Some businesses sell different products or services under different brand names. Others combine their product lines under a single brand name, which is called the umbrella or family brand.

Umbrella brands might be expensive to create and maintain, but they do offer advantages, even for small businesses.

Tip

An umbrella brand has an established reputation, meaning a company can add new products to its line and draw on the benefits of all previous marketing efforts.

Another benefit of an umbrella branding strategy is efficiency. Umbrella branding offers flexibility and the success of one product within an umbrella brand can translate into public goodwill for other products under the same brand.

Inexpensive Market Entry

An umbrella brand has an established reputation, meaning a company can add new products to its line and draw on the benefits of all previous marketing efforts.

For example, suppose a tax-preparation business has implemented many marketing campaigns in the past and has an excellent reputation with consumers. The business decides to add an additional service to its product line: retirement planning.

By simply attaching its brand name to the new service, the service receives the benefit of the public goodwill that already exists for that brand.

In contrast, if the tax-preparation business attempted to market its retirement planning service as a new and distinct brand, the company would have to build that brand’s reputation from scratch.

Efficiency in Promoting a Single Brand

Another benefit of an umbrella branding strategy is efficiency. Instead of running multiple campaigns for different products, a company instead can focus its efforts on promoting a single brand.

For example, a business could run a single radio campaign featuring customer testimonials that develop the umbrella brand’s image.

In contrast, the company would have to design and run a different commercial for each of its various products if it wanted to develop their brand images separately.

Goodwill for Other Products of the Brand

The success of one product within an umbrella brand can translate into public goodwill for other products under the same brand.

For example, suppose a bakery has an umbrella brand that includes baked goods, candy and ice cream. If the ice cream receives rave reviews, shoppers may be more likely to buy the baked goods or candy once they make the connection.

If each product existed under a separate brand, the success of one would have no effect on the others.

Flexibility Umbrella Branding Strategy

Using umbrella branding strategy doesn’t prevent you from using a variety of strategies for your products.

For example, a company might promote its umbrella brand with a large-scale public awareness campaign while simultaneously implementing small-scale campaigns to promote products individually.

The general campaign, for instance, might rely on billboard advertising, and the individual campaigns might target different demographics with customized direct-mail advertisements.

Running simultaneous campaigns is expensive, of course, but if you have the funds, umbrella branding allows you to remain flexible while still capitalizing on the benefits of your brand’s mass appeal.