Let’s play happy families

How to understand, review and organise a suite of brands in the third sector

Brands help people navigate choice

Brands help people navigate choice. When an organisation has multiple brands, getting the ‘brand family’ dynamics right is essential in helping people understand and trust the brands.

Things can get messy fast when a masterbrand (the parent) adds or incorporates sub-brands (relatives: siblings and children). Decisions to extend services or introduce new initiatives are often done at pace which can mean that these brands start to experience growing pains, with the ‘family’ not gelling.

When this happens, it makes sense to zoom out and review how your brand family works together. Do the relationships between the brands help you fulfil your mission? Are they all contributing to the organisation’s vision? Getting straight on your brand architecture is vital to answering these questions.

That said, thinking about brand architecture can tie you up in knots. It’s something that quickly becomes more technical than useful but there are certain principles that always hold true. In unpacking the three main models, I’m going to illustrate how these principles can be applied to help you build a highly functional brand family dynamic.

The different models

There are three main models for organising brand families: pluralistic, monolithic and endorsed. And, on occasion, there’s justification for choosing a hybrid solution (a combination of two or more of these models).

Pluralistic: House of Brands

Defined by a portfolio of distinctive brands, the pluralistic approach means the parent organisation’s identity is hidden or regarded as irrelevant to the end user.

For example, Unilever’s brands operate independently with no visible connection to Unilever on their packaging or in their marketing activity. With brands such as Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, the House of Brands approach enables Unilever to tailor its marketing to specific audiences without diluting brand equity. Some of its brands, eg Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, even occupy the same space.

Brand architecture House of brands model

This one’s a ‘no’

Let’s put this model to bed from the get-go. My focus in this post is on third sector organisations, not the consumer brands that are most often associated with this approach. The example of Unilever, often cited as a successful brand family solution is, in practice, in this sector, vanishingly rare. Even non-profits and charities with the largest budgets would struggle to justify the management and marketing costs of a House of Brands approach. So, for the purpose of this post, we can safely set aside the pluralist model.

The Branded House and Endorsed brand models are far more common in the third sector:

Monolithic: Branded House architecture

The monolithic approach is centred on a dominant, singular masterbrand which is the primary driver of trust. Audience decisions are driven by loyalty to the master brand with its brand promise and personality exerting greater influence than any specific services or initiatives.

Extensions of the brand often see the parent brand’s name paired with descriptive, generic terms. In consumer-brand-land, the example of FedEx is cited as an example of this with its FedEx Express, FedEx Freight etc sub-brands.

Brand architecture Branded House model

An example of an organisation in our sector that uses the Branded House model is UAL.

Masterbrand: UAL: University of the Arts London
Sub-brands: UAL: Central St Martins, UAL: London College of Fashion, UAL: Chelsea College of Arts and so on.

Branded House model UAL

Although we’re labelling the above approach as monolithic, in practice we soon find that the brand and its sub-brands operate, day-to-day, in a more hybrid way, borrowing elements of an Endorsed Brand marketing strategy to maintain the individuality and legacy of UAL’s constituent colleges.

So, what’s an Endorsed Brand?

Endorsed Brand architecture

The Endorsed Brand model sees sub-brands having a clearly defined market presence while, at the same time, benefiting from the association, endorsement and visibility of the parent. The parent brand is almost always presented and associated with the sub-brands.

Brand architecture Endorsed brand model

Eg International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

Masterbrand: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
Endorsed sub-brands: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and national societies like the British Red Cross or American Red Cross.

The red cross, red crescent and red crystal are symbols of protection.

Each organisation serves its own unique role but benefits from the globally recognised Red Cross/Red Crescent identity. It is designed quite literally, to protect the authorised medics who wear them.

Endorsed brand model Red Cross Red Crescent

Perhaps an easier way to explain the differences between Branded House (monolithic) and Endorsed Brand architecture is to view the two models side by side:

Endorsed Brand modelBranded House model
RelationshipSub-brands can be distinct but are always presented and associated with the masterbrand. Or represented via a version of the phrase “by”: “part of…”, “powered by…” etc.

(Adobe + Photoshop, Illustrator, United Nations + UNICEF, UNHCR)
All offerings fall under one unified brand identity.

In its wordmark, the masterbrand is always integral to the sub-brand.

(UAL + its colleges, WWF + its National offices UK, USA, Australia)
IndependenceSub-brands maintain more independence in positioning, look and messaging.
All sub-brands share the same primary positioning and identity.
Masterbrand’s roleActs as a guarantor of quality or trust but allows sub-brands to shine individually.Dominates all communications and is the primary driver of trust.
Sub-brand IdentitySub-brands may have unique names, logos and target audiences but are likely to share a family resemblance.Sub-brands are strongly tied to the master brand and rarely, if ever, have independent identities.
Brand equity sharingEquity flows both ways: the masterbrand supports sub-brands and sub-brands give back to the masterbrand.Equity is consolidated within the masterbrand, benefiting all offerings and sub-brands.
Risk/Benefit balanceThe failures or successes of sub-brands have limited impact on the masterbrand.The failures or successes of individual offerings directly affect the entire brand family.

