Did you know that Research In Motion (RIM) made the BlackBerry? Why the heck did they call the company RIM and not BlackBerry? Well, simply put the plan was to make many things but one really cool sub-brand took off and that brand defined the company. Did you know that The Weather Channel runs weather.com? Most people don't as they think of the domain as the brand when they type it into a browser and not the operating company (despite the logo on the top left corner!). Consumers know The Weather Channel app because you have downloaded "The Weather Channel app" but when you type something else into the browser, all brand connection is lost. Wild right? Both of these brand situations are problematic because you are splitting your brand equity between two efforts as oppose to consolidating everything behind one brand to build connection and meaning. I always reference brands as an empty glass that you are looking to fill with meaning. If you have two glasses, it takes twice as much water to fill it. Because you are seeing this post, you are likely connected to me in some way and likely know the answer to this next question. Did you know that First Street (firststreet.org) makes Risk Factor? It's almost comical that I find myself in the same position I have tried to correct in my previous brand and marketing roles. We started First Street to find ways to connect people to the impacts of climate change and assumed we would do this in many targeted and specific ways, not big and broad efforts. As we experimented in the early days two things worked really well really quickly. The press began cover First Street on a daily basis for our great scientific reporting and data AND millions of consumers began to know us as Risk Factor as we integrated our property tool on major real estate and insurance platforms. This has continued on to today and has become a wonderful brand problem to have and luckily, one we can fix! As of today, we have merged Risk Factor into the First Street brand which will provide all the same wonderful peer-reviewed and property specific data that Risk Factor did through the scientific and trusted brand, First Street. Feel free to check out the new First Street site and give the property specific search a try! Also, drop your own brand thoughts in the comments. I would love your opinions on brand strategy.
Totally agree! I’m glad to see everything coming under one umbrella so more people will come to know (and recognize) the great work you all do. The tricky part in my mind is figuring out how you reference and differentiate different product offerings so people can conceptualize the differences and relationships between different products. We also have some similar challenges with our base platform vs add on products vs new products that are from the merger. Lots to think through to help customers understand the ecosystem.
congratulations! Hope it works out well - great product, and great organization.
CEO @Carolina Immigration Law | Executive Director @Atulado Ministries | Co-founder, Board Member
3wBranding is way out of my league, but it reminded me of Procter & Gamble who owns brands like Tide, Downy, Oral-B, and Gillette. When Gillette was standalone, they owned Duracell. What, a razor owning the copper top? Pepsi is similar which also spun off YUM. Like I said, not my strength, but I'm a big fan of what you guys are doing under any brand.