references/framework-template-mia.md
---
title: Portfolio Positioning Framework Template
type: template
status: draft
created: 2026-05-03
companion_skill: portfolio-positioning
companion_article: How To Launch a Second Product Without Breaking the First One
---
[James Praise | Marketing In Action](https://marketinginaction.xyz)
# Portfolio Positioning Framework Template
According to April Dunford, "Positioning is defining how you are the best at something that a market cares a lot about." That definition is built for a single product. The moment a company has more than one product, positioning expands into a layered system.
David Aaker's brand architecture taxonomy gives us the textbook frame for that system. Every multi-product company is, whether they have named it or not, a **branded house**, a **house of brands**, or an **endorsed/hybrid** structure. The choice shapes everything beneath it: the core narrative, how each product is positioned within the suite, how the suite is messaged across surfaces, and how a new product can enter without breaking the ones that came before.
A typical **Brand Architecture Statement** goes like this:
[Company] operates as a [branded house | house of brands | endorsed/hybrid] because [audience overlap, brand equity logic, or regulatory/M&A reason]. This means [implication for product positioning, messaging hierarchy, and launch sequencing].
A typical **Core Narrative Statement** goes like this:
We believe [macro shift the company is built around], and so we are building [type of company / suite description] for [audience] to [outcome that no single product in the suite delivers alone].
[**Here's an example of how to develop your portfolio positioning**](#examples)
---
## LAYER 0 - BRAND ARCHITECTURE DECISION
Force this decision before producing any messaging output. The choice calibrates every layer below it.
| | **Branded House** | **House of Brands** | **Endorsed / Hybrid** |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Definition** | Single master brand. Every product lives visibly under it. Tight constraint on per-product positioning. | Independent brands with distinct identities. Parent is mostly invisible to the customer. Each brand runs its own three-layer system. | Sub-brands with parent endorsement. Parent lends credibility, sub-brands have room to differentiate. |
| **Examples** | Apple, Google, Notion, HubSpot, PiggyVest (Investify, Safelock, Flex, PocketApp), Moniepoint (POS, business banking, personal banking) | P&G (Tide, Pampers, Gillette), Unilever (Dove, Hellmann's, Ben & Jerry's), Reckitt, OPay's 2019 super-app phase before the rebuild | Marriott Bonvoy (W, Westin, Sheraton, Courtyard), Toyota and Lexus, Send by Flutterwave, Carbon and CarbonExpress |
| **Right when** | Audiences overlap heavily, brand equity is the main asset, products reinforce one mission, the company wants users to migrate across products | Audiences are genuinely different, M&A history brought independent brands in, regulatory firewalls are needed, products serve incompatible mental models | Products share buyer credibility but need distinct visual or category identity, premium and mass tiers exist, expansion happened through acquisition but full rebrand is unwise |
| **Wrong when** | Audiences are genuinely different, products serve incompatible mental models, regulatory or reputational firewalls are needed | Marketing budget is constrained, cross-product retention matters, the parent has more equity than the children | The company is small enough that one brand is enough, the parent's equity is mature enough to absorb the sub-brand directly |
| **Architecture Decision** | |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Chosen Architecture** | Which one are you? Branded house, house of brands, or endorsed/hybrid? |
| **Why this fits** | What about your audience overlap, brand equity, M&A history, or regulatory context makes this the right call? |
| **Constraints this imposes** | What does this choice prevent you from doing in messaging, comms, or future product launches? |
| **What changes downstream** | How does this choice change how Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 behave for your company? |
---
## LAYER 1 - CORE NARRATIVE
The connective tissue. The thesis every product in the portfolio is an expression of. Visibility depends on Layer 0: dominant for branded house, mostly internal for house of brands, lighter for endorsed/hybrid.
| | |
| ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Mission in plain language** | What does the company do at the portfolio level, regardless of which product the user enters through? |
| **Job-to-be-done at the portfolio level** | What do users hire the company for, across all products? |
| **Macro shift / category insight** | What change in the market, the customer, or the category is the portfolio built around? |
| **Connective tissue between products** | What is the user gaining from being inside the suite that they would not gain from any single product? |
| **Core Narrative Statement** | We believe [macro shift the company is built around], and so we are building [type of company / suite description] for [audience] to [outcome that no single product in the suite delivers alone]. |
| **Inheritable themes** | List 3-5 themes, values, or constraints every product in the portfolio inherits from this narrative. Each product will be tested against these. |
---
## LAYER 2 - PER-PRODUCT POSITIONING CASCADE
For every product in the portfolio, produce a brief that inherits from Layer 1 and respects Layer 0. **This is not the full single-product positioning framework.** Use the [/product-positioning skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/blob/main/skills/product-positioning/SKILL.md) for that. Here, produce only what is needed to show how the product fits inside the suite.
*Repeat this table for every product or product family in the portfolio.*
| **Product Brief** | |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Product Name** | As it appears to customers (or as proposed if pre-launch). |
| **One-Line Positioning** | For [target] who [need], [product] is a [category] that [benefit]. Calibrated to inherit from the Core Narrative. |
| **Lane Within the Suite** | What this product specifically does that no other product in the portfolio does. What it explicitly does not do. |
| **Audience Within the Suite** | Which segment of the parent's audience this product is for. Note overlap with sibling products. |
| **Inbound Migration Paths** | Which existing products feed users into this one? |
| **Outbound Migration Paths** | Which products does this one feed users into? |
| **Adjacent Products** | Which products does this one run in parallel with for the same user? |
| **Architecture Compliance** | Is this product's positioning consistent with the Layer 0 architecture choice? Flag any tension. |
---
## LAYER 3 - MESSAGING HIERARCHY
Three tiers. Each tier inherits from the one above and constrains the one below.
