model is simple. It’s less expensive. When you only have one story to tell, you can keep your marketing expenses from getting out of control. Even if Coke has to allocate some dollars to promote Diet Coke and the others, the principal story is the original Coca-Cola story. If you love Diet Coke, that love is reinforced every time you see an ad for the parent brand.
But Coca-Cola also follows the pluralistic model. They own several other beverage brands that are decidedly “non-Coke” – brands like Powerade, Fanta, Dasani, Odwalla, etc. These brands are distinct business units with their own management teams, marketing budgets and advertising campaigns. They are expected to compete with each other, with other beverage brands not owned by Coke and even with Coca-Cola itself and its sub-brands. Obviously, the increased overhead means this is a much more expensive way to manage your brands. So why do it this way? Flexibility. If Coca-Cola decides its time to sell off Odwalla, they can do it without having a deleterious effect on their portfolio of brands or on their master brand. Comparatively, selling off Diet Coke is just not an option.
But Coca-Cola also follows the pluralistic model. They own several other beverage brands that are decidedly “non-Coke” – brands like Powerade, Fanta, Dasani, Odwalla, etc. These brands are distinct business units with their own management teams, marketing budgets and advertising campaigns. They are expected to compete with each other, with other beverage brands not owned by Coke and even with Coca-Cola itself and its sub-brands. Obviously, the increased overhead means this is a much more expensive way to manage your brands. So why do it this way? Flexibility. If Coca-Cola decides its time to sell off Odwalla, they can do it without having a deleterious effect on their portfolio of brands or on their master brand. Comparatively, selling off Diet Coke is just not an option.
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i) Why will your chosen companies use different brand architectures?
Monolithic brand architecture:
as the brand strategies of Coca-Cola is focused on emotional connection, it helps Coca-Cola to build up a loyal customer, therefore, because of the brand name, even Coca-Cola have a different kind of products, the customer will buy the products.
Pluralistic brand architecture:
The sub-brand in Coca-Cola, they have different target customers in different product’s area. For example, Vitamin Water, the selling point of this brand is a healthy drink. However, if people have a well awareness of Vitamin Water been a sub-brand of Coca-Cola, it may have negative influent, by thinking it is not healthy.
3. Which brand architectures are good for different products and services?
Pluralistic model:
Separate identities for each brand: brands have their own names, personalities, audiences, and sometimes they compete with each other. They are designed to stand apart and be independent of the master brand or the other house brands. It is common for the consumers to not be aware of the parent brand.
Strengths:
· If a free-standing brand goes through a crisis, it is not “contagious” to the other brands
· Full liberty in creating the identity: freedom to create a different brand strategy, name, logo, design, and creative campaigns
· Presence in different market niches, targeting different audiences
Weaknesses
· The fact that every brand needs its own strategy, identity and marketing activities is a financial disadvantage.
· The time and resources involved in planning and implementing the brand activities will be greater
· Success will not be directly attributed to the parent brand
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4. Analyse the brand strategy and architecture of a chosen company.
Microsoft Brand Strategy:
Establish an emotional point of view. According to Hall, Microsoft represents access to opportunity, rather than the technology elitist vibe embraced by competitors like Apple and Google. “We are about the everyman,” she said. “Our products are steady and reliable.”
Come out of our shell. Microsoft has acted as a challenger in emerging markets and taken unexpected approaches with its creator. About its use of a traditionally un-Microsoft approach to advertising, Hall said, “We might get hit, yet we will at least take some ground.”
Connect with people in a meaningful and relevant way. Hall explained the company employs personal stories to showcase the opportunity its customers realize through Microsoft technology.
Define the new norm. Microsoft continues to go on the offensive with sustained and aggressive advertising to reinforce its refreshed brand positioning. For instance, the company has appeared on the Super Bowl during the past few years.
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Microsoft Brand Architecture:
Microsoft uses multiple brand architectures, but very deliberately. It use monolithic model, like Microsoft Health, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Internet Explorer, all of which use descriptive product names so that ‘Microsoft’ stands out. It has sub-brands like Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Surface. It has endorsed brands like XBox and Bing, which target more fractional audiences, but remain linked to the parent brand. And in some cases, Microsoft has freestanding brands that it has acquired: Minecraft, Skype and Nokia.
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