Brand Strategy

Scope of this Session

Brand Portfolios
Brand hierarchy
Brand Architecture/Branding Strategy
Building and developing meaningful brand strategies
Complexity and Confusion …
Many players in each category
Each player has multiple brands
Brands as stand alone silos … recipe for confusion
Brand Architecture
Brand architecture is an organizing structure of the
brand portfolio that specifies the brand roles and the
relationships among brands

And different product market brand contexts

 Brand
Portfolio

Product-
Market Portfolio Roles
Context Roles • Strategic Brands
• Endorser/Sub • Linchpin brands
brands • Silver bullets
BRAND • Cash cow brands
• Benefit brands
ARCHITECTURE
• Co-brands
• Driver Roles

Portfolio Graphics
• Logo
• Visual presentation
 Brand Portfolio

Product-Market
Context Roles Portfolio Roles

BRAND
ARCHITECTURE

Brand Portfolio Portfolio

Structure Graphics

Synergy
Optimal Clarity of Leveraged Platforms for
in creating
allocation • offering brand assets future growth
Visibility
of brand • options
Association
building
building
resources •
efficiency
Brand Portfolio
The complete repertoire of a firm (in the same product
class)
Brands
Sub-brands
Co-brands
Provides a system’s view
Brands no more silos
So less chances of misallocation of funds
Portfolio Roles
Strategic Brand
Linchpin Brand
Silver Bullet Brand
Cash cow brand
Flankers
Strategic Brand
That represents a meaningful future level of sales and
profits
May be currently a dominant brand that is projected
to maintain or grow its position
Or a small brand projected to become a big one
TCS
Nestlé's convenience foods
Linchpin Brand
A linchpin brand is the leverage point of major
business area
 And not necessarily a future bet
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
Silver Bullet
A brand or sub brand that positively influences the
image of another brand
A powerful force in creating, changing or maintaining
a brand image
Eg … Jio
Silver bullet reduces the degrees of freedom of brand
team
Cash Cow Brands
Strategic, linchpin and silver bullet brands involve
investment and active management
Cash Cow is a brand with significant customer base
and investments of that level are not required
In portfolio, it generates resources to be invested in
other three
Eg. Nivea cream, Dabur Amla Hair Oil
Flankers
Protective flanker or fighter brands
Strong points of parity wrt competition
Wheel for Nirma
Product-Market Context Roles
Subbrand roles
 Augmenting the master brand
 Highland by 3M
 CDM Silk
Benefit brands
 A branded feature, component ingredient, or service that
augments the branded offering
 Revlon Revolutionary – colorstay lipcolor
 Ziploc sandwich bags
 Intel Inside
Co-Brands
When brands from different organizations combine to
create an offering in which each plays a driver’s role
Bacardi & Coke ( in Europe)
Ariel & Whirlpool
Offering can capture two sides of brand equity
Greater than expected reward when two brands are
strong and complementary
Brand Portfolio Structure
Three approaches
 Brand groupings
 Brand Hierarchical trees

 Brand range

Brand Groupings: Logical grouping of brands that

have a meaningful characteristic in common
Segment
Product
Quality
Design
Brand Groupings
Segment
Hotel Industry … Marriott ( Gaylords, Ritz-Carlton,
JW Mariott, Residence Inn…)
Product
Nike … Individual sports and group activities Air Zoom
vs. Nike Multi Turf
Quality
Loreal …Redken
Brand Hierarchy Trees
Looks like an organization chart with horizontal and
vertical dimensions
Horizontal dimension reflects the scope of brand
Vertical reflects the brands and subbrands that are
needed for an individual product market entry
Provides an evaluation perspective
 Colgate