### Tier A: Suite-Level Messaging
The messaging the parent brand uses on its homepage, in investor materials, in PR, and at the top of every product surface. For house of brands, this tier exists but does not appear on customer surfaces.
| | |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Suite-Level Value Proposition** | One sentence (10-20 words) that captures the value of the whole portfolio. |
| **Suite-Level Elevator Pitch** | Two sentences combining the Core Narrative with the connective tissue between products. |
| **Suite-Level Long Description** | 100-150 word narrative that expands on the value of the suite, the products inside, and the outcome it delivers. |
| **Suite-Level Outcome Pillars** | List 3-5 macro outcomes the whole portfolio delivers. Every product's outcome pillars roll up to one or more of these. |
| **Visibility note** | Branded house: visible on every surface. House of brands: internal only. Endorsed/hybrid: visible but not dominant. |
### Tier B: Per-Product Messaging Brief
*Repeat for every product or product family.* This is a brief, not a full messaging framework. Use the [/product-messaging skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/tree/main/skills/product-messaging) for the full per-product framework.
| **Product Messaging Brief** | |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Product Name** | |
| **Product Value Proposition** | One sentence (10-20 words) inheriting from Tier A pillars while staking the product's specific lane. |
| **Product Elevator Pitch** | Two sentences. |
| **Product Outcome Pillars** | List 3 outcome pillars specific to this product, mapped back to the relevant Tier A pillars. |
| **Tone Calibration** | How this product's voice differs from sibling products while staying within the parent's tone (for branded house and endorsed) or operating with full independence (for house of brands). |
### Tier C: Feature-Level Messaging Constraint
Do not generate feature-level messaging in this template. Instead, write a one-line rule per product that constrains how feature messaging should be developed downstream.
| **Feature Messaging Constraint** | |
| -------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Product Name** | |
| **Constraint Rule** | One sentence. Example: "Investify feature messaging must always anchor in 'building wealth that compounds,' must reference the user's savings progress where relevant, and must avoid investment-language that contradicts PiggyVest's beginner-friendly tone." |
---
## LAYER 4 - CROSS-PRODUCT LOGIC
The rules of engagement between products in the suite. Required for `architect` and `launch` modes.
| | |
| ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Activation Event Map** | For each product, define the cross-product activation event that signals trust migration into the suite. Not feature adoption. The action that proves the user has decided this platform is where their financial life, work life, or category life lives. |
| **Suppression Rules** | Which products should never be marketed to the same user at the same lifecycle stage. Why. |
| **Sequencing Rules** | Which sequences are recommended (e.g., users who complete X in product A are eligible for product B's onboarding flow at day Y). |
| **Conflict Resolution** | When two products could serve the same user need, which one wins for which segment, and why. |
| **Cannibalization Watch** | Where the portfolio risks cannibalizing itself. What the early signal is. Who watches it. |
### Activation Event Map (table form)
**Worked example: PiggyVest**
| Product | Cross-Product Activation Event | Why this is the trust migration moment |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Investify | First Investify entry funded by a matured Safelock balance | The user has graduated from saving to investing inside the same platform. Moving principal (not paycheck) into a higher-risk product signals PiggyVest is the user's wealth platform, not just a savings tool. |
| Flex | First naira-to-dollar conversion inside Flex | The user is hedging FX risk inside PiggyVest instead of moving money to a bank or a parallel-market broker. They have decided PiggyVest is where their dollar exposure lives. |
| Safelock | First Safelock funded by a transfer from regular PiggyBank savings | The user has upgraded from casual saving to disciplined saving inside the suite. Accepting the break penalty is a behavioural commitment, and doing it with money already inside PiggyVest signals platform trust. |
| PocketApp | First Pocket invitation accepted by a friend who joins | The user is bringing the platform into their social and financial network. A successful referral inside Pocket signals trust strong enough to vouch for to others. |
**Blank table for your portfolio**
| Product | Cross-Product Activation Event | Why this is the trust migration moment |
|---------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
---
## LAYER 5 - LAUNCH SEQUENCING (LAUNCH MODE ONLY)
Skip this layer in `architect` and `diagnose` modes. In `launch` mode, build a sequencing plan for the new product entering the portfolio. Use the [/product-launch-gtm skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/tree/main/skills/product-launch-gtm) for the granular launch playbook. This layer is the architectural overlay on top of that.
| | |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Pre-Launch Architecture Audit** | Confirm the new product fits the existing Layer 0 architecture. If it does not, escalate the question of whether the architecture should evolve before the launch ships. |
| **Internal Segmentation Before Broadcast** | Identify the user segments inside the existing base. Decide which segments hear about the new product first, which hear later, which never hear at all. |
| **Cross-Product Activation Event for the New Product** | Define the action that, when a user takes it, signals they have adopted the new product as part of the suite (not as a one-off trial). This is the launch metric. |
| **Comms Sequence** | Week-by-week or phase-by-phase plan for how the new product is communicated to existing users, new users, partners, press. Anchored in the architecture choice. |
| **Failure Mode Watch** | The three to five things that could break existing user trust during this launch. The leading indicator for each. Who owns the response. |
### Failure Mode Watch (table form)
**Worked example: PiggyVest launching a credit product into a savings-first user base**
| Failure Mode | Leading Indicator | Owner | