BR-ND's 10 things you need to know to build your brand portfolio

What you may already know about brand portfolio As long as providers of branded items have been busy inventing new products and services, brand portfolio management exists. Indeed, conscious or subconscious, each innovation brings up the question: shall we market this under the same brand name or another?

Theory on brand portfolio management, however, is relatively young. It was not until the late eighties of the previous century that Olins presented his branding models. Olins had probably never even heard of the term ‘brand portfolio strategy’.

Coming from the design world, his branding models were directed at visualizing corporate identity.

Still, Olins’ models are the basis for all kinds of typologies that are developed by academics in the field of branding, like Laforet and Saunders, Hill and Lederer, Kapferer, and Aaker. Olins distinguishes the ‘monolithic’, the ‘endorsed’, and the ‘branded’ model. In the monolithic model, all propositions of an organization have the same brand name, usually the corporate brand. Virgin and Fedex are examples of this model.

In the endorsed model, the individual brand is supported by the corporate brand. Chanel supports No 5, Mattel supports Barbie, and Unilever supports Ben&Jerry’s. In the branded model, every proposition has its own individual brand name.