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How to Organize Your Brands

Brand Architecture Distilled

Axle Davids CEO | Kalan Vuksanovich Creative Lead


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This ebook aims to make brand
architecture, the structuring of
brands, easier to understand.
Keep in mind, real world brand architecture can get
complex quickly. Before diving into a brand architecture
project, please consider hiring an expert. We hope you
enjoy How to Organize Your Brands.

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About the Author

Axle Davids is the founder of Distility.


He has over 20 years of experience building
and marketing brands. He created Distility in
2005 to make the branding process smoother
and faster for industry innovators.

For each project, Axle leads brand and


business strategy development. He makes
sure every client has the clarity they need
to launch their brand with confidence –
and with their whole team on board.

Before he went rogue, Axle worked as a


creative director for some of Canada’s
pioneering digital firms, overseeing more than
150 interactive design projects for high-
profile brands like Lands’ End, Cosmopolitan,
Disney and Apple. Whether you’re a global
enterprise or a fresh-faced startup, he brings
your company into sharp focus.

If you would like to discuss your brand

See how Distility gets branding done


architecture with Axle, please contact our
managing director, Laura van Wyngaarden,
at 416 417 7777 x1 to set up a meeting.
Learn more about Axle and his team at distility.com

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Getting Started

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? IT STARTS WITH NAMING


Architecture is the planned designed of a Brand architecture determines how
system. It can apply to a building, a piece of products, services and divisions
software, a flow of information or an object. are named. It also shapes the visual
identities of branded offers.
WHAT IS BRAND ARCHITECTURE?
Brand architecture is the planned design of For the purpose of this ebook, we will
your branded offers. It is the structure that focus mainly on brand architecture
determines how they coexist. and naming.

It is not the same thing as your brand strategy


or systems. It isn’t a visual guideline. It isn’t
the outline of a story. Brand architecture is a
high-level schematic that helps you build and
scale one brand, or multiple brands.
And if you have multiple brands, brand
architecture defines whether they are like
parent and child, siblings or strangers.

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House of Brands or Branded House?
Brand architecture is commonly thought of as a choice
between a house of brands or a branded house.

Branded house House of brands


FEDEX NABISCO

But your options are not so simple...

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Your Options
Whether it’s a branded house or a house of brands, there
are several, more specific models to choose from.

*
* * * *
MASTERBRAND SUB-BRAND ENDORSER BRAND
One Parent Brand Parent + Children Siblings

FREESTANDING BRANDS HYBRID BRAND


Strangers Take Your Pick

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Your Options

*
* * * *
MASTERBRAND SUB-BRAND ENDORSER BRAND FREESTANDING HYBRID BRAND
One Parent Brand Parent + Children Siblings BRANDS Take Your Pick
Strangers

Trademark Trademark Trademark Trademark Mixed


+ + by Architectures
Descriptor Trademark Trademark

FedEx Ford Nabisco Viacom Microsoft


FedEx Office Ford Mustang Ritz MTV Windows
FedEx Express Ford F-Series Oreos VH1 Minecraft
FedEx Freight Ford Escape Chips Ahoy! Comedy Central Xbox

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Why You Should Care

?
GET A CLEAR SYSTEM CLUTTERED ADVERTISING
Brand architecture gives you a clear system Too many brand logos in one ad demand
for introducing and maintaining trademarks. more attention than most prospects
If your brand architecture is unclear, you are willing to give. This can make a
will likely suffer from one or more of the marketer look unsophisticated or even
following: amateur.

LOW BRAND AWARENESS CUSTOMER CONFUSION


This is the biggest pain for a lot of firms. It’s Another common pitfall is seen when
why the majority of our clients come to us. a company launches a new brand
Here, overemphasized product brands dilute that conflicts with its existing brands.
the parent brand. This is a surefire way to confuse loyal
customers.
OVER-BRANDING EXPENSE
Many organizations over-brand. They pay for Unclear architecture can also lead to:
new trademarks and logos out of habit, even • Product naming confusion
when a simpler brand architecture would • Cannibalization of sales
have superior marketing impact. • Unexpected trademark conflicts

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*
* * * *
Masterbrand

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What Is a Masterbrand?

* The masterbrand architecture


features one single brand. A firm
using this architecture may have
hundreds of products and services,
but there is only one brand.

