Brand architecture is the system that organises and structures a portfolio of brands, products or services. It defines the relationships between them — how they relate to each other, how they’re named and how they’re presented visually and verbally.
The three most common models are the branded house (everything under one brand), the house of brands (each product or division operates as an independent brand) and the endorsed brand model (sub-brands that carry the parent brand’s endorsement). Most organisations operate somewhere on the spectrum between these.
When customers are confused by multiple brands with unclear relationships, when internal teams don’t know how to talk about the portfolio, or when acquisitions and new product lines have been added without a strategic framework to contain them.
Most projects take six to ten weeks, including research, stakeholder workshops and development of the recommended architecture model and its visual expression.
Yes. The architecture model directly influences how products, services and divisions are named — whether they carry the parent brand name, stand alone or use a hybrid approach.
A transition plan is developed as part of the project, covering how existing brands are migrated, consolidated or retired under the new architecture over an agreed timeline.
Senior leadership, marketing, product and sales are all typically involved, given the commercial and strategic implications of the decisions being made. Legal should also be consulted on naming and trademark implications.
It determines what gets marketed under which name, how different products or services share or don’t share brand equity, and how budgets and resources are allocated across the portfolio.
Yes. Architecture should evolve as the portfolio grows or changes. Businesses that make acquisitions, launch new product lines or enter new markets regularly need to revisit their brand architecture to ensure it remains logical and manageable.
It can. The architecture strategy defines the structural model; visual identity work then develops how the relationships between brands are expressed visually. These can be completed as a single project or in sequence.