Mash up and blend – the hybrid solution

It’s worth saying that the world of brands is complex and no one single model can ever be applied uniformly across all activities and regions. It’s not uncommon for Unilever, for example, to  incorporate elements of an Endorsed Brand approach when they’re looking to boost credibility or roll out global recognition.

In our sector, The Salvation Army is an example which, although more Branded House as far as its public-facing identity is concerned, adopts an Endorsed Brand approach in its operational structure. This duality stems from:

  • Its need to be recognisable and trusted as a singular brand.
  • The operational flexibility that is required of it in meeting local needs effectively.

Brand architecture hybrid model

The principles

Whichever route you choose, Branded House or Endorsed Brand, the following are some key principles that you should explore:

  1. Start with audience-first – Brands serve as tools to help your audience navigate choice and understand relationships. Every decision you make should be through the audience’s lens and designed to make their lives easier. Never make brand architecture decisions on the basis of meeting purely organisational needs.
  2. Align on mission and values – Whatever model you adopt, your people’s day-to-day work will always cut across and encompass a variety of functions, themes and initiatives.
    For example: the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement operates under a shared mission that unites its various component organisations under a cohesive global purpose while allowing each entity a degree of autonomy to address specific regional needs or goals.
  3. Make your brand family work for you – Maybe your masterbrand is getting lost in the noise of the competing pluralist House of Brands. The strategy should then become one which brings the sub-brands together to help build the authority of the masterbrand. Or perhaps your brand family feels constrained and you’re starting to recognise the benefit of moving towards an Endorsed Brand framework. This aspiration indicates that you need a strategy to build trust, recognition and equity in the masterbrand with some guardrails around how far the sub-brands can exercise independence.
  4. Labels matter – When renaming or simply combining with the masterbrand, follow the rules – Marty Neumeier sets them out so well here. Think of all the use cases you might have for the masterbrand and the sub-brand names. For example, when written in prose you can’t just rely on the logo to do the talking, write rules and provide guidance on how to use masterbrand + sub-brand, masterbrand + sub-brands, masterbrand + sub-brand + partner brand in prose.
  5. Be ruthless – Brands take time, energy and budgets to manage. Be hard-nosed when it comes to rationalising how many sub-brands you have. Are they in fact departments? Could several be grouped under one theme? In contrast…
  6. Protect and respect difference – An organisation with sub-brands that speak to very different personas might need a differentiated tone of voice in each case. A brand that arises out of a merger may have a founding story and heritage that will always carry value and resonance, and this too should be recognised.
  7. Allow room for expression – As with any brand, singular or suite, it’s wise to build in room to flex. Even UAL’s Branded House approach demonstrates elasticity. Pentagram designed a visual identity that can ‘withstand’ the creative expression of various agencies. The colon ‘:’ acts as a holding device for creative expression, see Johnson Banks’ example below (left) and similarly, in Alphabetical’s vibrant campaign (right):
    Branded House model UAL flexible system
    This offers proof that Pentagram’s identity is a unifier not a straitjacket – brand architecture that offers enough room for interior designers to flourish!
  8. Empower your team – As well as providing clear guidance for everyone in the organisation, also take time to educate and engage senior leadership on the rationale and importance of the chosen brand architecture. Leading by example trickles down. If a member of the SLT goes rogue and breaks all the rules in an internal PowerPoint presentation, that sends out a message to the wider organisation that the rules can be broken.
  9. Leave egos at the door – Closely linked to point 1. Some people don’t like change; they can’t always see the benefit of revising the model they are so aligned with. Listen to their concerns and invite independent advice. Show them how alignment will help them deliver on, not hinder, their goals.

To wrap up

Brand strategies need revisiting regularly. As equity grows in the masterbrand or indeed in its sub-brand/s, the model you currently employ may need reconsidering. In the past I would have defined Adobe as following an Endorsed Brand model but over time the Adobe name has grown in importance within the overall brand strategy. It’s likely that Adobe’s branding strategy has evolved over time from an Endorsed Brand model to a more monolithic Branded House model as its masterbrand has gained strength and recognition. This kind of strategic shift often happens when a company realises that consolidating its branding can create stronger brand equity and build on customer loyalty.

If your brand family feels like a soupy mess or a bland straitjacket, take time to review and rationalise.

As with most brand strategy projects, start with zooming out, using a wide-angled lens and looking at how your strategic plan aligns with your audience and your marketplace. Make radical change or evolve gradually – there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Do what’s right for your organisation at the time while keeping a keen eye on the future.

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