Brand Portfolio Management

In the global competitive marketplace today, companies are following the multi-brand strategy by product categories and geo-demographic segments. Consequently, the product-mix of companies, spread across the product categories and product lines, are stuffed with a variety of brands with marginal differentiation. Such business situations exhibit chaos of brands within the product line triggering cannibalization of brands within the product line of the same company. Hence, some companies, which realize the need for systematic growth of brands in the marketplace, attempt to develop brand portfolios by developing the brands specific to geo-demographic and retail market segment. Companies allow required space for brands to grow with adequate customer knowledge and brand literacy. Most companies see too many brands with low priorities and little leverage to sustain in the competitive marketplace, which makes it difficult for the companies to create strong brands and develop effective marketing strategies. Categorically differentiated product lines in a company significantly contribute to brand proliferation with an effective portfolio strategy. Developing a brand portfolio strategy involves the decision to add or eliminate brands and categorize brands by products, markets, and use value. Besides differentiating brands across the consumer use value and preferences, the brand portfolios determine how to leverage the strategic brands in the competitive marketplace, and also help companies in assigning roles and establishing priorities.