Brand Sprawl Is Real
Understanding Brand Sprawl
At Kinetic, we encounter brand sprawl all the time, especially with our most successful clients. Brand sprawl is when a company has too many brands without a clear plan for managing them effectively. This can make their overall brand confusing and weaken its reputation. To avoid brand sprawl, companies need to have a clear strategy for managing their brand portfolio.
Causes of Brand Sprawl
As companies experience healthy growth, they tend to accumulate new brands and sub-brands. While these ad hoc branding efforts are often well-intentioned and productive individually, they can cloud the overall brand picture over time.
Unifying Branding Efforts
Our expert strategists can help your business or organization make sense of your branding landscape to ensure that all brand assets perform in harmony. We’ll work to unify your branding efforts under an umbrella brand structure that accurately portrays the breadth of your organization.
Our work with St. John’s United provides a classic example of an organization that found itself mired in brand sprawl. They came to us with a desire to unite their numerous brands together under a single, clear brand.
Conducting a Comprehensive Brand Audit
Kinetic conducted a comprehensive brand audit, which involves a thorough analysis of the company’s brand portfolio, including its products, services, and messaging. This audit revealed areas where the brand messaging was inconsistent and unclear, with a few overlapping products and services, inconsistent messaging, and a few services without a clear strategy for managing them.
Developing a Clear Brand Architecture and Strategic Approach
Kinetic also conducted market research to understand how customers perceive the brand and its offerings, identifying areas of confusion or overlap. Based on this analysis, the Kinetic strategized a clear brand architecture and strategic approach to managing the St. John’s United portfolio, helping the company avoid brand sprawl and strengthen its overall brand equity.
Addressing Brand Sprawl with a Cross-Channel Marketing Campaign
St. John’s United had a strong reputation for nursing home care, but its additional programs were not well-known. To address brand sprawl, Kinetic developed a cross-channel marketing campaign promoting the lesser-known initiatives: Physical Therapy, Home Health and Hospice, and At Home. This involved creating new language, landing pages, and a content strategy across various channels.
Results of the Campaign and Addressing Brand Sprawl
The campaign led to an increase in referrals and admissions, with the At Home campaign also receiving significant online engagement.
Conclusion and Further Reading
The new messaging and design aesthetic have continued to produce results, demonstrating the success of the campaign in addressing brand sprawl. You can also read the St. John’s United case study, which offers an in-depth look at how we brought order to the branding of this amazing organization.
