Brand Architecture

Brand Architecture

Brand Architecture is creating an extension of an already established brand. It is related to the company, but is under an 'umbrella'. This way the establishment is more focused into the specific categories in its selling.  Brand Archetetire can be small scale or a corporate scale such as FedEX. (Mostly corporate companies, as it's dealing with larger numbers).

Brand architecture is of importance to have in a corporate company as it organizes the establishment. Using FedEx as an example. When we think of FedEX we think; reliable, convenient, inexpensive but not cheap, and sophisticated. 

                                                                                     
                                                       The following is the brand architecture of FedEX 

FedEX Corporation 

Express

Ground

Freight

Custom Critical 

Trade Networks 

Although their brand is always FedEx, they have different expansions detailing which part of the company one would deal with.


An average person sending a package would probably use FedEx Ground, while a business would use Freight, Custom Critical or Express depending on the load.  Depending on the company, using FedEx, they would deal with different sections of the company to specially meet their needs of the service itself.


I personally admire FedEx for their design and brand. The brand consistency stands, as there is only a simple colour change in each logo differentiating the section of the company. Not enough brands keep it consistent with their identity, which is a disadvantage. 


FedEx - you did it right. The brand architecture is clear, concise and organized.


Samantha 

Brand Extension

Brand Extension

In my opinion Presidents Choice (PC) is the definition of a successful brand extension. They have quickly developed a "one stop shop" for all essentials to live. The following is a breakdown of their main products.

In the grocery store there are:
PRESIDENTS CHOICE
1. Organics - organic line
2. Blue Menu - health conscience products
3. Mini Chefs - food for 5-10 year olds
4. All Canadian - meats farmed in Canada
5. Teddy's Choice - products for infants

Other Expansions

1. Mobile

2. Mastercard

3. Financial

4. Insurance (pet, vehicle, home) 

For the purpose of this post I'm going to talk about the 'PC Organics' line.
PC quickly saw the trend of consumers wanting a healthier alternative to the foods they are eating. Also, they wanted organic products but it was a) to hard to find and b) to expensive once found. They took this opportunity and created PC Organics. To date, there are over 275 products that are under this brand extension. The products range from baby food, produce, juice, breads and cereal.

Brand extension can only happen once a brand has developed equity. PC has quickly gained reputable equity within the marketplace because they are constantly gaining knowledge from their customers - us, and implementing the change the customers want to see.

You can look at brand extension on a small scale such as Hellman's Mayo creates Hellman's Hollandaise sauce. Or, looking at brand extension within a brand itself, such as PC. Brand extension is way to measure how successful a brand is. It also dictates where a brand wants to be in the marketplace. Like PC, they dominate the market with complete brand extensions to target the young 'Teddy's Choice' market aged 0-4 to the 'Organics' market aged 26-45.

What other market will they reach?

Samantha

Brand Positioning

Brand Positioning 


Brand positioning in it's most simplest terms is how the target audience interprets the brand. What are the first things that people think of when they see a specific brand?


Examples
Starbucks = expensive, yet comfortable
Glade = strong, durable
Swiffer = funny, easy, simply clean
Apple = cool, innovative
Ralph Lauren = preppy, sophisticated 


For this blog, I'm going to talk about Ralph Lauren specifically because of their brand positioning in the marketplace. When we think of Ralph Lauren, the image of rugby and polo come to mind. These two sports are highly positioned with RL because they are a "rich mans" sport. In all movies where wealthy people are at a sporting event - they are always wearing this specific brand. 

RL is sporty, casual, classy, sophisticated and pretty. People who wear this brand are constantly looking for prestige, luxury and glamour in their life. They are professionals with money. Their hobbies include polo, rugby and sailing. 


Ralph Lauren is positioned in the marketplace by their upscale sport clothing line. Because polo, rugby and sailing are a rich mans sport wearing RL is the only designer worn on the field. 


Ralph Lauren also has many different brand extensions which creates different target markets for whichever extension they are marketing. But in the end, RL is always positioned the same - whether it is for male or female.




Samantha 

Brand Characters

Brand Characters


It's an obvious statement to say that brand characters are a success in marketing strategies as it creates a better brand story. You've got the Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger, Quaker Oats .. the list in infinite. 


Why do brands decide to create the characters in first place? 