* * * *
That is to say, there is a firm-wide
brand promise, position, personality,
tone of voice and visual identity.
All individual products and services
roll up into this brand system. It is
a branded house in its purest form.

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What Is a Masterbrand?

NAMING DESIGN
This masterbrand uses descriptive, non- With only one name, there is typically
trademarked names for all products and only one logo. However, design can be
services. These names use plain, descriptive used to differentiate products, services
language. They aren’t unique enough to be and divisions, as seen in these example
considered trademarkable. from FedEx and Google.

DIFFERS FROM SUB-BRANDS


As you will soon see, this is very different
from the sub-brand architecture, where
every new offer can have a unique
trademark, tagline, tone of voice and
visual identity.

FEDEX GOOGLE
FedEx uses descriptive names and Google relies on descriptive naming for the
differentiates between divisions using colour. majority of its homegrown products and services.
It uses icons to differentiate them and create
visual interest.

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Why Use a Masterbrand?

GAIN MAXIMUM BRAND AWARENESS WHY AVOID A MASTERBRAND?


By focusing brand marketing on a single brand A masterbrand brand architecture isn’t
strategy and brand image. going to work if your products and
services don’t naturally fit together – or if
MAKE OFFERS EASY TO GROK they compete. This can occur if:
Your products and services are offered using
descriptive names which make it easier for • Your offers don’t fit together under
your customer to understand your solution. one brand promise, personality and
position
LOWER BRAND MARKETING COSTS • Your audiences need distinct stylistic
By using descriptive names, the need to differences between your products
trademark offerings is eliminated, along with
the creative costs for separate and distinct
logos, imagery and the like.

Masterbrand fail 


A masterbrand could backfire for an upscale brand that
introduced a low-budget product line. Customers would
get confused. “Is this a luxury or budget brand?” they
would wonder. Confusing your customers is bad for
your brand and even worse for your business.

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Sub-Brand

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What Is a Sub-Brand?

The sub-brand architecture


features an overarching parent
brand and separate unique,
trademarked sub-brands beneath it.

Each of these sub-brands may have


a distinct brand promise, position
and personality. They could even go
so far as to have their own brand
voices and visual identities.

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What Is a Sub-Brand?

NAMING
Sub-brands are useful when appealing to
different target audiences. They allow for
equally different product styles. You see
them all the time in automotive, athletic
and electronics branding.

DESIGN
With multiple brand names, there often
comes the need for multiple logos, designs
and brand experiences. Ford, for example,
creates distinct logos for its sub-brands.

EXAMPLE
While this is the default decision for
most marketers, it need not be. Just look
at Apple. Popular Apple sub-brands have
different names. But they use the same
simple colours and fonts to tie into and
reinforce the parent brand.

FORD APPLE
Ford benefits from its economy sub-brands Popular Apple sub-brands like iPhone, iPad
like the Fiesta ($14,000) as well as its upscale and MacBook may have different names,
sub-brands like the Expedition ($52,000). but they share the exact same logo style.

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Why Use a Sub-Brand?

EXPLOIT UNIQUE PRODUCT DESIGNS WHY AVOID SUB-BRANDS?


Sub-brands have unique names, logos and A sub-brand architecture isn’t appropriate
experiences that can embody the unique style if your offers conflict. This is why Unilever
of the product. For example, a firm like Adidas does not attach its name to brands like Dove
may sell marathon running shoes, along or Axe in marketing; Dove is marketed to
with more fashion forward footwear. The women with a message of natural beauty. Axe
marathon shoes can be branded to embody targets young men with a promise of sex and
the spirit of endurance, while the more style- supermodels. Avoid a sub-brand model if:
savvy products can embody the spirit of a
designer or a celebrity. • Your offers have drastically different
primary audiences that don’t want
POSITION TO DIFFERENT AUDIENCES to be associated with one another
Sub-brands help you market to separate • One masterbrand would work just fine
audiences that have different – but not
conflicting – needs: moms looking for
minivans vs. men looking for trucks, in the
case of a firm like Ford.

PARENT BRAND HALO EFFECT


Sub-brands get to be unique, while benefiting
Sub-brand fail 
from the reputation of their parent brand.
A sub-brand approach could backfire for a health
food brand that introduced a new, sugary soft drink.
Launching a product like this under the same parent
brand would damage both sub-brands. Each audience
– health food and cola fans alike – would be alienated.

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Endorser Brand

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What Is an Endorser Brand?

