The Corporate Branded Portfolio And Purina
If you read or skimmed the recent issue of National Geographic, you saw throughout the magazine one of the best examples of a Corporate Branded Portfolio. The Corporate Brand is Purina, the pet nutrition and pet welfare company. The Branded Portfolio is some of our most well-known pet brands including Purina Alpo, Purina Bella, Purina Beggin’, Purina Beyond, Purina Busy, Purina DentaLife, Purina Dog Chow, Purina Puppy Chow, Purina ONE, Purina Pro Plan, Purina Cat Chow, Purina Friskies, Purina Tidy Cats and more.
Scattered through this issue of National Geographic are a number of advertisements from Purina products. All of these products identify the Purina name. The Purina name, the corporate brand, is the source of the origin, quality, leadership, trustworthiness and area of excellence (pet health and foods) for all of the brands in the Purina Corporate Branded Portfolio. The Purina Corporate Branded Portfolio ads (5 ads) are as follows: 1) Purina Fancy Feast Medleys (two flavors), 2) Purina Prime bones (3 flavors), 3) Purina Pro Plan, 4) a corporate ad for Purina Kitten, Purina ONE, Purina Pro Plan, Purina Beneful, Purina Puppy Chow and 5) an ad for Purina Tidy Cats (3 types) kitty litter.
In our especially volatile world, one of the most viable ways to build strong brands is to move the organization from supporting a Portfolio of Brands to developing and strengthening a Corporate Branded Portfolio. Like Purina, firms are moving from a Portfolio of Brands, where organizations have a portfolio of individual brands each building preference on their own, to a Corporate Branded Portfolio, where individual brands share a common, corporate, provenance-based heritage, enhancing their individual abilities to build brand preference.
A Corporate Brand is a powerful symbol of expertise, authenticity and authority deriving its strength from its heritage. A Corporate Branded Portfolio provides customers richer, authoritative experiences delivered by strong individual brands. A Corporate Branded Portfolio approach allows individual brands under the aegis of a strong Corporate Brand to focus on their relevant differentiation, meaningfully connecting with customers and potential customers.
A Corporate Brand provides continuity and consistency across all platforms enhancing strengths of all channels. The Corporate Brand influences customer preference. This leads to increased opportunities for cross-purchase among individual brands in the Corporate Branded Portfolio; generating more revenue; and increasing cash flow. A Corporate Brand enhances the attractiveness of the individual brands in the loyalty program.
Using a Corporate Branded Portfolio brand architecture approach is a smart move. And, increasingly, branded families are opting to do so.
This is happening for three reasons.
First, there is the increased importance of the Corporate Brand. In an uncertain environment, people seek trustworthy signals of expertise, authenticity, and authority. A Corporate Brand provides a source of trust based on its provenance. The Corporate Brand is more than the identity of an organization, its culture, and its values. It is a seal of permission to believe. A familiar, quality, leading, trustworthy Corporate Brand identifies a provenance of credibility, an excellent reputation, integrity, and responsibility. These elements are the foundation for building Trust Capital leading to High Quality Revenue Growth.
Second, a Corporate Branded Portfolio allows individual brands to meet customers’ personal needs and occasions while the Corporate Brand provides connections to a trustworthy, credible source on which these customers can rely.
Third, individual brands become stronger and more meaningful when associated with a powerful Corporate Brand. Knowing that individual brands are connected to a provenance-based authority allows customers to increase their loyalty through direct, richer experiences from all the brands within the Corporate Branded Portfolio.
A Corporate Branded Portfolio creates meaningful lifetime customer relationships leading to High Quality Revenue growth of the portfolio and of the firm. A Corporate Branded Portfolio allows individual brands to be very focused on the needs that really matter to customers. This accelerates growth around the world, and drives stronger, consistently delivered business performance
Research reveals that people using more brands within a Corporate Branded Portfolio are more loyal than those who confine usage to just one brand. Someone using six (individual) brands one time is more loyal to the portfolio than someone using one (individual) brand six times. Using more than one brand in the portfolio: 1) increases revenue contribution for the corporation; 2) increases the duration of the relationship with the branded portfolio; and, 3) increases engagement with the Corporate Brand. This multiple-brand behavior increases the importance of the Corporate Brand’s loyalty program, as the program provides trustworthy access to the entire Corporate Branded Portfolio, encouraging easier, more confident, personalized, less risky decision-making.
It is important to note that having a Corporate Branded Portfolio approach does not just provide consumer-facing benefits.
A Corporate Brand provides a common, credible, authoritative connection across all stakeholder relationships. It is an advantage against competitive actions. It is a promise of provenance for all those engaged, and invested in the Corporation, and its portfolio of individual product and service brands.
Given the number of Corporate Brand stakeholders – customers, employees, shareholders, the financial community, neighborhood community leaders, opinion influencers – it is more important today than ever before to build a consistent, powerful, provenance-based Corporate Brand.
Moving from a Portfolio of Brands to a Corporate Branded Portfolio enhances individual brands’ reputations due to the connections with the Corporate Brand’s provenance, building brand loyalty across the whole portfolio.
