[tayo42]

What else would you call smaller companies and products within a company?

[duggan]

Whatever they are! Using the literal word "brand" in public messaging is leaking the marketing team's lingo to customers.

[tayo42]

Oh I see, you'd think they'd know better then to use jargon publicly...

[dredmorbius]

"Divisions" and "product lines" were the terms used at the beginning of mass production. One of the innovations of Alfred P. Sloan at General Motors was the idea of a division-based corporation, or the M-form company, contrasting with the earlier U-form (unitary) business.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-divisional_form>

Outside the US you'll find Chaebol (Korea) and Keiretsu / Zaibatsu (Japan) models.

[inigyou]

If your company has several brands, call them brands. But it's usually not like that.