Colgate Colgate Colgate Colgate

Toothpaste Toothbrush Dental Floss Mouthrinse

Plus Precision Classic

C Youth Color
Change
Brand Range
For brands that span product classes or have the
potential to do so
Within a range… a brand can be strong endorser,
token endorser or a master brand eg … Maggi
Overstretching … can break the rubberband
Portfolio Graphics
Pattern of visual representations across brands and
contexts
Logo, colors, typeface, packaging, symbols, product
design, taglines , and look and feel in general
Visual synergy …
Brand Architecture Objectives
Create effective and powerful brands
Allocation of brand building resources
Creation of synergy
Achieve clarity of product offerings
Leverage brand equity
Provide a platform for future growth options
Brand Architecture Objectives
Create effective and powerful brands
Allocation of brand building resources
Creation of synergy
Achieve clarity of product offerings
Leverage brand equity
Provide a platform for future growth options
Brand Strategies
Six models in the management of brand product
relationships
Each model denotes a certain role for the brand
Status
Relationship
Brand Strategies
Product brand strategy
Line brand strategy
Range brand strategy
Umbrella brand strategy
Source brand strategy
Endorsing brand strategy
Product Brand Strategy
Assignment of a particular name to one, and only one,
product and an exclusive positioning
Product portfolio is same as brand portfolio …Post it
P&G follows this strategy
Name of the product becomes its distinct identity
Brand A

Product A

Positioning A
Pluses
No shadows …
Offensive strategy through multiple brand entries
Company occupies many functional segments
Greater consolidated market share
Helps consumers to feel empowered
Allows firms to take risk … in new markets
Distribution favors this strategy …entire shelf is
occupied by one company
Conquers the customer in the first ‘moment of truth’
Negatives
Every new product launch is also a brand launch … so
costly
New products do not benefit from the renown of one
of the existing brands
Line Brand Strategy
Same basic identity with slightly different
competencies
Complementary applications of essentially the same
product
Exploitation of successful concept by extending it but
by staying very close to the initial product
Many complementary products linked by a single
central concept
Clarins and Pantene
Patanjali??
 CLARINS

Concept: Specialist
in beauty care

PRODUCTS

Creams Solutions Fluids Gels Baths

X X X X
X
Y Y Y Y
Y
Z Z Z Z
Z
 CLARINS

Concept: Specialist
in beauty care

PRODUCTS

Creams Solutions Fluids Gels Baths

X X X X
X
Y Y Y Y
Y
Z Z Z Z
Z
Advantages & Disadvantages
Strong brand image and selling power
Leads to ease of distribution
Defends predator attacks
Reduces launch costs

Manufacturers forget that line has limits

Only product innovations that are very closely linked
Introduction of a powerful innovation can slow the
development of entire line …Christian Dior & Capture
Range Brand Strategy
Products in same area of competence are grouped
together under one brand name
Compared to product line branding, range branded
products meet the same need but at different levels
Intel’s Pentium and Celeron range of microprocessors
 CLARINS

Concept: Specialist
in beauty care

PRODUCTS

Creams Solutions Fluids Gels Baths

X X X X
X
Y Y Y Y
Y
Z Z Z Z
Z
Range Brand Strategy
Single brand name allows economies of scale in
advertising and promotions
Same overall brand values and positioning
However brand opacity as the range expands
Umbrella Brand Strategy
All marketed product categories under one name
Yamaha
Virgin
Sony
Main advantage is capitalization on one single name
and economies of scale on an international level
Reputation gets linked through spokes of umbrella
Positive
And sometimes also a negative
 Nirma, Bic
Umbrella Brand Strategy
All marketed product categories under one name
Yamaha
Virgin
Sony
Main advantage is capitalization on one single name
and economies of scale on an international level
Reputation gets linked through spokes of umbrella
Positive
And sometimes also a negative
 Nirma, Bic
Umbrella Brand Strategy
‘ Rubber effect’
More a brand covers different categories , the more it
stretches and weakens losing its force like a rubber band
Pond’s toothpaste
Harley Davidson perfume
Colgate kitchen entrees
Source brand strategy
Identical to umbrella branding- except for one
difference … the products are now directly named
Now it’s a two tier structure … double branding
Two tiered sense of difference and depth
Parent brand offers its significance and identity
 Modified and enriched by the daughter brand
Limits of the source brand lie in the necessity to respect
the core, the spirit and the identity of the parent brand
Nestle Kit-Kat,
Endorser Brand Strategy
Parent brand acts as a base guarantor
Either placing the logo in a graphic manner or in a
nominal way by simply signing the endorser’s name
Biggest advantage is freedom of movement
Endorsing brand also profits from specifically named
products
Scientific and technical guarantees are assured by the
endorsing brand
3M