Should a New Product Get Its Own Brand Name, or Carry Yours?

Short answer: In most cases, carry the brand you already have. A new brand name means a second brand to fund, explain and defend for years, and it starts with none of the trust you have built. Create a separate brand only when the new product would strain your current promise, serve a very different audience or may need to stand on its own one day. If the answer sits in between, an endorsed name gives you room without starting from zero.

What is brand architecture?

Brand architecture is the way a business organizes its brands, products and names so customers understand how they relate. It answers simple questions. Which name leads? Which names support it? What does each one promise?

Most businesses never decide it on purpose. It builds up one launch at a time, until the product list reads like a room full of strangers.

The four common models

• Branded house. One master brand leads everything, and products are described rather than named. FedEx Express and FedEx Ground work this way. Every launch adds to one reputation.
• Sub-brand. The parent leads, with a product name underneath that has some personality of its own. Useful when a line needs its own character but should not drift far.
• Endorsed brand. The new name leads, and the parent stands behind it as a guarantee. Courtyard by Marriott is the familiar example. The new name gets room to move while borrowing trust.
• House of brands. Separate brands that stand alone, with the parent mostly invisible to customers. Toyota launched Lexus as its own brand rather than as a luxury Toyota.

Why the parent brand should be the default

A name is not a one-time cost. Every new brand needs its own identity, packaging system, website, social accounts, trademark work and, most expensive of all, its own awareness. Customers have to learn it from nothing.

Extending the parent brand puts every dollar to work twice. The launch benefits from the trust you have already earned, and the parent gets stronger with every product that keeps its promise. For a small or mid-sized business, that compounding is usually worth far more than a clever new name.

When a separate brand earns its cost

There are good reasons to create a new brand. They are narrower than most founders expect.

• The promise conflicts. A value line under a premium brand, or the reverse, will damage one or the other.
• The audience is different. If new customers would be put off by the parent, or existing customers would be confused by the product, keep them apart.
• The risk is real. A new category that could fail in public is sometimes better kept at arm's length.
• You may sell it. A product that could be spun out or sold one day is easier to separate if it has its own name from the start.
• The parent name will not stretch. A name tied to one product, one place or one ingredient can make the new product sound wrong.

A simple example

Picture a craft brewery in the Fraser Valley launching a non-alcoholic line. Carrying the brewery name tells regulars it is made with the same care, and the line launches with a following on day one. A separate brand would have to earn that trust from scratch.

Now picture the same brewery starting a catering business. Different audience, different promise, different buying decision. An endorsed name, with the brewery standing behind it, makes more sense than either extreme.

The cost most businesses miss

Every name you add is a name you have to maintain. Over time, an unplanned portfolio creates the very confusion branding is meant to solve. Customers stop knowing what is related to what. The team argues about which logo goes first. The parent brand gets weaker, because its reputation is spread across names nobody connects to it.

If you are already there, tidying the architecture can often fix it without a full rebrand. Our guide to rebrand or refresh explains the difference. If a new name really is needed, start with what makes a good brand name.

A seven-question test before you name anything

1. Would the new product keep the promise your current brand makes?
2. Would your current customers want it?
3. Would a new customer trust it more with your name on it?
4. If the product failed, would it hurt the parent?
5. Could you fund a second brand for five years, not just the launch?
6. Might you sell or spin out this product one day?
7. Would the parent name sound wrong on this product, read out loud?

If the first three answers are yes and the last four are no, extend the parent brand.

The principle

Every brand you create is a brand you have to keep. Spend your names carefully, and let the one you already have do the work it has earned.

Serif + Gold helps businesses decide how their brands fit together before the next launch, and then builds the work. If you are about to name something new, start a conversation at serifandgold.com.