What are the factors that influence brand portfolio strategy?
A brand portfolio refers to when a company includes multiple brands in their brand portfolio. Most commonly, this is a strategy used to cater country or region specific needs and use different brands in different countries. The structure of these portfolios can be;
1. Product brand
About one brand, one product and one promise (i.e. the brand name is used for one single product only). Nowadays, there are few such brands - they have some sort of "original" product with a range extension. Eg. Magnum (ice cream), Pepsodent, Dove. However, you can still sometimes find pure product brands among washing powders and detergents, in various countries.
2. Line brand
Extension of a specific concept over several product categories (i.e. the same brand concept covers different types of products). Eg. ICA Asia includes a variety of products, from coconut milk to noodles.), SantaMaria also makes various line brands.
3. Range brand
Similar to line brand but holds a more long-term perspective of the extension strategy (one brand name is used for a group of products with the same type of function). Eg. Max Factor Face Finity (various make-up products for facial skin), Max Factor Lipfinity (various products for the lips), Marabou stands for a range of chocolate products. [This means it is easy for them to gain credibility in extending to more chocolate products (in the range), but also difficult to create a different line of products.]
4. Single brand name
Single promise over a range of products belonging to the same area of competence. Zoega (range of coffee blends), Lipton tea, Max Factor (make-up), L'Oréal (beauty products).
5. Umbrella brand
Overarching, well-known master brand supports own- product brands in its portfolio, and in different markets. (Sometimes it is used as a corporate brand as well, but it is not always the case.) Eg: Virgin, Google, Coca-Cola (Corp. & umbrella brands), P&G, Unilever (umbrella only).
6. Endorsing brand
Master brand only acts as a guarantor concerning a specific aspect. Eg. Fairtrade, ISO 9000, Kate Moss for Topshop, Erdem for H&M.