A Practical Guide to CPG Brand Execution
As a CPG entrepreneur or decision-maker, you likely already have a solid foundation for your brand strategy. You’ve spent time developing key elements like Purpose, Mission, and Vision, you’ve identified your most likely Customer Targets and stated your Value Proposition. However, executing your brand strategy effectively requires consistent positioning, delivery, and communication of the brand. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you navigate the essentials of brand execution.
Brand Architecture: Choosing the Right Structure
Brand architecture is an organizing structure of a brand’s portfolio that specifies brand roles and relationships between brands based on the overall strategy. It provides a clear approach to how a company’s offerings are related. Think of this as, “What are we known by?”
Here are the main types:
Branded House: A single master brand is the dominant driver across multiple offerings. Sub-brands are descriptors with little to no driver role. A single master brand drives multiple offerings, with sub-brands serving as descriptors. This structure maximizes clarity in the consumer’s mind and offers economies of scale but may limit the ability to target specific groups.
Example: FedEx (FedEx Express, FedEx Office)
Master Brand: Product names are generic and appended to the corporate entity, with brand value accruing to the master brand. This approach is easy to trademark and doesn’t require extensive marketing support but can be challenging to support multiple products.
Example: Google (Google Maps, Google Meet)
Sub-Brand: Both the master brand and sub-brand have significant driver roles, with brand value accruing to both. This structure allows the master brand to contribute category credibility, with the sub-brand speaking to a strong point of difference such as innovation or new targets while enhancing parent brand equity. However, the sub-brand requires significant marketing support and can be affected by issues with either brand. Considerations for a sub-brand include business potential, investment level needed, and key features and functionality.
Example: Apple (Apple iPhone, Apple Pay)
Endorsed Brand: Product names are connected to the parent brand, with brand value split but favoring the product. This structure benefits from the halo effect of the parent brand but requires marketing support.
Example: Marriott (Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott)
House of Brands: The corporate entity acts as a holding company, with individual product names standing on their own and brand value accruing to the product. This structure allows for unique and ownable brands but requires significant marketing support.
Example: Procter & Gamble (Tide, Downy)
Naming Architecture: Your Verbal Identity
Naming Architecture provides structure to organize products and services so that customers can easily understand what is being offered. Simply said, think of this as “What do we call things?” How you name your products and brands can follow one of five approaches, ranging from less distinct but easy to understand without the need for an intentional campaign, to very distinct and requiring both legal protection and marketing support to understand. The approaches are:
Generic: Usually identifies an entire class/category of products or services with a broad term.
Descriptive: Immediately conveys an idea of ingredients, qualities, or characteristics of the product or service.
Suggestive: Evokes or suggests a characteristic of the product or service.
Arbitrary: Usually a “real” word used for the product or service, but out of context.
Fanciful: Usually an invented word that has no inherent meaning other than the one assigned to it for the brand or service.
See the chart below for the benefits and issues of these approaches.
| Type | Benefits | Issues | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic | • Simplicity • Easily Understood |
• Not very distinctive or ownable • Weakest trademark protection |
Hotels.com Cars.com |
| Descriptive | • Simplicity • Easily Understood • Not necessary to spend extra on marketing to explain • If very successful, a secondary meaning occurs when consumers can associate this descriptive name with only one source • Two descriptive words may become distinctive |
• Not very distinctive or ownable • Not eligible for trademark protection |
Flat Rate Three-Day Blinds Holiday Inn International Business Machines |
| Suggestive | • Provides distinction and ownability • Improves trademark protection • Draws on the power of the metaphor and analogy to create positive association in customers’ minds • Easier to connect with because they are somewhat grounded in reality |
• Challenging to develop • More challenging to market |
Greyhound Pampers Coppertone Amazon Purell |
| Arbitrary | • Provides more distinction and ownability • More likely to receive trademark protection • Good arbitrary names have a good relationship to suggestiveness…requires a nimble imagination |
• Require lots of storytelling to convey connection and meaning |
Apple Quaker |
| Fanciful | • Provides the most distinction and ownability • Easiest name to protect legally |
• Requires lots of storytelling to convey connection and meaning • Can sound like they were developed by robots |
Kodak Xerox Bing Zulily Frisbee |
Brand Voice: How You Speak to Your Audience
Your brand voice establishes consistency in communications with the recognizable way that you present your brand with words. It humanizes your brand to your customers and helps increase brand awareness. Your voice is your organization’s brand personality described in adjectives and is your overall personality.
The tone of voice is a subset of your brand voice and describes not what you say, but how you say it. This includes not only the words you choose, but their order, rhythm, and pace. Tone shades your voice based on the audience, situation, and content type. As a starting point, your tone of voice should be reflective of the people who make up your organization. This helps your teams authentically represent the brand effectively.
Here are examples of voice characteristics, descriptions, and dos and don’ts of how to execute the voice in practice:
| Voice Characteristics | Description | Do | Don't |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passionate | We’re passionate about changing the way the world works. |
• Use strong verbs • Be champions for your industry • Be cheerleaders |
• Be lukewarm or wishy-washy • Use passive voice |
| Quirky | We’re not afraid to challenge the status quo and be ourselves. |
• Use unexpected examples • Take the contrarian viewpoint • Express yourself |
• Use too much slang or too many obscure references • Use jargon, overplayed examples • Lose sight of the audience and core message |
| Irreverent | We take our product seriously; we don’t take ourselves seriously. |
• Be playful • Use colorful illustrations or examples |
• Be too casual • Use too many obscure, pop- culture examples |
| Authentic | We’re going to give you the tools and insight you need to make your job easier. That may not always be through our product. |
• Be honest and direct • Own any issues or mistakes, and show how you will address them • Stick to your word |
• Use marketing jargon or superlatives • Overpromise • Oversell the product’s capabilities |
Brand Style Guide: Your Tool for Consistency
Consistency is key to supporting a strong brand. Ensuring brand consistency throughout all collateral and brand elements can be challenging, especially with a large team or when using outside help. Developing a brand style guide informs the creation, placement, styles, and uses of your brand and its assets answers the question, “How do we look?”
Be sure to include:
- Brand mark creation and usage – sizing, placement, variations, and dos and don’ts
- Brand colors and usage – primary, secondary, builds, proprietary colors
- Fonts and usage – primary and secondary
- Visual style – including iconography, photography style, and illustrative style
Additionally, include a section on language use guidelines. This should include words you use and those to avoid when referring to your product or service, your employees, and your company overall. This should also cover tone, which helps new employees or agency partners understand your brand and create materials on your behalf that feel authentic to your audience.
Conclusion
Your brand strategy is the plan for success, but brand execution is what brings it to life. By thoughtfully defining your brand architecture, creating a clear naming architecture, and consistently applying your brand voice, you make your company a consistent experience for your customers.
These elements aren’t a one-time project; brand execution is an ongoing effort that builds credibility and brand equity. Consistently executed brand strategy ensures that every customer interaction is a powerful reminder of who you are. Ultimately, this is the key to turning a good CPG brand into a great one.