Brand architecture

The relationship between a companies products, brands and sub-brands.


An excellent examples of this would be the company Hagen. This company specializes:

• Fish
• Bird
• Small animals
• Reptile

All Hagen products are related but they fall underneath the umbrella effect (Family Brand) .  Brand architecture is needed in a company to organize the establishment. Hagen is a very recognizable company within the pet industry.

What ever kind of pet the customer is looking for they have product for that animal to.

Fish

• Rocks
• Plants
• Food
• food
• cleaner
• Tanks
• Filters
• accessories


Small Animal

• Food
• Treats
• Cages
• accessories

Repitel

• Heat lights
• Sand
• Food
• accessories

Bird

• Food
• Cages
• Treats
• accessories

Hagen creates quality products and goes over and above customer service. They’ve been clear and kept the brand within all sub-brands.

Brand extension

The decision to use a popular brand name for a new product entry in an unrelated product category.
 

The Top Brand Extensions.

    •    best overall brand extension – Iams pet insurance

    •    best liquor brand extension – Starbucks coffee liqueur

    •    best co-branding/ingredient branding – The Motorola ROKR phone with iTunes

    •    best extension of a magazine onto new platform – hardcover books from O, the Oprah magazine

    •    best furniture brand extension – Antiques Roadshow
 
    •    best extension of a not-for-profit – National Geographic

    http://www.brandxpress.net/2007/03/top-brand-extensions/



The Tide to Go stain removal pen

Tide to go stain removal pen is a excellent example of brand extension. Creating a new product which was in a different category but under the same brand name. I found it one of the most successful brand extensions, because of brand equity. Tide had made their brand image strong, and chosen by consumer.

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is a process created to help a consumer to identify or an image for the specific product or brand.

Examples:

Billabong : Skater/Snowboard expensive
Dove: Soft and friendly
Apple: Cool and amazing products
Holister: Preppy, expensive



For this blog, I;m going to discuss a specific brand called Billabong. When you think of Billabong the first image that comes into your head should be skater, wake boarding, snowboarding, surfing. Pretty much any sport you use a board for. Usually in these advertisements the person is doing one of these sports. Or they look like they are into those kind of sports.  Consumers who purchase this product are, cool, sporty and trendy. When ever you see a snowboard, surfing or skate boarding video most of the time you see Billabong products used.

People who are wearing these products in the advertisements are beautiful, tanned and athletically fit. They are into semi extremed sports, and doing it while wearing cool and comfortable Billabong products.   

Billabong is positioned in the marketplace as the product to have if your into extreme outdoor sports this is the brand for you. Billabong has many brand extensions raging from boards, clothing, jackets, bathing suit etc.

Brand Characters

When dealing with companies/products there is a brand name behind them. Every product is own by a company. We can differenite these brands by there logos and characters.

For example there are m’m and everyone knows these chocolate guys.

They have personality too. The yellow one isn’t as smart as the red guy. Everyone knows who they are when you see them on a commercial or print ad. They have been made the characters of M and M’s.

These characters are clear and will always be an image in your brain that will remind you of the product M&M's. 

Other Brands characters 

                                      

Brand Name

Words, letters, or symbols that make up a name that distinguish them from other products and companies. Good brand names are easy to pronounce, clear, remembered and recognized. If imagery is used it should reflect what the logo is representing. 

Here is an example of a logo that I really enjoy. I do purchase Burton product because I think the logo idea is genisu and I snowboard.

I personally enjoy the skater/snowboarding logos. I find there very interesting and always recognizable.  

These are some examples of logos that repesnet what the company is providing. 

Youtube Video

Check out this Video. 
--- > Brands, Globalization, and Resistance

Brand Personality

Brand Personality is a set of human characteristics connected with a brand. You almost think of a person inside the brand. How they act what they say and what they do. Some of the factors that can effect the personality of a brand is:

Gender

Age

socio-economic class

psychographic

emotional characteristics

Examples:

Axe

Seduction

Masculinity

Dove

• Feminine

• Soft and friendly 

West 49

• Skateboarding

• Snowboarding

In consumer’s mind, these impressions merge to form an overall concept of what to expect from brands. Personality of a person is affected by everything associated with them - friends, neighborhood , activities, clothes etc. This is the same for Brand Personality too.

Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is the key factor for a company to be successful with there consumers. When dealer with a product you want to the consumer to see it as the best one out there. Creating a loyalty with the consumer will create repeat purchases. You can only gain true brand loyalty when the consumer has a real want for this product. The consumer will not want to use any other product even if it has some comparisons. 

Another factor that can affect a company would be word of mouth. This can either help or hurt the company.

MAC VS PC

A great example would be Mac VS Pc. I am a Mac user, and before I used PC because thats what computer my parents bought for the family computer. When I came to college they recommended a Mac for this program. I have always heard amazing things about the brand and the quality of the products. After using my Mac book pro for almost 3 years, I could never see myself using anything else. They have gained my loyalty with great products, and the actually use and design of the computer.

Other consumers may feel the totally opposite, and like Pc better. The consumer might see Mac over rated, and not as high quality. I don’t know why they think that, my opinion still stands with Mac’s being a better product.

When it comes to purchasing anything else for your computer, you'll look for Mac products. This will be repeat buyers and increase the usage rate of that consumer.

A company can gain new consumers every time they introduce a new product to the line. With the right approach and marketing used.