Business Analysis
• What are the current and potential sales, profits, and growth in the brand's product portfolio?
• What are the strategic initiatives?
• What businesses are important financially and strategically, now and in the future?
• What segments are important financially and strategically, now and in the future?
Brand Portfolio
• Identify the brands and sub-brands in the portfolio.
Portfolio Roles
• Which brands are the strategic brands (that is, brands representing substantial future profits?)
• Are there (or should there be) any linchpin brands that will leverage important business arenas?
• What brands or sub-brands are playing (or should play) silver-bullet roles? Are additional silver-bullets needed?
• Are strategic, linchpin, and silver-bullet brands being supported and actively managed?
• What brands should be playing cash cow roles? Do they require the resources they now receive?
Product-Market Context Roles
• Identify the brands and sub brands with substantial driver responsibility. How much equity do they have? How strong is each one's link to customers? Which brands need active management and brand building?
• Identify the sub brands and scale them on the driver-descriptive sub brand spectrum. Given that appraisal, are they all receiving an appropriate amount of resources and management?
• Do the existing endorser brands add value as endorsers? Do they detract? Is their identity appropriate for that role? Should their role as endorsers recede or be deleted in some contexts? Are there other contexts in which an endorser should be added or made more pronounced?
• Identify co-brands. Are they well conceived? Should new ones be considered? What types of partners would server to enhance the brand?
• Identify the branded components, features, and services. Should these be given a greater or lesser role?
• Are there other components, features, and services now being offered that could be packaged and branded?
Brand Portfolio Structure
• Portray the brand portfolio structure by one of more of the following methods:
• Show a grouping of brands using logical descriptors such as segment, product type, application, or channel.
• Diagram all the brand hierarchy trees.
• Specify the product/market range and potential range of all the major driver and endorser brands.
• Evaluate the brand portfolio structure (and meaningful subparts) as to whether it generates clarity, propose, and direction versus complexity, ad hoc decisions, and strategic drift.
• Should existing brands be deleted or given a greater or lesser influence in existing contexts? Should new driver brands or sub brands be created?
• Are some brands overextended? Are their images being jeopardized?
• Are the driver brands and sub brands adequately leveraged? What are some possible horizontal brand extensions? Does the potential exist to extend brands vertically (with or without a sub brand)?
• Portfolio Graphics
• Lay out a sample of the way that the brands are presented visually, including logos and communication material. Is it clear, consistent, and logical, or is there confusion and inconsistency? Is the relative importance of each brand reflected in the visuals? Is there visual energy?
• Does the visual presentation of the brand across the portfolio support the portfolio structure? Does it support the context roles? Does it support the brand identities?
Managing the Brand Architecture
• What is the process by which a brand or sub brand gets added to the portfolio? What
criteria are used?
• Is the brand architecture periodically reviewed?
• Who is in charge of the visual presentation of the brand? What is the process by which the visual presentation of the brand is managed?