BRAND REVOLT™
From revolting to revolutionary

March 2008

Simple, Medium, Luxury

Consumers tend to like (sometimes even love) portfolios and product line-ups when it is clear: here is a family of products (we all have something in common) but you will get a little bit more (or a lot more), or a little bit less (or occasionally a lot less) depending on the individual product.

It is not about consumer segmentation; rather it is about product proposition, definition, naming and communication to create a clear range of products.

No matter how obvious it might be, consumers understand relative propositions rather easily when presented in a comprehensible manner. Just like buying T-shirts, we understand XS, S, M, L, and XL. Of course it is beyond size, or capacity or feature sets - it is about codes. Once the consumer gets the code (simple = faster, easier to understand), the more in-tune with a portfolio offering they become.

Few companies leverage portfolio thinking successfully. Some, however, do it very well.

Apple has built a sub-brand around this philosophy (iPod line-up: Shuffle, Nano, Classic, Touch).

BMW keeps it simple yet extensible (1, 3, 5, 7, X, Z, M series).

American Express lures us with colour (Green, Gold, Platinum, Black, Red).

Starbucks uses exotic sounding labels to keep the café vibe (coffee comes in three sizes: Tall, Grande, Venti which map roughly to ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, ‘Large’. There is actually a fourth Starbucks size - ‘Short’ - but this one is not readily promoted).

British Airways avoids ‘Economy Class’, ‘Business Class’ and ‘First Class’, but has instead created branded experiences across its product range or ‘classes’ (World Traveller aka Economy, World Traveller Plus aka Premium Economy, Club World aka Business, and First – well this one is pretty obvious).

However, not all portfolio ‘codes’ are easy to ‘get’.

Porsche likes its flagship 911 range to be a bit convoluted; understanding the line-up is the joy of every aficionado (each new generation of 911 comes with a new internal classification or type e.g. 964, 993, 996, 997; further the 911 is available in myriad of configurations: Carrera, Carrera Cabriolet, Carrera S, Carrera S Cabriolet, Carrera 4, Carrera 4 Cabriolet, Carrera 4S, Carrera 4S Cabriolet, Targa 4, Targa 4S, Turbo, Turbo Cabriolet, GT2, GT3, GT3 RS). Despite the apparent complexity, the Porsche 911 range is still pretty much a question of S, M, L, XL. The 911 GT2 is a relative monster compared to the somewhat humble 911 Carrera (of course there is a €90k difference in price tag).

Why do so few companies create such strategic portfolios?

Images above sourced from Apple, Starbucks and BMW websites.

© Copyright Hira Verick, Sweden 2008