Critical updates on branding, video, and how to combine them to drive brand value.
It's a family affair. 🏡
Published 2 months ago • 3 min read
Critical updates on branding, video, and how to combine them to drive brand value.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
15 / The Law of Siblings
In Issue 28, we dug into Law 14, The Law of Subbrands, which sternly warned against diluting your core brand's power by tacking a modifier onto it, like Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. That's right, sternly warned. If subbranding is the wrong way to expand, then what's the right way? Well, lucky for you, the very next law answers that question.
The Law of Siblings / There is a time and a place to launch a second brand.
If your company has a successful brand, the opportunity to enter a new, related category will inevitably come your way. You're naturally going to want to leverage your established name. But we want to remind you...
That's right, it's a branding trap. The Law of Siblings, however, provides the path forward - launching a second distinct brand. This strategy is not about taking your existing brand and stretching it. No, it’s about creating an entirely separate, unique brand to own a distinct market segment. It requires focus and discipline, but if handled correctly, it can secure your company's control of an entire market for decades. As authors Al and Laura Ries state, “The key to a family approach is to make each sibling a unique individual brand with its own identity. Resist the urge to give the brands a family look or a family identity.”
Exhibit A / Your brands SHOULD NOT be this similar.
The Classic Masters of the Sibling Strategy
The book offers two textbook examples of this principle in action:
Wrigley's Gum: For over a century, Wrigley has dominated the chewing gum market, not with one brand, but with a portfolio of distinct brands. Each brand owns a specific attribute: Big Red (cinnamon), Doublemint (peppermint), Extra (sugar-free), and Juicy Fruit (fruit-flavored). Each brand has its own visual identity and market position, allowing them to compete with rivals without competing with or confusing each other.
Time Inc.'s Magazines: Time Inc. became the world’s largest magazine publisher by launching totally separate publications like Time, Fortune (not Time for Business), Life (not Time for Pictures), and Sports Illustrated (not Time for Sports). They were separate brands, each owning a distinct category in consumers' minds.
🎯 The Five Rules for Sibling Success
Building a family of brands is a precise, tactical operation. The authors lay out a critical framework for avoiding the fate of General Motors, whose once-distinct brands (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac) slowly became virtually indistinguishable due to "sibling rivalry." Management should keep these principles in mind when pursuing a sibling strategy:
Focus on a Common Product Area: All siblings should operate in a related market (e.g., passenger cars, chewing gum, over-the-counter drugs).
Select a Single Attribute to Segment: Each sibling must own a single, rigid distinction. Price, distribution, age, or flavor are common attributes.
Set Up Rigid Distinctions Among Brands: When distinctions are fuzzy (like Oldsmobile and Buick's overlapping price ranges), the brands lose power and confuse the customer.
Create Different, Not Similar, Brand Names: Avoid names that sound alike. The authors reiterate, "You don't want to create a family of brands, you want to create a family of different brands."
Launch a New Sibling Only When You Can Create a New Category: Don't launch a new brand just to block a competitor or fill a hole. They must be able to own a new category in the mind.
Modern Sibling Masters
We continue to see this law successfully applied today, often in the digital and health spaces:
Marriott's Hotel Brands: Marriott doesn't have "Marriott Budget" or "Marriott Luxury." They have a family of distinct brands—The Ritz-Carlton (ultra-luxury), JW Marriott (luxury), W Hotels (boutique), and Courtyard by Marriott (business-focused economy). Each owns a specific price point and customer experience, allowing the company to command the entire hotel market.
The Disney Empire: While the master company is Disney, its media siblings are distinct brands that own their own categories: Pixar (3D animation/storytelling), Marvel (superhero cinema), and Lucasfilm (Star Wars/sci-fi fantasy). The Disney name is the parent, but the individual brands are the powerhouses that own the specific attributes in consumers' minds.
The biggest mistake is the tendency to copy the best features of a sibling, which is a pattern of behavior called "sibling rivalry." The result is always the same - you end up like GM with a family of brands that all look alike.
Sibling rivalry in action.
As the Rieses warn, “If you don't [keep control of the sibling family at the highest level], you will find that your powerful, distinctive brands will slowly fall apart.”
You can purchase The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding on Amazon. Do you have a successful core brand and need help planning a second brand that creates a new category instead of diluting your current one? We can help you define that rigid distinction. 🎯
