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Branding   URGENT - Need Help Fast!  
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Product Logos Versus Corporate Branding
Posted By: john_ellsworth* on 10/4/2004 4:17 PM (CST) 500 Points
Can you point to any studies on when NOT to use logos for products, rather than just using product names under the umbrella of corporate branding?

Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 4:28 PM (CST)
John,

My first thought is of P&G – usually strong product brand development accompanied by supportive corporate brand development. Here are a few links that may help:

http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/brand.htm

http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=81

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jht...

http://www.pg.com/jobs/consumer_is_boss/building_brand.jhtml


best of luck,

- Steve
 
Posted by: JBtron Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 5:08 PM (CST)
John,

This IS the $64,000 question, and one that has no real set of rules because the rules take their cues from a number of factors: what industry the product or service in question is in, the competitive mix, consumer v business-orientation, the economic considerations for the business of each approach, and of course, the opportunity for product launch.

It really depends on the strength of the new product and the marketspace it operates in. Take ANY of the private label ventures from major supermarket retailers. Their desire for a private label brand is one of two strategies: either they want to capture AFFINITY BRAND sales, or what I call ASPIRATIONAL BRAND sales.

AFFINITY BRAND: Every Walgreen's store has knock-offs of name-branded products they carry that look and feel just like the name brand product, and are placed right next to them on the shelves. A percentage of sales goes to people who inadvertently pick up the Walgreen's knock-off instead of the branded product. Their sales are GEARED for that kind of transaction as well for those consumers that see the two packages side-by-side and the make an impulse purchase based on price alone, thinking that parody exists between the two products.

ASPIRATIONAL BRAND: When the private label brand has an upscale look BEYOND the retail store’s positioning. Marks & Spencer in the UK has been doing this for years, creating private-label brands that surpass their competitor counterparts in their own stores.

AS TO YOUR DILEMMA:

What it really boils down to is the Corporate Culture, in my opinion. IF the Corporation is one that has iconoclastic visual brand equity, like SONY or Microsoft, I would suspect a new product would come under that identity, hoping that the product itself would be “protected” in its launch by the value and reputation of the parent brand.

The exception here is a company like P&G, who has the global identity, but it exists as a thought/name in the consumer’s mind as a trusted provider of products. [If shown five different treatments of the same caliber, I doubt whether ANYONE could select the current P&G Corporate logo in a focus group.] Their products have their individual identities, and once they demonstrate their market power, they become part of the P&G lineup in press and promotion, but never on the product itself in a bold way: it’s a very subdued treatment on the back. P&G isn’t the brand you buy on the shelf.

TIME TO LAUNCH: This is also a consideration that impacts your situation. If the product is truly unique and doesn't have anyone trying to encroach in your marketspace, then you have the time to build the new product brand itself generically, through ssales and traditional promotion (an oxymoron in this day and age!). If you have competitors on the horizon, it might make more sense to launch under the parent brand, to build the product's market credibility faster.

If we knew a bit more about your SPECIFIC SITUATION, we could offer better counsel. Tell us more so we can better assist you!

Hope THIS helps!

Best,

::JBtron
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Member Response
10/4/2004 6:02 PM (CST)
JBTron makes an excellent point -- companies like P&G, Unilever, J&J, Kimberly-Clark, Eli Lilly, General Mills, Fortune Brands and even Yum! Brands are exceptions in the wide world of corporate/product branding. By far the majority of companies incorporate their company names (umbrella style or more directly) into their product’s identification.
 
Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB Member Response
10/4/2004 10:10 PM (CST)
How about where the logo may be completely unknown and therefore conveys little or no meaning to a consumer.

In contrast, a succinct name including corporate branding gets the product utility or purpose across and starts to build awareness for a company, or allows an unknown product to assume a mantle of authority and respectability by brand association.

Hope this helps.

ChrisB
 
Posted by: mbarber Member Response
10/4/2004 10:36 PM (CST)
Gidday John - nope no known studies either because its such an open question for the industry - is a logo branding as well and if so how do you separate it from corporate branding?

Another good company to look at is Sara Lee whose product diversity is enormous but who also target specific brands that have market appeal in their won right.
 
Posted by: deeps* Member Response
10/5/2004 1:04 AM (CST)
One more good example, known to all of us is the NOKIA mobile phone company. They, till now, do not have any logos for them and rely upon the company name itself for global branding. And this brand is known to all the people in the world !!
 
Posted by: KANDI* Accepted Answer
10/5/2004 5:31 AM (CST)
There is a great deal of good information in Aaker and Joachimsthalers’ book “Brand Leadership”, look in the sections on different brand hierarchies where you will find examples of all the different brand strategies. The models expounded, range from a monolithic “Branded House” through to a multi-brand “House of Brands” with several in-between sub-brand and endorsing strategies.

I think this is a particularly difficult area to tackle.

