Brand architecture sounds like an org chart, but it is one of the most effective decisions in retail. It defines whether a private label stands on its own or lives from the retailer’s name. If you do not answer this question deliberately, you end up with an assortment of logos that take strength from each other.
As Creative Director Art at the agency oddity, I led brand collaborations and influencer marketing for the private labels of dm-drogerie markt: Balea, Alverde, Trenditup and dmBio, plus the work on SEINZ. Each of these brands had a different role, and that is exactly what made the architecture strong.
- Brand architecture clarifies how much of the master brand sits in each private label.
- Every private label needs its own job in the assortment.
- Private labels may appear independently as long as the quality promise stays the same.
- Collaborations and creators create a closeness a retail brand cannot reach on its own.
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What brand architecture decides in retail
Aaker and Joachimsthaler describe brand architecture as a spectrum: from a house with a single brand to a house of many independent brands, with gradations in between (see here: Aaker, Joachimsthaler, The Brand Relationship Spectrum, California Management Review). For retailers this picture is especially helpful, because the master brand is always present in the store.
The decisive question is: should the customer think of the retailer or of the private label when reaching for the shelf? Both answers can be right. The only wrong answer is leaving the question open.
Every private label needs a job
At dm, every private label had a clear role. Balea stood for everyday care, Alverde for natural cosmetics, dmBio for organic food and Trenditup for young, fast trends. This separation made communication easier: every brand could speak its own language without competing with the others.
What stayed the same was the retailer’s quality promise. For me that is the core of good brand architecture in retail: an independent appearance, a shared promise. If you mix the two, you get private labels that look like entry price points, even when they can do more.
Closeness through collaborations
For many people a retail brand is a given, but rarely desirable. Private labels can close this gap. With brand collaborations and influencer marketing we gave the private labels a closeness the retailer alone would not have reached. Reach and impact of the campaigns rose significantly as a result.
It was important that every collaboration fitted the role of the brand. A natural cosmetics brand needs different partners than a trend brand. How such partnerships work is also described in the post on collaborations and capsule collections.
Three questions before every new private label
Before I would support a new private label, I ask three questions. First: which job in the assortment does it have that no other brand fulfils? Second: how much of the master brand should be visible? Third: how does the customer notice that the quality promise applies?
In practice, I write the three answers down on one page before any design work starts. The page names the job, the visibility of the master brand and the proof of quality. Packaging, communication and shelf placement then follow from it, and every new campaign can be checked against the same page. For me, this single page is the simplest tool of brand architecture.
If these three answers are clear, brand architecture becomes a growth lever. If they are unclear, it becomes a cost centre. The difference rarely lies in the budget, but almost always in the clarity of the roles.