Types of

Brands

Dr Smita Sharma
 The need for a single, focused,
different brand idea.

Brand Too many people develop brand

strategies, and therefore brands,

Idea
that are generic, vague, or
ambiguous.  

By selecting one type for your

brand, you’re more likely to end up
with a powerful brand strategy.
 1. Disruptive Brand — Challenges the
current ways of doing things and
introduces new concepts that
substantively change the market

Brand
2. Conscious Brand — Is on a mission to
make a positive social or environmental
impact or enhance people’s quality of life
3. Service Brand — Consistently delivers

Types
high-quality customer care and service
4. Innovative Brand — Consistently
introduces advanced and breakthrough
products and technologies
5. Value Brand — Offers lower prices for
basic quality
 6. Performance Brand — Offers products
that deliver superior performance and
dependability

Brand 7. Luxury Brand — Offers higher quality

at higher price
8. Style Brand — Is differentiated through

Types
the way its products or services look and
feel, as much as or more than what they do
9.Experience Brand — Is differentiated
through the experience it provides, as much
as or more than the product or service
 • Some characteristics are — or should be
— embraced by all brands. All brands

Brand
should offer good service, for example —
but a brand that falls into the Service
brand type makes it the top priority to
consistently deliver high-quality customer

Types
care and service. 
• Its strategies, operations, and ultimately
customer value propositions are all
centered around service first.
 • Although two or three brand types might
seem relevant to your brand — and there’s
certainly overlap between them — you
should identify a primary one. Your
primary brand type should be the one that

Brand aligns best with your overarching purpose,

resonates most with your organization,
and gives you the most impact with your
customers.

Types • Across the life of your brand, it might

evolve from one type to another as
customers, competitors, and culture
changes. But if you’re just starting out, I
recommend selecting the one that seems
most evergreen or sustainable.
 • For many brands, there is a difference
between how you’re currently perceived
and how you want to be. It’s possible to
change your brand type, but make sure
your aspirations are realistic — e.g., a

Brand value brand is unlikely to become a luxury

one or a style one.
• Each brand type offers a wide range of

Types
options for establishing a unique brand
identity and a precise brand positioning
for your brand. Consider the differences in
purpose, scope, target customer, and
personality between three different
performance brands:  BMW, FedEX, and
American Express.
Brand
Classification
• Different types of brands include
individual products, product
ranges, services, organisations,
individual persons, groups,
events, geographic places,
private label brands, media, and
e-brands.
 Coca-Cola is the first thing that comes to mind when the
notion of corporate branding is discussed.

Corporate The soft beverage giant even started promoting itself as

brands a “total beverage company”, a tagline which makes
sense as its products cover a wide range of soda drinks,
juices, bottled waters, and vitamin drinks.

This campaign is based on promoting healthier

alternatives to sugary drinks and is an attempt to
reinvent the entire corporate brand image and survive in
the midst of the changing marketplace which becomes
increasingly health-conscious.
 Unlike corporate brands, product brands are not marketed as

Product
being part of a big label.

When individual products are being marketed without

and Service mentioning their parent brands, the term “stand-alone” brands
is being used.

types of This means that consumers usually don’t know details about the
parent brand.

brands A good thing about these types of brands is that they will not
suffer a damaged reputation if their umbrella brand or other
house brands go through a crisis and vice versa.

Procter&Gamble can serve as a great example of this approach,

as the company developed more than 180 different, completely
independent brands such as Ariel, Tide, and Gillette.
Endorsed Brands

The upside of this approach lies

On the other hand, so-called
“endorsed” brands are marketed
individually, but their connection
with the parent brand is
highlighted.
in the fact that an endorsed
brand can steal some thunder
from the master brand, as well
as that it can quickly gain
visibility and recognition by
piggybacking on it.
iPhone, iPad, and iPod are
brands in their own right, but
their aura of popularity, visual
appeal, and quality heavily rely
on their parent brand – Apple.

Each of these brands benefits

from being associated with
Apple as well as with other
house brands.
 Many people do not understand how vital this kind of branding is,
but if we bear in mind that “trustworthiness”, “credibility”, or
“reputation” are terms closely associated with government action,
it is clear that building a brand is essential for these organisations.

Government
Take FBI or CIA as an example of government brands.

Brands People all around the world know about these two government
brands, and they perceive them as serious and highly professional.

Any government agency needs to communicate clearly what its

responsibilities are and the public has to know how effective it is in
performing them.
 People build personal brands mainly to increase the number of their
career options.

Personal
Again, social media plays an important role, and it can be even said that it
is indispensable, in creating and managing a personal brand.

brands Having a profile on LinkedIn has become almost mandatory for business
professionals, but employees use other platforms to scan their potential
candidates too.

Some experts dispute that personal branding is a type of brand because

no specific business model could commercialise it, but on the other hand,
many people create very detailed networking strategies and invest money
and time in their personal brand, all of which pays off ultimately.
 Celebrities use their influence, household
products, social media, appearances on various
TV shows, and even some not so glamorous
methods such as starting gossip about

Celebrity themselves or fabricating feuds with other

celebrities in an attempt to stay in the spotlight
and increase their social media following.
brands
The most prominent stars get lucrative
endorsement deals.
Non-profit
Brand building is crucial in the non-profit
sector.

brands
It is only logical that non-profits use their
brand to raise funds, but some have
managed to use their influence to raise
awareness for their cause and make a real
impact.
 Intel chips, Teflon, Gore-Tex, and Dolby Digital Sound are
examples of successful ingredient branding.

Ingredient All these products and materials are of excellent quality,

brand
but the thing that makes them successful brands is the
fact that consumers have heard of them and that they
have become global brands even outside of their host
brands.

For instance, Gore-Tex is a waterproof, breathable fabric

which many brands, including Adidas and Under
Armour, use for their footwear and outer garments.
 Today’s marketplace is highly competitive, and it takes more than
pure self-promotion to become a famous brand.

Besides, Millennials, who are soon expected to outnumber Baby

Activist
Boomers and who have become dominant global consumers, want
brands to be more socially, environmentally, and ethically
conscious.

brand One of the trailblazers when it comes to cruelty-free beauty

products, The Body Shop, persistently campaigns against animal
testing and at the same time delivers quality.

Activism is a big part of this brand, and it contributes to its

popularity to a great extent.

Anita Roddick, CEO of The Body Shop, says that many customers like
the brand because of its products, but there’s an equally big crowd
which supports it mainly because of its animal rights agenda.
 Global brands are present in almost every corner of
the world, and their recognition has earned them
the “household name” label.

Their main features are familiarity, availability, and

Global brands stability, while consistency which used to be part of
the equation, started fading away in an attempt to
make their products more attractive and palatable
to different cultures and regions.

The Coca-Cola Company is by far one of the biggest

global brands, and despite its decade's long focus
on soft drinks, the beverage giant decided to
launch its first alcoholic drink in Japan to be
competitive in this country’s growing alcopop
market.