A firm has three main choices:
1. Develop new brand elements for the new product2. Apply some of its existing brand elements3. Use a combination of new and existing brand elements
ALTERNATIVE BRANDING STRATEGIES
Three general strategies are popular:
• Individual or separate family brand name• Corporate umbrella or company brand name• Sub-brand name
1Individual or separate family brand nameAdvantage of individual or separate family brand name isthat if a product fails, the company has not tied itsreputation to it.Procter & Gamble has several individual brands in different product categories
2Corporate umbrella or company brand nameDevelopment costs are lower with umbrella namesbecause there is no need to run “name” research orspend heavily on advertising to create recognition.
Tata, LG, Samsung and many other companies usecorporate brand names as an umbrella brand
3Sub-brand nameSub-brands combine two or more of the corporate brands,family brand or individual product brand names.
Durable-goods makers such as Honda, Sony andHewlett-Packard use sub-brands for their products
HOUSE OF BRANDS & A BRANDED HOUSE
These two branding strategies represent two ends of abrand relationship continuum
• Use of individual or separate family brand names has been referred to as a house of brands strategy• Use of an umbrella corporate or company brand name has been referred to as a branded house strategy
The brand portfolio is the set of all brandsand brand lines in a particular firm offersfor sale in a particular category or segment.Brand can play a number of specific roles
as a part of a portfolio:
1FLANKERSFlanker or “fighter” brands are positioned with respect tocompetitors’ brands so that more important flagship brandscan retain their desired positioning.
2CASH COWSSome brands may be kept around despite dwindling salesbecause they manage to maintain their profitability with virtually no marketing support.
3LOW-END ENTRY LEVELThe role of a low-priced brand is to attractcustomers to the brand portfolio
Audi A3 – Audi’s low-end model
4HIGH-END PRESTIGEThe role of a high-priced brand is to addprestige and credibility to the entire portfolio
Maruti Kizashi – Maruti’s high-end model
HUL has one of the most complex product and brand portfoliosand this illustrates the concept of “house of brands”
When a firm uses an established brand tointroduce a new product, the product iscalled a brand extension. It has two categories:
1.Line Extension2.Category Extension