What’s a sub-brand and why might you need one?
June 7, 2023
Category: Branding
what’s a sub-brand and why might you need one?
If we’ve worked with you in the past on full branding — this might be for you!
If you’re a multi-faceted business then sub-brands might be the right move for you! They’re a great way to showcase multiple offerings in a way that feels organized, easily digestible, and completely cohesive. Say you’re a lifestyle and wellness shop that sells essential oils but you also offer a business course for essential oil sellers — you need a primary brand for your main biz and something else for your secondary offering which targets a different audience. Enter the sub-brand.
What is a sub-brand?
Think of a sub-brand as the little sister to your main or primary brand. You don’t want your sister to look identical to you or in the case of branding — copy your exact fonts, logo design, and color palette — because people might confuse you with her. Instead, you want an identity that supports your main brand but can still stand out on its own. You can tell the two are related but the sub-brand still feels distinct enough on its own to not cause confusion and misidentification.
In short, sub-brands are here to support your main brand and keep all of your offerings cohesive under one, larger parent brand. They don’t replicate your primary brand, they work hand-in-hand to target or serve a new audience.
What’s the difference between a brand and a sub-brand?
Your main brand is what you’re known for. It’s what people think of when they hear your business name. Your sub-brand is an extension of your main brand and has its own unique name, identity, and audience.
At Brighten Made, your main brand consists of a primary logo, secondary logos, brand marks, fonts, a color palette, custom illustrations, and custom patterns or additional branding elements. A Brighten Made sub-brand consists of a primary logo, two to three secondary logos, two to three brand marks, fonts that are different from your primary brand, and a color palette that while complementary is also different from your primary brand. (In this blog post, I chat more about the importance of having more than just a single logo design and why we like to go all out for our branding clients!)
This feels like the perfect time to note that sub-brands only work when you have a solid foundation set for your main brand. Without that solid foundation, your sub-brand won’t be able to act as that supportive sister brand you’re wanting it to.
why would I need a sub-brand?
Let’s say you have a different offering from your overarching brand and you want to give it an identity — you need a sub-brand! Think a podcast, a course, a new line of products, etc. A lot o times these smaller brands don’t need full-blown branding, especially since they’re designed to (you guessed it) support the parent company. However, at the same time you still want them to be able to stand out on their own! That’s when the sub-branding magic comes in.
examples of sub-brands
Primary Brand: Daydream Abode — A lifestyle, home, and wellness shop inspiring others to live intentionally and chase their dreams together.
Sub-Brand: Oily Moon Collective — A monthly subscription of curated content, graphics, systems and business strategy for Young Living Oils social sellers.
Primary Brand: dr. Cassidy — A licensed marriage and family therapist working with individuals, couples, and families to support meaningful change.
Sub-Brand: the crafted practice — An online course geared toward therapists and coaches who are looking to build or grow a modern private practice.
Primary Brand: real food whole life — A blogger and online content creator sharing quick and easy recipes, time-saving routines, and daily habits.
Sub-Brand: the feel good effect — The educational component of Real Food Whole Life that dives deeper into creating healthy habits through courses, coaching, e-books, and other digital products.
what if i don’t need a full sub-brand?
Now that you’ve learned all things sub-brands what happens if you don’t need a full sub-brand? Let me explain, say this separate offering you have isn’t targeting a different audience and isn’t separate from your regular business, we do offer a single logo design for these one-off needs. Here are a few examples!
Primary Brand: flora flower CO. — A California-based flower shop that offers local delivery and shipping throughout California.
secondary logo: the bud club — The Bud Club is the name of Flora Flower Co.’s subscription service.
primary brand: modern social — Modern Social teaches female entrepreneurs how to leverage the power of social media in a playful and relatable way through online courses, membership programs, and coaching.
secondary logo: the be social academy — Be Social Academy is Modern Socials membership which includes access to their courses, a variety of business resources, and community.
Interested in working with us on a sub-brand or additional logo design? First things first, we want to work with you on creating a strategic brand identity but from there we’d LOVE to go above and beyond and create that sister brand you’ve been dreaming of!
You don’t have to just take our word for it. Here’s what Brooklyn from Daydream Abode had to say, “HAPPIEST DANCE. I am absolutely in loveeee with all the magic you’ve created for Oily Moon Collective and am so, so thankful for all your hard work!! Thank you for working with me and bringing all my branding dreams (and then some) to life again!”
So reach out! The magic is waiting.
