Brand Portfolio Strategy: Creating Relevance, Differentiation, Energy, Leverage, and Clarity

David Aaker might be the Kottler of brand strategy. Brand strategy is not an exact science. Aaker can't change that. But he does give the field a profound and comprehensive set of definitions, that makes the development process of a portfolio strategy a transparent one for al involved.

I am the Principal of Cohesion Inc, a marketing & business consulting organization, and also a part-time course director in the marketing faculty of the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada. I believe that this book, which builds on some of the concepts from Brand Leadership by the same author, makes a positive contribution to marketing and branding literature, especially with respect to topics such as brand extensions and brand architecture. When read together with The New Strategic Brand Management by Jean-Noel Kapferer, it provides a strong grounding in these areas for students and serious practitioners alike.

I used Aaker's works since the Brand Equity (1991) to Brand Portfolio Strategy (2004) for the research of international marketing for cutting-edge technology in Taiwan. The brand portfilio strategy has made it an iconic and epic art of brand. I has known Aaker's works from the numerous citations in the leading papers of Journal of Marketing. Aaker's prophetic thinking is down-to-eatrh practical and always updated, with a central belief in pragmatic art of brand. The epilogue at the end of this book and the quotations in the beginning of each chapter is quite heuristic and humerous. Indeed, it is a "must-read" of marketing researchers and practitioners from cover to cover without dust bunny.

David A. Aaker's new book is another great piece on branding from the distinguished author of several classics within brand strategy. The book provides in-depth knowledge about portfolio management and inspires readers to reach further in their own corporations. Guidelines and best practices in one single place. Aaker's book is a must for all brand marketeers.

Aaker has earned and deserves his renown as an expert on branding. Perhaps you have read one or more of his previous books: Managing Brand Equity (1991), Building Strong Brands (1995), Developing Business Strategies (1998), Brand Leadership (with Eric Joachimsthaler, 2000), and Strategic Market Management (2001). In my opinion Brand Portfolio Strategy is Aaaker's most important work thus far. One of the most popular recent buzz words is "portfolio" which, insofar as strategy is concerned, is best understood in terms of diversity which creates or allows for options and opportunities otherwise unavailable. According to Aaker, the brand portfolio strategy "provides the structure and discipline needed to have successful business strategy. A brand portfolio strategy which is confused and incoherent can handicap and sometimes doom a business strategy. One that fosters organizational and market strategies, creates relevant. differentiated and energized brand assets, and leverage es those brand assets, on the other hand, will. support and enable business strategy." The brand portfolio strategy which Aaker advocates, therefore, creates relevance, differentiation, energy, leverage, and clarity. There is a diagram inside the front and back covers of this book which illustrates precisely what such a strategy involves, and, what the various relationships are between and among its various components. (As I read this book, I found it helpful to refer back to the diagram occasionally as I would to a map throughout a journey. The same diagram also appears on page 17.) I appreciate the fact that Aaker illustrates each of his core concepts by examining various corporations' successes and failures with a brand portfolio strategy, notably Intel, Disney, Microsoft, Citigroup, SONY, Dove, GE Appliances, Dell, and Unilever. After having read the previous sentence, decision-makers in small-to-midsize companies may conclude that the brand portfolio strategy offers little (if any) value to them. That would be a mistake and I apologize if I inadvertently encourage anyone to reach that conclusion. Aaker's quotation of a remark by Frank Lloyd Wright seems (to me) relevant both to the brand portfolio and to almost every organization, regardless of size of nature: "Always design [or redesign] a thing by considering it in its next larger context -- a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, and environment in a city plan." That is as true for a family-owned automotive repair shop as it is for General Motors.One of this book's several value-added benefits consists of dozens of quotations such as Wright's which provide Aaker's narrative with tasty seasoning while helping him to clarify his key points. Here are some other quotations which I especially appreciate:"Beware of all enterprises which require new clothes." Henry David Thoreau"Plans are nothing, planning is everything." Dwight Eisenhower(Eisenhower's observation reminded me of a Hebrew aphorism: "Man