Brand architecture is the way a company organises the relationships between its brands – the parent, product brands and, where applicable, subsidiary brands. It needs to be addressed whenever a company grows and gains products or services that require their own naming. There are three basic models. A unified brand, where everything carries the company's name and is distinguished only by description; a single reputation is built, but a problem with one product affects everything. Standalone brands, where the products do not outwardly resemble the company; these allow different markets to be addressed, but each brand has to be built separately. And a combined model with the parent brand in the background. The choice is an economic one: how many brands you can realistically sustain. Most smaller companies have more brands than they can carry.
See also: Naming, Rebranding, Brand equity.
