Corporate Branding
It is a type of Corporate branding or umbrella
brand. Disney, for example, includes the word "Disney" in the name of
many of its products; among many other examples are IBM, Pepsi, and
Coca-Cola. Corporate branding is the practice of using a company's name
as a product brand name. It is an attempt to leverage corporate brand
equity to create product brand recognition.
Corporate branding can result in significant economies of scope since
one advertising campaign can be used for several products. It also facilitates
new product acceptance because potential buyers are already familiar
with the name.
A corporate branding strategy
is generally only useful when the company is already well known with
a very positive image in the target market.
A significant drawback
to this strategy is that products may not be treated individually, which
reduces the focus on the products' unique characteristics. Another potential
disadvantage of corporate branding is that the corporate name can become
synonymous with a product category. Examples of this phenomenon are
Kleenex and Tampax.
Even purchasers of Charmin,
a competitor to Kleenex, sometimes refer to the product as Kleenex.
Although having such a dominant mind share is usually encouraged, the
downside is that such generalized trademarks can lose their copyright
protection.
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