Brand architecture study creates a framework for rapid growth
Kane helped a leading financial institution identify a new brand architecture that would allow them to enter new markets and aggressively grow sales.
Kane’s client, a national life insurance company with multiple sub-brands, had a business goal of doubling sales within the next five years and wanted to know if their current brand architecture supported their strategies for growth into new markets. Over the past decade, companies in their industry have been consolidating - and they had been on the forefront of a number of large mergers and acquisitions. Understanding that innovation and adaptation to changes in the market are critical to future success, the company aimed to become the leader in strategic consolidation of specific new partnerships in their industry.
The company was developing strategic plans for the future and was seeking to establish a brand strategy that will drive growth and customer engagement. The organization desired to leverage its position as a values-based organization and wanted to understand the impact that its current market position and brand architecture would have on its future brand strategy.
The organization engaged Kane to help them discover the value of their current brand architecture strategy and discover what alternative brand architecture strategies could drive the most growth.
SOLUTION
Brand architecture is the way brands within a company's portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. When well organized, a clear brand architecture provides a road map for marketers to develop targeted key messaging and value propositions that appeal to specific consumers in their sweet spots, without cannibalizing from other brands in the family. This drives value, adds clarity and allows the overall family of brands to grow because each has a clear purpose and relation to one another.
Working with its research partner, Perceptivity, Kane executed a research project to address the brand identity and architecture questions their client had. The project included the execution of a general public survey to more accurately understand the opportunities for brand impact and growth targets in new customer markets.
To augment the general public survey, we reviewed existing customer research data to identify and determine relevant baseline data.
Our survey targeted specific demographics based on geographies, age, income and values. We measured sentiment around existing product offerings and corporate values, as well as possible future-state models. We also tested for purchase drivers and opportunities for price elasticity in order to identify scalable strategies.
RESULTS
Kane’s findings report delivered insights surrounding consumers’:
Awareness of life insurance companies
Advertising awareness
Image/perceptions of the company and its competitors
Importance of values-based affiliation
Likelihood to purchase or likelihood to recommend certain brands
Current life insurance status including type, company, tenure, etc.
Demographics (county, age, race/ethnicity, income, religion, marital status, gender)
Impact on values-based organization on purchasing patterns
Attributes that matter most to prospects when purchasing insurance
After analysis of this information, Kane recommended a new brand architecture that would allow the client to establish a framework that effectively targets various key audiences and new markets, efficiently scales resources and builds a logic model for future expansion and acquisitions.
As a result, the organization’s leadership is revisiting growth plans to align with the research and recommendations from Kane - which will impact future go-to-market plans. This research-based approach gave the organization’s leadership team the confidence to make bold decisions and try new things that they were otherwise hesitant about.