By using imprints, a major publishing house can utilize its publishing structure to make each imprint well known in its own right for being a publisher of a specific subject.
An imprint can flourish by having the backing of a big publishing house, and a successful imprint, in turn, may encourage major publishers to launch more imprints.
For authors, being published by a respected imprint may be more helpful to their careers than being published by a major publisher. This could be because of that imprint's reputation for publishing respected books in particular areas, for example, poetry or art.