How can you future-proof your brand portfolio for changing customer needs?

1 What is a brand portfolio?

A brand portfolio is a collection of brands that a company owns or operates under different names, segments, or markets. A brand portfolio can include sub-brands, endorsed brands, co-brands, or umbrella brands, depending on the level of differentiation and integration among them. A brand portfolio can help a company achieve various objectives, such as reaching different customer segments, offering different value propositions, leveraging synergies, or creating barriers to entry.

2 Why is it important to future-proof your brand portfolio?

Future-proofing your brand portfolio means ensuring that your brands can remain relevant, distinctive, and profitable in the face of changing customer needs, preferences, expectations, and behaviors. Future-proofing your brand portfolio can help you avoid losing market share, customer loyalty, or brand equity to competitors or disruptors. Future-proofing your brand portfolio can also help you seize new opportunities, create new value, or innovate new solutions for your customers.

3 How can you assess your current brand portfolio?

Before you can future-proof your brand portfolio, you need to understand the current state and performance of your brands. You can use various tools and frameworks to assess your brand portfolio, such as the BCG matrix, the brand portfolio matrix, the brand architecture map, or the brand relevance index. These tools can help you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your brands, as well as the gaps, overlaps, or conflicts among them. You can also use customer feedback, market research, or competitive analysis to evaluate how your brands are perceived and valued by your customers and the market.

4 How can you optimize your brand portfolio?

Once you have assessed your current brand portfolio, you can take steps to optimize it for future growth and success. To do this, you should simplify by eliminating or consolidating any brands that are underperforming, irrelevant, or confusing to your customers or the market. Focus on your core brands that have the most potential and differentiation. Additionally, strengthen existing brands with strong market position, customer loyalty, or brand equity by enhancing their value proposition, identity, communication, and experience. Stretch your existing brands into new markets, segments, or categories that have unmet or emerging customer needs. Leverage their existing assets, associations, or capabilities to create new value or solutions for your customers. Finally, create new brands that can address new customer needs, preferences, expectations, or behaviors that are not met by your existing brands. Innovate new products, services, or experiences that can differentiate your brand portfolio and create competitive advantage.

5 How can you monitor and update your brand portfolio?

Future-proofing your brand portfolio is an ongoing process that requires regular monitoring and updates. To ensure that your brand portfolio is aligned with customer needs and the market environment, you should measure its performance and impact on business goals such as sales, profitability, market share, or customer satisfaction. Additionally, you should collect and interpret data and insights from customers, the market, or the industry to understand changing customer needs and emerging trends. Finally, use feedback, testing, or prototyping to refine or modify your brand portfolio to meet the current and future customer needs and the market environment.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?