Brand Positioning · Brand architecture · Component
The relationship rule
What carries the master brand, what is endorsed, and what stands alone — decided as a rule rather than per launch.
The deliverable
What it is
The choice runs from a branded house, where everything carries one name, to a house of brands, where nothing visibly connects. Both are workable; mixing them without a rule is not.
A rule set in advance turns each new launch into an application rather than an argument, which is most of its value.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The endorsement
How and how prominently the master brand appears.
3 attributes: Endorsement level · Expression · Constrained version
LearnThe standalone test
What has to be true for something to be a separate brand.
3 attributes: Criterion · Required · Decides
Learn
Write the standalone test before the next launch. During one, the argument for a separate brand is unwinnable.
The other components in brand architecture
The portfolio map
Every brand and name in market, and how they currently relate — a list that is always longer than anyone expects.
LearnThe case per brand
What each separate brand buys that justifies maintaining it — assessed periodically, because most of them were never assessed at all.
Learn