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Brand architecture: Reconfiguring organisations for effective brand management

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Abstract

Two questions in brand management are: what advantages flow from corporate/banner branding, and how can corporate/banner brands and product sub-brands ‘partner’ one another? These questions are examined by introducing and discussing the concept of brand architecture.

Through examples, it is demonstrated why the leadership skills that are required to restructure the brand architecture of a company are perceptually simple, but organisationally complex. At a perceptual level, consumers tend to be good at interpreting why two brands which are newly linked as partners might offer more than a single branded proposition. However, radical changes in brand architectures are currently being described by practitioners: ‘we need to re-learn what brand marketing is all about’ and ‘we need to elevate marketing to ensure there is widespread participation in the process of adding value’. The organisational implications of this are dramatic and challenging. This is where the complexity lies.

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1Mark Uncles is Heinz Professor of Brand Management, Bradford Management Centre. He took up this post in 1994, after spending nine years on the faculty at London Business School. His research and teaching interests include brand management, consumer loyalty and retail analysis. Mark has published in many leading journals, including, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising Research, Marketing Science and Transportation Research, and he has also contributed articles to Marketing, Marketing Society Review, and other trade publications.

2Melanie Cocks is a lecturer in Marketing, Bournemouth University. She graduated in Business Administration from the University of Hertfordshire. She is now based at Bournemouth University where she lectures in marketing, and is a doctoral candidate investigating current and potential models of brand management within packaged-goods companies. Melanie is one of the primary contributors to ‘The Brand Chartering Handbook’, which is to be published by Addison-Wesley/EIU, and she is a co-worker for The World Class Branding Network.

3Chris Macrae is co-founder of The World Class Branding Network and Associate Partner of Leo Burnett Brand Consultancy. Chris has consulted on brand processes in over 20 countries. He originated the Brand Chartering methodology to which many co-workers in The World Class Branding Network have contributed. He has played a co-ordinating role in producing ‘The Brand Chartering Handbook’ to be published by Addison-Wesley/EIU. He is author of ‘World Class Brands’, published by Addison-Wesley in 1991 and, earlier this year, he contributed to the BBC for Business video, ‘Branding — The Marketing Advantage’. He is also an Honorary Visiting Senior Fellow in Marketing at Bradford Management Centre.

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Uncles, M., Cocks, M. & Macrae, C. Brand architecture: Reconfiguring organisations for effective brand management. J Brand Manag 3, 81–92 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.1995.33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.1995.33

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