

Yes, Master (The Only Brand Strategy for Startups) - PStamatiou
http://blog.weatherby.net/2009/02/yes-master.html

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NyxWulf
It seems pretty cliche to quote a book in response to an article, but this
article was pretty light on details and heavy on opinion.

A book I highly recommend to entrepreneurs is the 22 immutable laws of
branding. He cites a lot of statistics, and explains a lot of phenomenon that
I have observed over the years. Perhaps it just fits my biases but it is the
best explanation of branding I've ever read.

Anyway, specifically in that book he principally discusses highly specific
branded products versus this "master brand" idea. The problem with master
branding strategies is that people make up their mind about a product based on
the brand, and they don't change that if it's for a new product. A for
instance is the tradition Chevy / Ford / Dodge debate. Most people seem to be
drawn to one of these brand, and they generally don't switch between them. So
even if Chevrolet introduces a brand new car that would solve someone's needs,
if they are loyal to Ford, they won't cross that line. Oddly, with a sub-brand
like Corvette, it's positioned outside of that battle so people don't feel
like they are crossing the picket line.

Other examples include Pepsi / Coke, Mac / Windows / Linux, etc. Food
companies have known this for a long time and don't prominently feature their
company brand name on their food products. Instead they focus on the brand of
the product.

So what is the theory that underpins this belief? Most people associate a
brand name with one thing. Quick off the top of your head, where do you buy
your home electronics? How about computers? Where do you buy your Garden
Supplies? What about your books? Did you know that Amazon sells all of those
things? Most people associate Amazon with books, and while they do sell those
other things, the bulk of their revenue still comes from books.

The article claims a sub brand approach is more expensive, yet everything I've
ever seen shows differently. It's much more expensive to try to build a brand
than to market the specific benefits of a given product. Particularly for a
startup, the best way to enter into a market is with a highly focused niche in
an industry. Focusing on a master brand makes that extremely difficult to do.

Sorry, kind of a long rant, but I really think that article is misguided.

~~~
lanceweatherby
The best for a startup to enter a market is indeed a highly targeted way. But
when it comes to branding the best route for a startup is a master branding
strategy.

When I started EarthLink's mobile business I actually met with Al and Laura
Ries the authors of "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding". Their advice. Call it
EarthLink Wireless.

I have been involved with over 500 startups over the years. I have never seen
a sub-branding strategy work for a technology startup. What prompted me to
write the article was one of the companies that I am working with (Flux Media)
is changing their company name to their product name (Centrafuse) because the
use of the two different brands was creating confusion to their potential
partners.

YC companies Omnisio, Reddit, Xobni, Scribd, Loopt, Dropbox, Tipjoy, and
Justin.tv to name a few all use a master brand strategy. My guess is that
nearly all of them do. Perhaps we should ask HN.

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macco
I would it say, startup normally have just one product that means there are
differences between master and sub-brand strategies. The Google example is a
bad one in my opinion, because google has a brand for search and nobody care
about google what so ever. And by the way google was not a startup when they
started side activities.

~~~
lanceweatherby
Exactly.

No startup should start side activities until they have the one thing they are
focusing on completely in hand.

Disqus is blog a blog commenting system. One they get that figured out they
can go and do something else. Disqus "the name of our second product
function."

~~~
baguasquirrel
I would argue that the Google strategy is a mess, and the Apple strategy
works. Are Apple users more loyal to their brand, or are Google users more
loyal to their brand? Part of this is the whole side activities thing that
Google did. The Google brand didn't really help these side activities did it?

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strawmann
NyxWulf -- You should consider the size of the companies you referenced in
your message. Nary a startup in the bunch.

For startups, a Divide & Conquer strategy turns into a Divide & Fail result.
Startups need laser focus on a single product/service.

As the startup grows, sub-brands can be incorporated. Quite easily, actually.

Reason being, the startup isn't a national/global player that has pigeon-holed
itself into a single niche. The sub-brands are equated with the
growth/expansion.

