Enterprise brand architecture research

【Abstract】The enterprise brand architecture is a dynamic change system， not fixed， the brand structure level and the number of brands will change.

【Key words】Brand architecture; Dynamic change; Enterprise brand

【作者簡介】张剑（1983- ），男，江西高安人，广州南洋理工职业学院经济管理学院教师，经济师，硕士研究生，主要从事市场营销专业课程的教学与研究工作。

【基金项目】本文是广州南洋理工职业学院校级科研项目《基于客户心理的企业品牌资产评估指标体系建立研究》的研究成果之一，项目号：NY-2017KYYB-19。

1. The choice of brand structure of a startup

In the early days of business， more often than not， companies owned trademarks without “brands”. Due to lack of business startup resources often unable to support many brands of open construction at the same time， so at this time the most sensible choice is to focus on the limited enterprise resources on a single brand of development and construction. However， the single brand structure adopted by the brand cultivation stage has two choices. One is the single brand way of the companys corporate brand and product brand. The second is to register an independent brand building with a different brand name. Both of these approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages， and the key is to make appropriate choices according to the companys own situation and the competitive environment of the market. Among them， the company brand refers to the brand which is used to identify the enterprise， help consumers to know the company， and establish a good association for the enterprise， which is made up of the name and trademark of the enterprise. Product brand is used to identify the specific certain or a few products， to help consumers to know the products of the company， and establish the good of this kind of product， the products name and trademark form .

2.Corporate development process brand architecture

When enterprises enter the high-speed growth stage， in order to better meet the individual needs of different types of consumers， and occupy different market segments， enterprises need to launch different positioning products and brands. There are three different directions for new products or brands of enterprises， as shown in the following figure （1） product and brand matrix.

Among them， <1> is an early brand and corresponding early product of the enterprise， which is a single brand in the start-up period of the enterprise. Therefore， the starting enterprises can have <2>， <3>， <4 BBB 3 different new ways. Mode <2> refers to the introduction of new product categories by enterprises， but the original early brand of the enterprise， namely， the brand extension of the early brand to launch new products. Mode <3> refers to the introduction of new brands in the original product category， i.e. the product remains unchanged and the new brand is re-packaged. Mode <4> refers to the launch of new products and brand new brands.

2.1 Plan the enterprise brand framework hierarchy

Regardless of how the new direction of the enterprise product or brand， with the increasing of product or brand， the enterprise must carry out the system of brand architecture planning， and before the specific planning of brand architecture， and must first planning enterprise brand architecture level. Enterprises can according to the difference between the brand and endorsement different brands of the two indicators of the enterprise can be divided into four levels： the company brand， family brand， individual brand and modification， including family brand， individual brand， and modify belong to the category of product brand， specific situation （2） Brand hierarchy as shown in the diagram below.

The company brand is used to identify the enterprise and help consumers to know the brand of the enterprise. If the company enables the company， it can build it into a leading brand and endorse other product brands. The family brand is the brand which the company USES in several major categories， also known as the range brand; A single brand is a brand that is only used in one product category， and has more product attribute associations， which can reflect the personality characteristics of the product well， so the difference of individual brands is stronger than the endorsement. The modified brand is used to distinguish the decorative logo of different product types in the same product category， and the difference of the brand is the strongest among the four levels of brand. The above four brand hierarchy from theoretical do division， enterprises in the actual brand architecture design needs to be according to the reality of scientific planning， particularly relating to the product family brand， individual brand and modification， simplified level as far as possible， dont divide too much so as not to cause the consumer awareness of enterprise product chaos， so avoid enterprise brand architecture too complicated.

2.2 Typical corporate brand architecture

2.2.1 Single brand architecture

Enterprises in the brand development stage you can continue to use a single brand architecture， in order to distinguish between different product model can add a specific product model after the leading brand of brand for the difference， so a specific type of product brand by leading brands and modify brands constitute composite form， concrete form （3） Single brand architecture shown in the diagram below， the main brands can be a companys brand， also can be the product in the form of individual or family brands， but at this time of the brand is the leading brand product information supplement， cannot become the leading brand of enterprise， specific operation will be on the product packaging to use smaller font size， the color of the shallow some methods such as reduce the significant degree of modified brands， and in the brand publicity is given priority to with leading brand message.

The main problem of continuing to use the single brand structure in the stage of enterprise brand development is whether the brand association of the dominant brand matches the characteristics of the new products. Only by carefully solving this problem can enterprises ensure the successful extension of the brand to new products under the single brand architecture.

2.2.2 More brand architecture

Enterprises often face when entered the stage of brand development into multiple segments， at the same time meet the demand of different consumer groups， at this time if continue to stick to a single brand architecture is likely to be dominant brand extension border restrictions， so in order to better adapt to different market， enterprises need to launch several leading brands， to form brand architecture form. Enterprise development at the same time cultivating a variety of individual brand， and the single brand at the same time as the leading brand of independent construction enterprise， the typical companies such as procter & gamble has many independent single brand， and as the leading brand of enterprise resources for construction.

3. Factors that affect the corporate brand architecture

3.1 Market competition

Enterprises to focus on the main competitors of brand architecture design， as well as the number of its own brand and the brand positioning， visibility and reputation， and so on and so forth， and as an important factor of brand architecture design.

3.2 Consumer demand changes

With the rapid development of individuality demand， the enterprise is more and more difficult to single brand to meet the needs of all consumers， because each brand will form a unique brand association， the more strong brand this uniqueness is more obvious， and the uniqueness of each brand can resonate with specific target consumers personality， impossible to satisfy all consumers and accepted， so companies need to different market segment consumers demand characteristics as one of the important factors of enterprise brand architecture design.

3.3 Business situation

The development of the enterprise itself， the future direction of strategic development， and the choice and change of the strategic direction of the enterprise will affect the design of the enterprises brand architecture. Besides， the resources of enterprises， including capital， talent， brand management experience and management energy， will be the influencing factors of enterprise brand architecture design.

3.4 New products match the original brand

Whether enterprises to adopt single brand extension， brand architecture， or more brand architecture to build a new brand to brand structure when the choice， an important influence factor is the enterprise whether can match between existing brands and new products.

References：

[1]Guolin Zhang，the relationship between single brand architecture and brand positioning[J].Modern business，2008，（1）：163-164.

[2]Pingdan Zhang，four docking of brand cultivation[J].China science and technology information，2006，（2）：54-55.