Page 285 - Marketing Management

262 PART 4 BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

United Technologies UTC’s brand portfolio includes Otis elevators,
Carrier heaters and air conditioners, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace and industrial, Sikorsky
helicopters, Pratt & Whitney jet engines, and UTC Fire & Security systems. Most of its brands are
the names of the individuals who invented the product or created the company decades ago—
they have more power and are more recognizable in the business buying marketplace. The
parent brand,UTC,is advertised only to small but influential audiences—the financial community
and opinion leaders in New York and
Washington, DC. After all, employees are
more loyal to the individual companies
owned by UTC. “My philosophy has
always been to use the power of the
trademarks of the subsidiaries to
improve the recognition and brand
acceptance, awareness, and respect for
the parent company itself,” said UTC’s
then-CEO George David. 70

Two key components of virtually
any branding strategy are brand
portfolios and brand extensions.
(Chapter 12 discusses co-branding and
ingredient branding, as well as line-
stretching through vertical extensions.)
United Technologies’ brand
portfolio consists of a diverse Brand Portfolios
collection of companies, products,
A brand can only be stretched so far, and all the segments the firm would like to target may not view
and brands.
the same brand equally favorably. Marketers often need multiple brands in order to pursue these
multiple segments. Some other reasons for introducing multiple brands in a category include: 71
1. Increasing shelf presence and retailer dependence in the store
2. Attracting consumers seeking variety who may otherwise have switched to another brand
3. Increasing internal competition within the firm
4. Yielding economies of scale in advertising, sales, merchandising, and physical distribution
The brand portfolio is the set of all brands and brand lines a particular firm offers for sale in a
particular category or market segment.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Starwood Hotels & Resorts One of the leading hotel and leisure
companies in the world, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, has 850 properties in more than
95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. In its rebranding at-
tempt to go “beyond beds,” Starwood has differentiated its hotels along emotional, experiential
lines. Its hotel and call center operators convey different experiences for the firm’s different
chains, as does the firm’s advertising. This strategy emerged from a major 18-month positioning project,
started in 2006, to find positions for the portfolio of brands that would establish an emotional connection with
consumers. Consumer research suggested these positions for some of the brands: 72
• Sheraton. With the tagline “You don’t stay here, you belong,” Sheraton—the largest brand—is about
warm, comforting, and casual. Its core value centers on “connections,” an image aided by the hotel’s
alliance with Yahoo!, which cofounded the Yahoo! Link@Sheraton lobby kiosks and cyber cafés.
• Four Points by Sheraton. For the self-sufficient traveler, Four Points strives to be honest, uncompli-
cated, and comfortable. The brand is all about providing a high level of comfort and little indulgences
like free high-speed Internet access and bottled water. Its ads feature apple pies and talk about
providing guests with “the comforts of home.”