For M&M's their entire marketing strategy is based around the five main characters that have been created over the past 60 years. Of course starting with the most popular, Red & Yellow. These two male characters are confident and quite quirky. They are the face of every commercial, branding piece and packaging for M&M's. In fact, the M&M's rely so much on their characters that their site has an entire section made for "Creating your own character." This allows anyone to sign up and create the character of their choice with different M&M's. Each M&M created, you also create it's personality. 

In the brand character section, there is a personal profile about all characters. On these "home pages" there is a personality description saying likes, dislikes, favorite quotes etc about each colour.


Focusing on Miss Green, she is the "sexy" M&M that all the other male characters like. Just by looking at her you can tell she is confident and promiscuous. She's green (which stands for envy, money, shallowness) with white high boots and long eye lashes, she stands tall and follows the mantra of "I melt for no one."


M&M's have done an incredible job with their brand characters and also brand extension. With their five different character personalities as well as the infinite other creations one can make - it's clear they have a brand story with real brand characters that make a difference. 


Samantha 

Brand Personality

Brand Personality - Tiffany & Co

Tiffany & Co - of course the best jeweler to walk this planet. The most prestigious and honoured company followed by millions of fans throughout the world. With their wide variety of collections ranging from young girls with the "Return to Tiffany" or the young professional with the "Bead" collection, Tiffany Co covers the market from every age to every design to every occasion possible.

When we talk about personality - Tiffany & Co dominates the market for what their specific brand personality is. Tiffany has this personality down to such a fine spec, just thinking of the company resembles an image of what "Tiffany" would like look- plus their iconic tiffany blue colour.

The following are "emotions and tones" that the Tiffany & Co personality resembles:

Words
timeless
legendary
luxury
jewelry
forever

Brand Dictionary 
some style is legendary
give her the blue, tiffany blue
tiffany experience, door man, elevators
bring her home the little blue box
tiffany co shop (not store)
diamonds are a girls best friend

Tone of voice
bring her home the little blue box

When we think of Tiffany & Co we think of luxury, legendary style, and a timeless gift. The variety of collections are legendary which every girl would want to wear and honour. The personality is classy, sophisticated and most importantly, special. Those who wear, shop or think Tiffany have a special something about them that only one can experience once they have experienced the Tiffany & co lifestyle.

The following link is a commercial that features the Tiffany & Co personality through three different women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NJXsRFSCgM

Samantha

Brand Loyalty

Brand Loyalty


Brand loyalty is an interesting concept. Why are some people so drawn to one brand over another and will only purchase that specific brand. But only with some categories. Take toothpaste for example; do most people buy the exact same toothpaste every time they run out because they are drawn to a specific brand? Or do they simply make their purchasing decision based on the type of flavour, the price, the colour or the size? 


I'd say I'm an excellent example of brand loyalty. Once I am involved with a brand in categories which I care most about - it's all or nothing for me. Take; water. Water is a generic product that everyone needs to survive. When I purchase water it has to be FIJI water (and sometimes Evian) - it could never be Dasni, Aquafina or Nestle, it has to be FIJI. Is it because of the beautiful square bottle with nice flowers, is the flavour (the lack of chemicle taste I mean) or is it simply because I like to position myself as a person with this type of water.


A few things I'm specifically brand loyal to are:

Apple
Lululemon
Starbucks 
ADIDAS
Coke (even though I do not drink it, I only respect Coke)
Tiffany & Co
MAC Cosmetics
Annabelle Cosmetics
CHI


Perhaps it's obvious to say but Apple users are among the most brand loyal consumers to walk this planet. There's something about their clean, innovative and 'cool' marketing strategy that people are automatically drawn to. Furthermore - Apple backs up their 'cool' marketing with actual technology that surpases anything else on the market. Apple is a company that has transformed the technology market and has made people interested in the future gadgets being created. The whole 'once you go Apple, you wont go back' saying is completley true. I've seen it happen to people who were against Apple (for no specific reason) and once they got their first iPod, iMac, or iPhone - they just exploded into that market and could only seem to purchase Apple products from there on out.


Samantha 

Assignment Outline

This blog has been created for our first assignment in Branding.

The assignment:

Create your own branding blog. Using a tool like blogger.com, create a blog devoted to your observations and reflections about branding. You must post at least six entries over the two-week assignment period. (Each post must have a unique calendar date. Two or more posts on the same calendar date counts as one post regardless of content.)

The content should demonstrate your familiarity and comprehension of the branding principles we've been discussing in class. Specifically, I'll be looking for reference to these brand topics: (You must cover at least 5.)

brand architecture

brand loyalty

brand personality

brand positioning

brand extension

brand story

brand characters