What’s the difference between brand strategy and brand positioning?

Brand strategy refers to a suite of practices used to shape perceptions and consumer experiences associated with a company and its products or services. In essence, brand strategy refers to all the marketing and PR tactics used to develop brand identity and drive brand recognition. Brand positioning refers to creating distinctiveness to separate a brand from the competition.

What’s the difference between brand awareness, brand recognition, and brand recall?

Brand awareness is an overarching term for how familiar audiences and consumers are with a brand. Brand recognition refers more specifically to how well the visual features of a brand are recognized. In contrast, brand recall refers to the association between the brand name and the product or service type.

What is the difference between brand architecture, brand hierarchy, and brand harmonization?

Brand architecture refers to the organization of brands within a company. Brand hierarchy refers to relational value among sub-brands. For example, Apple features Macintosh as its signature product. The Mac is the hub for other devices, including the iPad and iPhone, and their accessories. The nomenclature of the product lines prefaced with “i” speaks to the harmonization, which provides continuity for the master brand.  

What’s the difference between brand attributes, brand assets, and brand identity?

Brand attributes are the features or qualities that lead to recognition and recall. These are the characteristics that might make a brand personable or relatable. Brand assets are typically a brand’s most recognizable verbal and visual features, giving it its identity. Brand identity speaks to the essence of a brand as it is known to stakeholders.

What’s brand personality?

To connect with audiences and consumers, brands endeavor to humanize and personalize their attributes and assets to make their brand identity relatable.

What’s the difference between a master brand, parent brand, and endorsed brand? 

A master brand is the umbrella brand. A parent brand is usually an established brand that sits above endorsed brands (aka sub-brands) regarding brand hierarchy but is not necessarily the parent brand.  Apple is the umbrella or parent brand for all Apple products. Proctor and Gamble is the parent brand of Tide and Gillette. Lexus is a sub-brand of Toyota.