Navigating B2B brand
architecture: house of
brands vs. branded house with Ifeoma Jibunoh, Group CMO of Cassava Technologies

Episode notes

Brand architecture is often treated as a structural or design choice. In reality, it is a leadership decision with emotional, political and commercial consequences. Benedict Buckland hosts Ify Jibunoh, Group CMO of Cassava Technologies, to discuss house of brands versus branded house through a human and change-management lens. Jibunoh explains that Cassava’s brand architecture decision was a leadership stewardship choice, balancing future ambition with decades of equity in established brands across 30+ African markets. Although internal sentiment leaned toward a branded house to signal modernity, research on awareness, trust and customer relationships supported maintaining a house of brands, with Cassava as the ‘endorser brand’ to share portfolio equity. She describes mixed board reactions, underestimated emotional resistance and lessons on earlier stakeholder engagement. Post-decision challenges included governance, brand roles, internal storytelling, go-to-market redesign, training and behaviour change, emphasising that brand architecture is business transformation, not just marketing.