Question

Topic: Branding

Little Division's Web Site: 2b Or Not 2b

Posted by Anonymous on 3/16/2009 at 10:23 AM ET 500 Points
Hi experts,

We are a small division of a big company and right now we have our own web site maintained in-house.

Our mother-company is now redesigning its web site and we are offered a choice: to keep our own web site or be fully incorporated into a corporate one.

What are the pros and cons of either one of decisions?

If we get integrated, I could only think of..

pros:
- free
- less work for in-house designers
- I suppose it will help our branding

cons
- less freedom in look and feel
- we can't have specific applications installed

Anything else I am forgetting?
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by kevin.shoesmith on 3/16/2009 at 10:38 AM Member
    Agree with NuCoPro ... Also, you will probably have a number of customers who are used to your current URL and where to find you (hopefully you're on their "favorites or bookmarked" sites). If you switch to the Corporate site, they might not be able to find you as easily and get frustrated.
  • Posted by ilan on 3/16/2009 at 4:34 PM Accepted
    Sorry to say, but so far no one has given any consideration to the brand hierarchy here.
    What is the brand architecture, and what is the relationship between the two? (corporate & division) is it a house of brands? is it a branded house?
    Is corporate only a holding company, or a family of brands of which the so called 'division" is one?
    I can give you a whole set of different opinions on each one of these scenarios, but someone has to tell me what is the brand architecture.
    In case you don't know, and your corporate buddies don't know either, I'll be happy to help you.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/16/2009 at 6:22 PM Accepted
    Does your parent-company association matter to prospective clients? If so, then mother-company could (as a minimum) create a version of their site that revolves around their branding message. If not, then keep things separate (so your site can speak to your target audience).
  • Posted on 3/17/2009 at 6:56 AM Author
    Hi all,
    thanks for your comments.
    I also like the freedom better, even though having web out of our hands seems like an easier way to go

    ilan: corporate is only a holding company; there is a "theme" for all the divisions, but it is very generic and products are very different
  • Posted by ilan on 3/17/2009 at 9:23 AM Member
    Keep your "freedom" if you want, but with it you must realize that you are pretending to be a separate brand.You must also keep the values and essence of that separate brand.
    Its almost like Tide and P&G...no customer cares if P&G will sell Tide, as long as the brand keeps its values and relationship with it core customers.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Branding)