● Company and individual brand (endorsed approach): Traditionally Unilever
practised a multi-brand approach with its washing powders but recently
has been moving closer to the strategy of linking a company name to an
individual brand name. Their products now have Lever Bros. as a high-
profile endorsement on the individual brands such as Persil, Radion and
Surf. This can be used in different ways. Endorsing a product with the
corporate name gives new product credibility whilst at the same time
allowing the new brand some degree of freedom. A fixed endorsed
approach entails the corporate brand name being given a consistent pro-
file against each individual product’s brand name in the range. For
example, all Kellogg’s products give individual product brand names
the prominent position on the pack, while the same secondary weight-
ing is given to the company brand name. (Note: This is different to Heinz
where the prominence of the corporate brand is sacrosanct.) Cadbury’s
take a more flexible approach to the corporate endorsement, it is more
or less prominent depending on how independent they choose to make
the brand.
● Range branding: Some organisations use different brand names for dif-
ferent ranges of product in effect creating a family of products. Ford
has done this to an extent using Ford for its mass-market car range and
Jaguar for the up-market executive car range. Volvo, another Ford
acquisition, has its own distinct brand values that appeal to a particu-
lar market segment and therefore has become another brand family for
the Ford group.
● Private branding (distributors own brand): An organisation may decide to
supply private brands in particular retail brands. In this case the pri-
vate brand is owned and controlled by the distributor who will make
decisions regarding the product’s position in the market. The distribu-
tor is likely to use either a strategy of corporate or a company and indi-
vidual brand for its products.
● Generic branding: This strategy involves the product having no brand
name. The product’s packaging merely states the contents of the pack-
age for instance flour or washing up liquid.
Each of the approaches to branding outlined above has advantages and
disadvantages. These are summarised in Figure 9.13.
■ Combined brand strategies
Obviously large organisations may use a mixture of brand strategies to
manage their large product portfolios. 3M employs a number of approaches
to brand its broad range of products.
The 3M brand name is used as an umbrella brand on all products aimed
at the professional market including camera, overhead projectors and
video tapes. On Post-it notes, the individual brand name is accompanied
by the 3M Company brand name. This is also true of the company’s general
Targeting, positioning and brand strategy 203