Sometimes a Parent Brand Needs to Play Second Fiddle

Some colleagues and I were discussing the branding of the Green Works cleaning products when I was in New York last week. As you may know, Green Works is the eco-friendly brand by Clorox. The question was whether Clorox was literally too harsh of a master brand for a group of products marketed for environmentally friendly properties. If Clorox equals bleach, can a Clorox product equal eco-friendly.

When you see the product on the shelf, “Green Works” is the primary brand. This is emphasized by the sunflower drawing and logo. The Clorox logo is also there, but smaller and lower on the package. This allows Clorox to serve as an enabler brand to Green Works. It gives Green Works credibility to the shopper that the product comes from a trusted brand. And having a third-party endorsement from the U.S. EPA helps to verify that this is a genuine green product. I do find it confusing that Clorox chose to have both clear and white packaging, but that is most likely due to the color of the cleaning product itself inside the white packaging.

As a direct brand, Clorox would have had some difficulty going after the green-conscious consumer. Green Works allows them to target this segment with a primary brand. But a green product must also fulfill its primary function, as well as be environmentally safe. If a cleaning product does not perform the job of a good detergent, few people are going to buy it. Both the name “Green Works,” and (more importantly) the Clorox logo tells the consumer that this product will get the grime out, while being safe.

Clorox is a believable endorser brand because of its history. Having non-chlorine bleach products, such as Clorox 2, also helps to close the perceptual gap.

Choosing how to align your parent brands and sub-brands is an important step as you extend your company’s products and services into new customer segments. Think it through and test it out.

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