The Philosophy
Every day the consumer gets bombarded with thousands of advertising and communication messages that each need to be mentally processed. Such a large amount of information quickly gets too much for the brain and much is consequently rejected.

To penetrate the mind of the modern consumer, you need to formulate your brand's value position clearly. You also need enough resources in order to penetrate the wall of communication noise and get your message through to the consumer. This costs a lot of money. Therefore only a few companies can afford to market several individual brands, especially internationally.

With intelligent branding you can use the strength in your Corporate Brand to create new sub-brands, which can then draw their vigour from the mother brand. This makes good business sense and potentially holds great prospects.

On a short-term basis, it's only sensible to focus the branding strategy on building value into your Corporate Brand in order to create a strong value position. In the long-term you are then ready to achieve effectiveness in new segments within your existing market area, as well as in new markets.

The model
Kunde & Co's Brand System is a model that illustrates different brand strategies. On the left side of the model you will find the strategies derived from the Corporate Brand, while on the right side you will find the one product-one brand strategies.

There is a wide variety of sub-branding strategies in between the two extreme points in which the company draws more or less on the value of its Corporate Brand. The longer you go to the right, the more the brand strategy focuses on the individual product brand.

How to use the model?
In many companies decisions regarding branding are often not made centrally. When a new product is to be launched, it is the product or marketing manager who together with the advertising agency develops a name and perhaps also a logo. The result of this strategy is often that a company is left with a number of brands that have no connection.

Some companies have realised this and have hired a design bureau in an attempt to clean up their act. However, a graphic identity is only a hollow shell that really has nothing to do with a branding system.

In the value economy it is the content and the value in the brand that matters. To put it differently: don't put up with the dictatorship of the logo. Consider instead how the value in your Corporate Brand can be used to expand your business areas and strengthen the company's market position. This is what the branding system and the use of the brand need to be developed around.

Try to place your company's brands in the model. Ask yourself if their placement is a result of coincidences, or whether it is a result of goal-oriented work with the company's brand system. Do your brands draw enough strength from the company's Corporate Brand? If the answer is yes, how could you alter it without losing control over which values are tied to your Corporate Brand?

Read more:
Corporate Religion, Corporate Concept, Company´s personality, The Value position, Brand Value Chain, The books.