The Difference Between Two Branding Strategies
Single-brand strategy and multi-brand strategy are two different branding strategy models that food enterprises adopt when building their brand architecture. The single-brand strategy refers to the branding strategy model in which products of multiple types and categories from a food enterprise use the same main brand or the same main brand plus different sub-brands. The multi-brand strategy refers to the branding strategy model where different categories of products from an enterprise use different brands under the endorsement of the company brand.
Successful Cases of Single-brand Strategy Application
A classic example of using a single-brand strategy to expand the market and strengthen the brand is Kang Shi Fu and Tong Yi. Products of different categories from Kang Shi Fu all use the Kang Shi Fu main brand plus product category or Kang Shi Fu main brand plus product sub-brand single-brand strategy. For instance, Kang Shi Fu main brand plus product sub-brand includes Kang Shi Fu 3+2, Kang Shi Fu Fresh Daily C, Kang Shi Fu Food Eight Directions, etc.; Kang Shi Fu main brand plus product category includes Kang Shi Fu Ice Red Tea, Ice Green Tea, etc.
Tong Yi is also a representative brand that has succeeded with a single-brand strategy. In all different categories of products from Tong Yi, they use the Tong Yi plus product category or Tong Yi plus product sub-brand single-brand strategy model. For example, Tong Yi plus product category includes Tong Yi Fresh Orange, Tong Yi Peach Drink, Tong Yi Ice Red Tea, Ice Green Tea, etc.; Tong Yi plus product sub-brand includes Tong Yi Lai Yi Tong, Tong Yi 100, etc. The single-brand strategy has helped Kang Shi Fu and Tong Yi become famous and successful brands in the food industry.
Successful Cases of Multi-brand Strategy Application
A typical example of a successful multi-brand strategy is Dali Group from Fujian and the internationally renowned brand Coca-Cola. Let's first look at how Dali Group builds its multi-brand architecture. As the corporate brand, Dali Group endorses its product brands. Currently, Dali Group’s three major product categories use different product brands, such as "Kebike" for the potato chip series, "Good Taste" for the cake series, and "Dali Garden" for the beverage series. These three major product series and three product brands jointly support Dali Group's corporate brand, while also reserving space for brand growth.
The world food giant Coca-Cola also adopts a multi-brand strategy model. Facing the gradual decline of the carbonated beverage market, Coca-Cola had to enter the fruit juice beverage and tea beverage markets. However, fruit juice beverages and tea beverages did not use the Coca-Cola brand but adopted a multi-brand strategy instead. For example, Coca-Cola's carbonated beverages mainly use the "Coca-Cola" brand, its tea beverages use the "Yuan Ye" brand, and fruit juice beverages use the "Minute Maid" brand, etc. The multi-brand strategy not only reduces the risk of damaging the main Coca-Cola brand but also expands new market spaces for the enterprise.
Comparison of Advantages and Disadvantages of the Two Branding Strategies
The main advantages of a single-brand strategy include: (1) Simple and clear brand architecture; (2) Strong pull power of the corporate brand on products; (3) Ability to save on brand communication costs, etc. The main disadvantages of a single-brand strategy include: (1) Greater market risk, problems with one type of product can have a significant impact on other product categories; (2) Less convenient for deeper market segmentation, etc.
The main advantages of a multi-brand strategy include: (1) More precise brand positioning; (2) More beneficial for expanding the scale of niche markets; (3) Relatively smaller market risks, problems with one product category have less impact on others, etc. The main disadvantages of a multi-brand strategy include: (1) Requires more brand investment, each product brand needs separate communication costs; (2) A large number of brands increases the difficulty of corporate brand management, etc.
How Food Enterprises Build Their Brand Architecture
Food enterprises should choose between a single-brand strategy or a multi-brand strategy based on their own conditions. If your enterprise has relatively simple product categories, lower expenses in publicity, and weaker marketing management capabilities, we recommend adopting a single-brand strategy as it is more suitable. If your enterprise is larger in scale, has more product categories, higher brand promotion expenses in the market, and stronger marketing management capabilities, we suggest considering adopting a multi-brand strategy. Initially, it is not advisable to have too many product brands, generally around 2 is ideal. First, concentrate resources on expanding these two product brands to support the enhancement of the corporate brand, then use the influence of the corporate brand to drive the operation of other new brands. This approach saves communication costs and reduces market risks.
Main Conclusions
From the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that whether to adopt a single-brand strategy or a multi-brand strategy mainly depends on the specific conditions of the food enterprise. Both branding strategies have their advantages and disadvantages, and there is no right or wrong, good or bad distinction. We hope more food enterprises understand the pros and cons of single-brand and multi-brand strategies, build their own brand architecture well, so that their enterprises can steadily grow stronger and larger.
Author Introduction: Ding Hua, CEO of Beijing Precision Planning, 41 years old, a well-known Chinese food marketing expert; with 15 years of practical marketing experience in the food industry, successfully served over thirty international and domestic large, medium, and small food enterprises; established a relatively mature marketing practice theory system in the field of food marketing planning. Beijing Precision Planning - China's integrated marketing planning expert for food enterprises. E-mail: [email protected]