Firstly there is rarely a “right answer” all the strategies have their advantages and disadvantages. If there is a business decision behind the question my advice is not to rush into it quickly. The preferred choice should depend on several factors including:
• Your business strategy.
• The width of the product and or service range.
• The width and depth of existing and planned target markets.
• The position, personality and strengths and weaknesses of any existing brands in your portfolio.
• The elasticity of your existing brands.
• As above for competitor brands .
• The ability to differentiate the product or service in question either in terms of functionality, design, or emotional factors.

Whatever the decision is, be sure to communicate the rationale internally and execute it well, its rarely a cheap date …..

Good luck.

KS
 
Posted by: Deremiah *CPE Member Response
10/5/2004 9:04 PM (CST)
john_ellsworth,

Jett should be able to answer this question with no problem but I have not been able to find him since October 1. Well anyway I do not know of any known studies although JBTRON highlights a great response.

The only thing I can think of where no logos are used resides in the hidden artistic realm of my life experience. In the art world artist do not use logos instead their name is all that's necessary and eventually that becomes the brand for everything they do. Whether you examine the paintings and drawings of Picasso, Charles White, Charles Biggs, William Carter, Robert Longo or Andy Warhol logos are not a necessary part of the artist branding tool. This is one area that comes to mind. I'll think about it and try to share some other areas. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)
 
Posted by: Jonathan_Ward/CMO* Accepted Answer
10/5/2004 10:56 PM (CST)
Although there are many approaches to product marketing in the b-to-b and b-to-c sectors, the argument of independent product naming versus branding tied to the parent company comes down to budget.

First, let me illustrate in simple terms the three primary approaches to product naming and benefits/challenges of each.
1) Power Parent - This approach is used by companies like BMW (i.e. BMW 745i, BMW325, etc.), Disney (for the most part), Comcast, and many other know brands. The power parent approach is the most efficient way of marketing and building brand equity, and is an approach I often recommend this for brands that are well established in an industry. One of the two first approaches illustrated in this response is often the best way for mid-market companies to make the most of their marketing dollars, while minimizing the complexity of managing individual messaging structures for every product. Engaging this approach allows you to establish a brand promise, brand personality and values, for the parent, and introduce new products and services within this umbrella. Once you have established your parent company brand, every subsequent product and communication to the press and end customers is much easier as all stakeholders are already familiar with the brand, and they now just need to be informed about new products and upgrades using product designators tied to aggregate customer needs per segment.

2) Independent Parent - Much like the power parent approach, this approach always includes the parent company name to the product name. It differs in that the products have unique and meaningful names. Companies who have enlisted this approach include Ford (i.e. Ford Taurus), Microsoft (Microsoft Windows), etc. The benefit of this approach, as before, is that you are always building the parent company brand and brand equity. Therefore, when launching new products into your markets, your company will have a recognized brand, saving time and money educating on your brand's basics. The down side of this approach is that every time you want to launch a new product or service, you have to develop, test and research every new product name and assure that it fits within your brand umbrella. The positive side is that most companies engaging this approach have a standard product logo that allows designers to simply drop in a new product name into a logo "shell" which saves in logo development and potential color and design issues that can add significant legal and design cost.

3) Independent Product - The P&G approach. Every product is named, branded and launched without any tie to the parent. The largest problem in this approach is cost and the lack of building brand equity for the parent. Additionally, every time you develop a new product, you start at point zero. You will have to spend much more time and money for every product because you will not have a strong and recognized brand to leverage. I.e. you will start with no brand equity every time and you will build little brand equity over time for the parent company. This appproach works well for P&G, because they consistently develop and launch new products every year - and when one fails, it does not hurt the others or the parent. And when it succeeds, it does so on its own, so it makes it easier to engage in product innovation activities including line extension, and variations on the core successful product. This is a great approach for companies, in my opinion, who have very deep pockets who can develop and launch many products every year hoping a few become category leaders, and letting the rest die.

In summary, using a naming approach that links to the parent company directly (approaches 1 and 2, above) is the best way to build brand awareness and equity over time fo the parent. If your goal is to some day sell the company, one of these approaches will bring the highest market value. Also, linking products to the parent directly saves money and time because:
1) Every product you have will build awareness of your brand for every stakeholder.
2) Managing your brand at every touch point and for every product is easier, as all products and services launched will do so within your corporate brand.
3) You can roll out products and services more quickly because you will not have to develop new logos for every product and you will not have to develop brand documentation for every product individually.

Concersely, the independent product approach allows products to survive and fail without a direct link to the parent. This can be a large advantage for consumers who might have had a bad experience with one product, but are brand loyal to another even though both are manufactured and marketed by the same company. From an investor standpoint, the link between the independent products and the parent is often transparent (I.e. we know as business experts that P&G owns and markets many brands we are familiar with)

The biggest down-side to the independent product approach is that it is very difficult to manage the brand of stand-alone products and marketers and product managers often go "naming crazy" when let loose to develop any name they want. The end result is that rather than a well thought out brand, every product ends up being the personal preference of a product manager or marketer rather than grounded in solid branding fundamentals.

Give me a call if you'd like to discuss further. 781 526 3755. Jon Ward
 


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