Portfolio Roles

For building effective brand architecture it is necessary to identify the portfolio roles of each brand. It provides a tool to take more system view of the brand portfolio and includes a strategic brand, a linchpin brand, a silver bullet brands and a cash cow brand.

• Strategic brands – A strategic brand or a megabrand is a currently dominating brand that represents a meaningful future level of sales and profit. For ex – Slate is a strategic brand for Levi’s, TATA consultancy services (TCS) is a strategic brand of TATA group of cos. because the vision of the firm is to move beyond traditional steel and automobile business.
• Linchpin brands – A linchpin brand unlike strategic brand not necessarily represents a meaningful future level of sales and profit but it is a leverage point of a major business area. It indirectly influences a business by providing a basis for customer loyalty. For ex. ‘Park Avenue’, a brand extension of Raymond’s launched in mid-eighties. It is a linchpin brand for Raymond’s because it has extended the Raymons’s credibility in different businesses from ready –to- wear trousers to men’s toiletries.
• Silver bullet – A silver bullet is a brand or sub-brand that positively influences the image of another brand, it can be a powerful force in creating, changing and maintaining a brand image, for ex. When IBM ThinkPad was launched it has provided a significant boast in public perception of the IBM brand. Another ex. is the Positioning of Forhans’s Fiouride as having branded feature of ‘being foamy’ rather than just ‘protect gums and teeth’. It has served to make credible claim that Forhans had achieved another breakthrough in oral care industry.
• Cash cow brand – Strategic, Linchpin and Silver bullet brands involve investments and active management for fulfilling their strategic mission. The cash cow brands on contrast do not require any investment because it has a significant loyal customer base. The role of a cash cow brand is to generate marginal resources that can be invested in other brands, which will help for future growth and vitality of brand portfolio. For ex; Nivea cream the core product of Nivea, a brand that has been extended to variety of skin care and related products.