An endorser brand architecture


is made up of distinct product
brands, which are linked together
by a background parent brand.

In this scenario, all product brands


have a unique promise, position
and personality. They have their
own logos, colours and slogans.

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What Is an Endorser Brand?

NAMING
Endorser brands have individually
trademarked names for their offerings.

DESIGN
The offerings – that is to say, the endorsed
brands – feature their own distinct logos
and visuals. This may sound like sub-
branding, but it isn’t. Here, the parent
brand’s logo is dramatically smaller. It
takes a back seat to focus attention on
products and services.

However, the parent brand is still


noticeable enough to assure the customer
that they are buying quality. This links
sibling brands, and makes cross-promotion
easy and effective.

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Where Sub-Brands End and Endorsed Brands Begin

SUB-BRANDS ENDORSED BRANDS

EXAMPLE FORD FOCUS RITZ CRACKERS (By Nabisco)

Shares the spotlight Hogs the spotlight – the parent


DIFFERENCE with its parent brand. brand is always in the background.

Ford is the parent brand. The Nabisco is the parent brand, but the
LOGO
Ford logo is still featured most Nabisco logo is small and found on
PLACEMENT prominently on all vehicles. the corner of the package.

Always uses the Ford name. Does not mention the Nabisco brand.
COPYWRITING
“Ford Focus wins…” “Nabisco Ritz wins…”

URL Can be found at ford.com Has its own website – ritzcrackers.com

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Why Use an Endorser Brand?

REACH DIFFERENT AUDIENCES WHY AVOID AN ENDORSER BRAND?


Nabisco is a well known endorser brand. As An endorser brand architecture isn’t right if
the parent brand, Nabisco is featured on the your customer has no need for the assurance
packaging of all of its products. This links of a background parent brand. It’s especially
cookie and cracker brands, including OREO, bad for companies that:
Ritz and Arrowroot. It ties them into the
Nabisco promise of high-quality freshness, • Have small brand portfolios
along with the packaging innovation the • Need to up corporate brand awareness
parent brand is known for. However, it is the
• Have limited marketing and legal budgets
individual product brands that are featured
in marketing. They have distinct brand
strategies, visual identities and packaging.

UNIFY PRODUCTS UNDER


A SHARED STANDARD
Endorser brands allow you to tie a broad
range of offers together with a common
corporate standard like quality, innovation or
value. This makes them endorsable, and it can

Endorser brand fail


be continually reinforced in marketing.

CROSS-PROMOTE WITH EASE
Because the product brands are linked,
If a business’ success depends on high corporate
cross-promotion becomes easy and effective.
brand awareness, the endorser brand architecture
would be a marketing misstep.

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Freestanding Brands

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What Is a Freestanding Brand?

A freestanding brand is created to


stand apart from the other brands
in an organization's portfolio.

It has its own brand promise, position


and personality; its own voice and visual
identity. A freestanding brand is never
linked to its parent brand in marketing.
In some cases, it is even a separate
organization from the parent brand.

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What Is a Freestanding Brand?

NAMING DESIGN
The freestanding brand is an invented, There is never a visible connection
suggestive, or semi-descriptive trademark. to the parent brand.
Since it’s a stranger to other brands in the
parent company’s roster, its own offers can EXAMPLE
follow masterbrand or sub-brand naming Viacom is the parent of a number of
conventions. freestanding brands. Notable Viacom
brands include: MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon,
Spike and Comedy Central. These
entertainment brands work well as
freestanding brands because each has its
own distinct audience, along with its own
brand promise, position and personality.

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Freestanding Brand: Toyota

Another occasion for the freestanding


approach occurs when a firm tries to
conquer a new market.

For example, when Toyota decided to


target the luxury market, it opted to avoid
using the Toyota brand (it was known for
value, not luxury). It therefore created the
freestanding Lexus brand.

Honda did the same with Acura. GM the


same with Cadillac. And Nissan the same
with Infiniti.

TOYOTA

Toyota, known for value (pictured top right),


created the freestanding brand, Lexus, (pictured
bottom right) to target a luxury market

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Why Use Freestanding Brands?

POSITIONING TO WHY AVOID FREESTANDING BRANDS?


UNRELATED AUDIENCES A freestanding brand architecture isn’t going
The customer experience of each to be useful if offers need to be linked. It can
freestanding brand will always be distinct, also be the most costly brand architecture, with
so the corporate brand can target customer the longest time to market. Avoid freestanding
segments that have nothing in common, or brands if:
that even conflict.
• Your products’ audiences have
EASY BUYING + SELLING overlapping needs
Ownership of a freestanding brand can
• You want to increase awareness
change without a costly rebranding effort.
of one parent brand
Viacom can sell MTV and the new owner
does not need to rebrand. • You want to associate product
brands with one parent brand
CLEAN RISK MANAGEMENT
If one freestanding brand attracts bad
publicity, the others in the roster will usually
remain unscathed.

Freestanding brand fail   


If a small to mid-sized firm invested its marketing
dollars in a roster of freestanding brands, it would
likely be a waste of time and money.

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Hybrid Brand

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What Is a Hybrid Brand?

A hybrid brand architecture is a mixture


of two or more other architectures. Here,
different brand architectures can coexist,
provided there is an irrefutable business
need for them to do so.

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Hybrid Brand: Microsoft

This approach is typically used when a firm overshadows a similar offer in the
is changing brand architectures, or acquiring roster. This was the case when Microsoft
existing brands through mergers or an introduced the endorsed brand, Bing,
acquisition. In such cases, the firm has to as an alternative to its failing Microsoft
preserve older product names and designs to Network (MSN) search engine.
keep customers happy, or to avoid confusion.
It behooved Microsoft to create a fresh
The hybrid architecture is also used when a new search brand that wasn’t visibly
firm introduces a superior new product that associated with MSN at launch. Only after
it proved successful did Bing become more
prominently linked to Microsoft.

MICROSOFT HYBRID BRAND OVERVIEW

MASTERBRAND SUB-BRANDS ENDORSED BRANDS FREESTANDING BRANDS

MICROSOFT ® HEALTH MICROSOFT ® WINDOWS ® XBOX ® MINECRAFT ®

MICROSOFT ® CLOUD MICROSOFT ® EXCEL ® OUTLOOK ® SKYPE ®

MICROSOFT ® MICROSOFT ®
BING ® BUNGIE ®
INTERNET EXPLORER SURFACE ®

MICROSOFT ® VISIO ® YAMMER ® NOKIA ®

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Why Hybrid Brands Work

Most hybrid brand architectures work For firms using the sub-brand or endorser
because they allow for the peaceful brand architecture, introducing a descriptive
coexistence of old and new products. They masterbrand name can help when:
also allow for the merger or acquisition of
different types of brands. • There is a corporate initiative to market,
like a loyalty program
For firms that are primarily masterbrands,
• A descriptive name will work just as
introducing a trademarked sub-brand can well as a new trademark If a small to mid-sized firm invested its marketing dollars in a
help when:
• There is no time or budget to create roster of freestanding brands, it would likely be a waste of time
• Descriptive product names are too long a new trademark and money.
• Descriptive names will confuse the
audience

• A major innovation justifies its own


trademark, like iPod or Laserjet

Why hybrid brands



should be avoided
They tend to be compromises, so avoid as much
as possible unless the business case demands a mix.

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*

WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE?


Masterbrand, Sub-Brand, Freestanding, Endorser or Hybrid?

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Review Your Options

*
* * * *
MASTERBRAND SUB-BRANDS ENDORSER BRAND FREESTANDING BRAND
Parent + Child Siblings Strangers

When customers need to When customers need Best when brands target
immediately understand what to choose between many When customers buy more extremely different audiences
BEST FOR... a product is and does, and want similar company products because they are focused on and needs, or need to compete
to trust one leading brand like cars or sneakers a single star brand against their own existing brands

CORPORATE
Highest Medium Low Lowest
BRAND AWARENESS

COST TO
CREATE + MAINTAIN Lowest Highest High High

PROTECTION
FROM COLLATERAL
Lowest Low High Highest
BRAND DAMAGE

TRADEMARK
Lowest High High Highest
VIOLATION RISKS

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10 Steps to Brand Architecture Confidence

1 List all your firm names, not just the


ones you are marketing
5 Review your offers in terms of their
need for unique identities
8 Do a SWOT analysis of the remaining
brand architecture options, using the
• More than you thought? Don’t give up! • Can they sell effectively with SWOT charts in the next section
similar benefits and stories? • What are the strengths, weaknesses,

