Brand Strategies

Unit-IV
MAEMA
BRAND MANAGEMENT
8th September 2021
Lecture-9
Previous class
Success and Disaster Sequence Model
Brand
Hierarchy
It is the systematic
branching structure of a
brand’s distinctive
elements for its sub-
products.
For example, think of Amazon.
• Amazon provides e-books services, e-shopping services, AI
products, etc. But people do not refer to Amazon for all this at once.
• They refer to Amazon Kindle or Amazon Prime or other hierarchies
that Amazon has developed.
• These hierarchies contain distinctive elements through their name,
logo, and brand identity that helps differentiate between the products
as well as reduces confusion for customers.
Brand Hierarchy Levels
• As the name suggests, brand hierarchy is a hierarchical structure.
• It constitutes multiple levels.
• These levels start from the
1. corporate brand
2. family brand
3. individual brand
4. modifier and descriptor.
 Here is a
comprehensive
description of
all the levels
with the
example of
Mercedes
 Corporate Brand
• The highest level of the brand hierarchy is the corporate brand.
• This is the main company/corporate brand.
• For instance, we commonly refer to Mercedes cars as part of the
brand Mercedes. But the corporate brand of Mercedes is
actually Daimler AG. Daimler is the over-arching corporate brand to
other family brands under it.
 Family Brand
• The next lower level in the hierarchy is the family brand.
• It is also known as the ‘range brand’ or the ‘umbrella brand’. It is
called the ‘family’ brand because it may have a range of products
under it, but it is not the corporate brand.
• E.g.- Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, and Daimler Trucks and Buses
are the family brands to Daimler AG. Then under Mercedes-Benz
Cars, they have various classes and cars.
 Family Brand
• Many times firms may not have a corporate brand over them. In
such a case the corporate brand level and family brand level collapse
as one.
• A very famous example of this is Apple Inc. It is the corporate brand
and family brand for itself since:
It has no corporate brand
It has a range of products under it
 Individual Brand
• Individual brands are linked only to a single product category.
• This doesn’t mean it has only one product.
• It can have multiple product versions, models, colours, etc.
• For instance, the Mercedes family brand has individual brands like
the SL class and GLC class. So SL class is one individual brand
below the family brand – Mercedes.
 Product Modifier And Descriptor
• The product modifier and descriptor is the smallest and lowest part
of the brand hierarchy. It helps customers identify the various
products under the individual brand.
• For instance, under the SL Class individual brand, there are various
models like – 63 AMG, 65 AMG Roadster, etc. These models are the
product descriptor. They are not further sub-divided, but they give
more information about the product model and help customers
differentiate between models of the same individual brand.
 How To Create A Brand Hierarchy
• Brand hierarchy strategies are created when you begin to engage
with multiple product lines.
• In such a situation it becomes stressful for a business to manage the
diverse range of products, and it becomes confusing for customers.
• For e.g.- Sony has not been able to ace the tech industry despite its
exceptional quality. This is largely because it uses the same
corporate brand for all it’s products whether mobiles, cameras,
digital books, toys, and even its music label.
 3 simple steps to help you build your
brand hierarchy:
1. Identify Your Product Groups
2. Determine Your Levels
3. Creating The Brand For Each Level
 Step 1-Identify Your Product Groups
• Begin with identifying what are the products or services that your
brand is offering.
• Can these products be separated and segregated into categories?
• For e.g., if you are Procter and Gamble. Your product lines are –
detergent, grooming products, baby care products, etc.
 Step 2-Determine Your Levels
• Now that you know about your product categories, you need to
determine how many levels do you want to divide the products on.
To determine your levels, make sue of two principles:

1. Principle Of Simplicity
2. Principle Of Clarity
 Step 2a -Principle Of Simplicity
• Do not complicate your hierarchy with multiple divisions and sub-
divisions.
• For instance, Starbucks sells a wide range of products like – Coffee,
Tea, Mineral Water, and Kitchen merchandise. Their products are
different, but not majorly different. Therefore, they decided to stick
to two levels. The corporate brand and the family and individual
brands were combined with the products. Though a few descriptors
like freshly brewed, cold brewed, etc. do exist to avoid confusion of
customers.
 Step 2b -Principle Of Clarity
• Make sure your hierarchy is clear.
• The purpose of a brand hierarchy is to minimise confusion, not
create more.
• Let’s say your product mix constitutes mobiles, buildings, and
insurance policies, like Samsung you definitely require a brand
hierarchy. But if it is not very diverse, and closely related then you
must have a minimum number of 4 levels clear for your consumers
to understand.
 Step 3-Creating The Brand For Each
Level
• Your brand hierarchy is coming alive.
• But before you complete this, you need to plan your branding
strategies for the brand at each level.

