Strategy Combined with Brand Concepts

Navigate growth with strategic brand stretch and smart market coverage

As markets evolve and consumer needs shift, brands must do more than stand out – they must show up in the right moments, stretch into new spaces, and manage their portfolios with precision. This section explores how Category Entry Points (CEPs), brand elasticity, portfolio strategy, and brand migration work together to expand reach, optimise resources, and future-proof brand relevance. Whether you’re aiming to grow through extensions, reposition for new segments, or maximise mental availability, these frameworks offer the strategic clarity to guide bold brand moves.

86. Category Entry Points (CEPs)
Category Entry Points are the internal and external cues that prompt category consideration – when, where, why, and with whom customers think about buying. Unlike positioning focused on differentiation, CEPs emphasise being remembered in buying situations. Types include need states (thirst, hunger), occasions (birthday, breakfast), locations (beach, office), with whom (family, alone), and channel (online, in-store). Building mental availability requires linking brands to multiple CEPs through consistent communication, avoiding over-focusing on single occasions, refreshing associations regularly, and measuring linkage strength. Brands grow by being mentally available across more buying situations rather than deepening loyalty in few situations. CEP strategy challenges traditional segmentation by advocating broad mental availability building across all category buyers. Source: Romaniuk, J. & Sharp, B. (2016). How Brands Grow Part 2. Oxford University Press.

87. Brand Elasticity
Brand elasticity measures a brand’s capacity to stretch successfully into new product categories whilst maintaining credibility and leveraging parent equity. High elasticity enables efficient growth through extensions rather than new brand creation. Factors enhancing elasticity include abstract brand concepts (lifestyle versus product-specific), quality reputation, symbolic associations, brand relationship quality, and consumer brand knowledge. Factors limiting elasticity encompass specific product associations, functional positioning, expertise perception, and cultural category boundaries.
Assessing elasticity requires consumer research on fit perceptions, parent brand enhancement/dilution, competitive benchmarking, and financial viability. Strategies for increasing elasticity include meaning broadening before extending, bridge products between categories, sub- branding for distance, and sequential stepping-stones toward distant categories. Source: Keller, K.L. & Aaker, D.A. (1992). “The effects of sequential introduction of brand extensions.” Journal of Marketing Research, 29(1).

88. Brand Portfolio Strategy
Brand portfolio strategy optimises the collection of brands owned by an organisation to maximise market coverage, minimise overlap, and achieve synergies. Key decisions include portfolio scope (number of brands), portfolio roles (strategic function of each), resource allocation (investment priorities), and relationship structure (architecture choices). Objectives encompass market segmentation coverage, risk diversification, channel conflict management, acquisition integration, and efficiency optimisation. Portfolio analysis evaluates brand performance, strategic fit, resource requirements, and future potential. Optimisation may require pruning weak brands, acquiring gap- fillers, repositioning overlaps, or creating new brands. Success requires clear role definition, performance measurement, regular review processes, and courage to eliminate underperformers.
Digital disruption accelerates portfolio evolution needs as new competitors emerge rapidly. Source: Aaker, D.A. (2004). Brand Portfolio Strategy. The Free Press.

89. Brand Migration
Brand migration strategically repositions brands to move up-market (premiumisation), down-market (democratisation), or across segments (lateral migration). Drivers include market maturation, competitive pressure, growth opportunities, or portfolio optimisation. Upward migration requires quality enhancement, premium cues addition, exclusive distribution, and patience for perception change. Downward migration needs sub-brand protection, value engineering, and channel separation. Lateral migration involves meaning expansion, new usage occasions, and different customer targeting. Success factors encompass gradual transition timing, consistent signal sending, stakeholder communication, and performance measurement. Risks include base customer alienation, credibility gaps, competitive retaliation, and execution complexity. Migration requires long-term commitment as perception change occurs slowly, particularly for established brands. Source: Kumar, N. (2003). “Kill a brand, keep a customer.” Harvard Business Review, 81(12). Outlaw. McGraw-Hill.

In the digital age we need to look at Digital & Contemporary Concepts