2 including the use of any acronyms


List the unofficial names that others use, Then a masterbrand architecture
may work best
opportunities and threats of each
approach?
• Does this already reveal naming
• Does each one require a unique style
issues you need to fix?
and story and name? Then a sub-brand
or endorser brand may be best
9 Find a designer to prototype options
• The inspired use of type, colour, icons,

3 Find and list the website URLs for


these names and study their place in
materials or taglines can bring your
brand architecture to life, so you can
the website navigation 6 Review what your customers are buying
• If the same customer profile is buying
get people on board
• Are your offers well organized
similar products, the masterbrand or ENDORSED BRANDS
on the web?
sub-brand architecture may be most
effective
10 Take it to the team and talk next steps
• Send this ebook to your team. Then

4 List any known trademark confusion or


conflicts with any other brands out there • If very different profiles are buying
meet with them, and show them how
you have worked through these 10
• Do these impact the urgency of getting very different products, the endorser or steps. Teach them and involve them in
your names sorted? freestanding brand architecture may be the decision, because everybody is
the way to go impacted by brand architecture

7 Eliminate the options that aren't for you


• Based on your analysis, determine
which brand architectures you
can safely eliminate
Shameless plug
You can also contact Distility for a free
consultation by calling 416 413 7777 x1

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Choose Wisely

At Distility, we’re big fans of the simplest approach that works.


We tend to champion the masterbrand architecture. But there Don't let your brand
have been cases in which we’ve consulted on sub-brand and architecture be an
even hybrid architectures.
afterthought
It all comes down to where your company is and where it
wants to go. Streamlining past and future offers is hard work.
Regardless of your goal, defining your brand architecture is a It impacts more than just your
critical step to efficient and powerful marketing.
marketing. It affects how your
people present themselves, and
the offers in your firm’s roster.
Contact us So send this to everyone and get
Speak to us directly at 417 413 7777 x1 or email us
at hello@distility.com to learn how we can help you
the conversation started!
get your brands organized, so you can save time
and valuable marketing dollars.

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BRAND ARCHITECTURE TOOLS
1. Architecture overview
2. Brand name inventory and issues chart
3. SWOT matrixes

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Architecture Overview

*
* * * *
MASTERBRAND SUB-BRAND ENDORSER BRAND FREESTANDING HYBRID BRAND
One Parent Brand Parent + Children Siblings BRANDS Take Your Pick
Strangers

Trademark Trademark Trademark Trademark Mixed


+ + by Architectures
Descriptor Trademark Trademark

FedEx Ford Nabisco Viacom Microsoft


FedEx Office Ford Mustang Ritz MTV Windows
FedEx Express Ford F-Series Oreos VH1 Minecraft
FedEx Freight Ford Escape Chips Ahoy! Comedy Central Xbox

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Brand Name Inventory and Issues Chart
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 – 7

FIRM NAMES UNOFFICIAL NAMES WEBSITE URLS TRADEMARK STATUS NOTES (SEE PAGE 32)

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FIRM NAMES UNOFFICIAL NAMES WEBSITE URLS TRADEMARK STATUS NOTES (SEE PAGE 32)

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SWOT Matrix for Masterbrand Architecture

INTERNAL REASONS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

EXTERNAL REASONS

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SWOT Matrix for Sub-Brand Architecture

INTERNAL REASONS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

EXTERNAL REASONS

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SWOT Matrix for Endorser Brand Architecture

INTERNAL REASONS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

EXTERNAL REASONS

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SWOT Matrix for Freestanding Brand Architecture

INTERNAL REASONS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

EXTERNAL REASONS

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Image Credits

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of their respective owners, including in some instances Distility. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

paulstamatiou.com
http://paulstamatiou.com/how-to-get-started-with-hdr-photography-part-3/

gtcarlot.com
http://gtcarlot.com/badges/Ford/Expedition/2003/47633012.html

idownloadblog.com
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/01/09/7-years-ago-came-first-iphone/

businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/ipads-have-outsold-android-tablets-24-to-1-2011-7

apertura.com
http://www.apertura.com/negocios/Toyota-presenta-su-nuevo-Corolla-en-medio-de-las-reuniones-con-el-Gobierno-20140312-0002.html

apkmodgame.net
http://www.apkmodgame.net/tag/2007-lexus-ls460-interior-view

athriftymom.com
http://athriftymom.com/nabisco-snacks-1-00-off-2-printable-coupon-50-at-walmart/

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