1. Brand Elements
2. Principle Of Commonality
3. Marketing Strategies
 Step 3-Creating The Brand For Each
Level
 Brand Elements
 Principle Of Commonality-
While moulding your new individual brands find a common aspect for your
customers to cling onto.
For instance, Apple uses the alphabet ‘I’ with its products, McDonalds uses
‘Mc’ with all its dishes. Such common aspects intrigue the interest of
customers and help them create associations with your products.
 Marketing Strategies
A big part of creating your brand is determining the marketing channels for
your brand.
What are your marketing goals?
Who is your target audience?
What is your budget?
 Importance Of Brand Hierarchy
• Prevents Customer Confusion
• Helps Future Business Planning
• Attracts Focused Attention
• Provides A Clear Overview
 • Pepsico’s brand hierarchy:
• Corporate brand: Pepsico Inc.
• Family brand: Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Yum, Quaker, etc.
• Individual brand: Diet Pepsi, Lay’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell,
Lipton, Tropicana, etc.
• Descriptors: Doritos Cheese, Lays Classic, Lipton Lemon, etc.
 .
Product
Brand
Strategy
The three brand
strategies commonly
used amongst large firms
for deciding which
products will contribute
to which brand names
are
1. Multi-product
Branding
2. Multi-Branding
3. Private Branding
 Multi-Product Branding
• Also known as family branding, or corporate branding is when a
company uses one brand name for all of its products within a class.
• For example, the brand name Sony is used on most if not all of their
products. Sony is the company or parent brand name, but you will
also see it on televisions, and on their PlayStation series.
• The benefits of Multiproduct branding is brand equity return, lower
promotion costs, and growing brand awareness.
• These benefits come about through the extensive use of your brand
name over a wide array of product offerings.
• The idea is to take a brand name which has established itself in one
product class and apply that brand name to another product, in
another product class, expecting for the brand awareness to carry
over.
 Multi-Branding
• Is used when a product or product line is targeting different markets.
• This kind of branding is used favourably within in the automobile
market.
• Chevrolet, for example, has many different cars and each, their own
brand names like Spark or Camaro. These cars are both under
Chevrolet (The Parent Brand); however, they serve completely
different purposes for different consumers in a given market. Spark
is a small economic choice car for those looking for an eco-friendly
car to get from point A, to point B. While the Camaro is for drivers
who are looking to get from point A, to point B supported by
performance and style.
• In short, the multi-branding strategy allows businesses to gain
market share through assessing external opportunities in order to
define a profitable market segment.
 Private Branding
• Private Branding is the production of goods by a manufacturer for a
reseller.
• A prime example of private branding is store-branded goods.
• Some retail stores use private branding to undercut competitors in a
given market.
• If Lays costs about Rs50/- for a packet, Big Bazzar can make a
privately branded chips (Tasty Treat) to sell at Rs 45/- or Rs 49/-.
• In most cases, private branded products are considered to be of
lesser quality, but in some cases, this can help retailers gain
customer loyalty.
Mix
Branding
It is the group of all of
the brand lines by a
seller that are made
available to the buyer.

It also referred as brand

assortment
• To introduce new products in market, a seller can use an existing
brand to do the same. This is known as brand extension.
• The new product could be from the same product category as
currently served by the brand. Such a brand extension is known a
line extension.
• The new product launched can also be launched in a different
product category as well, and this is known as category extension.
The brand line of a particular brand would consist of all the products
under the brand, be it original or category or line extensions. Now, the
set of all these brand lines offered by the seller would constitute the
brand mix.
• Unilever offers the brand Surf Excel in India that initially was
present in the detergent segment.
• Line Extensions were gradually introduced line extensions with
products like Surf Excel Easy Wash, Surf Excel Quick Wash, Surf
Excel Matic Top Load etc.
• Further Category extensions introduced like Surf Excel Bar in the
detergent bar category, Surf Excel liquid detergent in the liquid
detergent category.
• The whole assortment of products under brand Surf Excel would be
a brand line.
• However all the brand lines that Unilever offers like products Dove,
Surf Excel, Sunsilk, Rin, Axe, Lakme etc. would constitute the
brand mix of Unilever in India.