Friday, March 16, 2007
Brands
We're always working on new products at AdBrite. And of course at some point we ask ourselves, "what should we call this new product?" Specifically, should it be a sub-brand of the parent company (such as maps.google.com, or Google Maps), or should it have its own name (like Gmail).
Recently, we had this discussion about a new thing we're about to launch. Some people at AdBrite thought that we should launch it under the AdBrite brand. The advantage being that if this new product really takes off, it will lift the core AdBrite brand along with it.
Still others thought the brands should be separate. Specifically, AdBrite's co-founder (and poet), Gidon Wise, made the the point that sub-brands rarely take off in the first place.
Sure, there's a lot more to success than a good brand. But would Flickr have taken off if it were called Yahoo Photos? Would YouTube have taken off if it were called Google Video? What about if MySpace were called Fox New Space? I use Yahoo Finance and Yahoo News..but I gotta admit, I'd rather be typing Fool or Digg into my browser.
People like being part of a brand.
Sub-brands aren't strong. It's as if they can't stand on their own two feet. It's like saying, "hey, this product isn't that great, but at least it's part of something bigger."
And I think that if people aren't already users of the parent brand, they'll be apprehensive to try the sub-brand. For example, I don't use Yahoo's search engine, thus I feel awkward trying their other products.
Coca-cola's second best seller is called "Sprite," not "Lemon-lime coke." And Coke is the most well-known brand on the planet. But they ditched the brand, and it worked.
Google is fond of naming everything "Google this" and "Google that." And so far, none of their sub-brands have become market leaders (article here). And Gmail (which isn't a leader either) doesn't count, because they were late to the game & there's a lot of friction getting people to switch email. (and also they were invite-only until a few weeks ago)
Even Yahoo is getting into the swing of things, and is going to start launching stuff under separate brand names.
Does your new product stand by itself? Will people who don't use your other products, potentially use this one? If so, consider giving it a life of its own.
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