BRAND ARCHITECTURE –

Aaker’s Model

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 Brand Portfolio
Includes all the brands & subbrands
attached to product-market offerings,
Brand-Market Context including co-brands with other firms. Portfolio Roles
Roles •Strategic brands
•Subbrands •Linchpin brands
•Benefit brands •Silver bullets
•Co-brands •Cash cow brands

Brand
Architecture
Brand Portfolio Structure Portfolio Graphics
•Brand Groupings •Logo
•Brand hierarchy trees •Visual presentation
•Brand range

Powerful Optimal Synergy in Clarity of Platforms

brands allocation creating: offering for future
of brand visibility, growth
building efficiency options 2
resources
 The Boston Consulting Group’s
Growth-Share Matrix
20%-
Market Growth Rate

Stars Question marks

? ?
18%-
16%-
14%-
12%-
?
(Linchpin Brand)

?
(Strategic Brand)
10%-
8%- Cash cow Dogs
6%-
4%-
2%- 6 (Silver Bullet)
0
10x 4x 2x 1.5x 1x .5x .4x .3x .2x .1x
3
Relative Market Share
Product-Market Context Roles

• Sub brand Roles – A master brand is the primary indicator of

the offering, the point of reference. They may become the reason
for cannabilization
• Benefit Brands – The benefit brand is a branded feature.
– Example: Oral-B toothbrushes – PowerTip Bristles
• Co-Brands – Occurs when brands from different organizations
combine to create an offering in which each plays a driver role.
– Examples: Sony Erricsson

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Brand Portfolio Structure

• Brand Grouping: Grouping of brands that

have a meaningful characteristics in common
– Segment: Men or women
– Product: Clothing,healthcare etc
– Quality: Designer to premium
– Design: classic or contemporary

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 Brand Portfolio Structure
• Brand Hierarchy Tree: Brand family

Colgate

Colgate Colgate Colgate Colgate

Toothpaste Toothbrush Dental Floss Mouth rinse

Classic Plus Precision

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 Brand Portfolio Structure

• Brand Range:
Kraft Products include :
– Master brand products :Cheese, Mayonnaise,
Salad dressing and Barbeque Sauce
– Sub brands: Shake and Bake, Oscar Mayer,
Post

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 Portfolio Graphics

• Visual representations across brands and

contexts:
– Logo
– Packages
– Symbols
– Product design

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 Brand Architecture Obj.

• Create effective powerful brands

• Allocate brand-building resources
• Create Synergy
• Achieve clarity of product offering
• Provide a platform for future growth

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 Horizontal Extension

ADDED ENHANCED
FIT BRAND
VALUE
EQUITY

•Customers must be •The brand name •The brand equity

comfortable with the alone should help should be enhanced
brand in the new customers by the brand’s
setting. articulate why the presence in another
offering is superior context -- not only
•Bases: product
to other brands. from increased
associates,
visibility but also
ingredient, attribute,
from the associations
application, user,
generated.
expertise, designer
image.
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 Vertical Extension
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Product vitality A vertical stretch is
particularly tricky because
perceived quality is involved.

Risk to brand’s reputation &

customer base
Cannibalization
Lack of credibility
To participate in a large
& growing value market Competitor price wars
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Aaker, David A. Brand Leadership. 2000
 Brand Architecture Audit
• Systematic way to identify problems or issues that
merit further analysis.
• List of questions to answer
• First Stage: Business Analysis
– What are the strategic initiatives?
– What businesses and segments are important
financially and strategically?
• Second Stage: 5 dimensions of brand architecture

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 Five Dimensions
Dimension Action Item
Brand Portfolio Inventory existing brands and subbrands.

Identify brands playing strategic roles (cash-cow,

Portfolio Roles
etc.)
Look at use of subbrands, branded benefits, co-
Product-Market Context Roles
brands.

Brand Portfolio Structure Create brand grouping or hierarchy tree.

Lay out a sample of the way that the brands are

Portfolio Graphics
presented visually.

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