If your brand offering is not clear and compelling from your customers’ point of view, you may have a Brand Portfolio Problem. Brand guru David A. Aacker, in his book, Brand Portfolio Strategy, identifies a number of potential brand portfolio problems we should all be looking out for.

What are some other key indicators that you may have a Brand Portfolio Problem?

You may have a Brand Portfolio Problem if:

  • You’re not providing adequate brand-building resources to those brands with potential to drive future profits, while overfunding your mature brands.
  • Your current business and marketing strategy is being paralyzed by uncertainty regarding the future role of your key master brands.
  • You don’t have the proper brand assets in place to support your business strategy moving forward, nor do you have a plan in place to remedy this situation.
  • You’re watching your margins erode because of difficulty in identifying or achieving differentiation.
  • Your key brands need an image makeover, or at least an energy transfusion, because they’re starting to feel dated, old and tired.
  • Your organization isn’t responding nimbly to changing market dynamics because it lacks governance, resources or brand power. (Could a brand alliance be the answer?)
  • Your brand assets are not being intelligently leveraged in order to turn around unsatisfactory growth.
  • You’re missing the opportunity to leverage corporate brand assets such as your unique heritage and values.
  • You’re not participating in a growing super-premium subcategory with high margins and product vitality, while your core market is turning hostile.
  • You have more brands and offerings than your brand-building resources can support.
  • Your offering is so confusing that customers can’t figure out how to buy what they need—and even your employees aren’t always certain how to guide them.

Does any of this sound familiar in the context of your organization? What brand portfolio problems are you struggling to overcome? Post a comment below sharing your top two issues and we’ll discuss strategies to help resolve the most common brand portfolio problems in future posts.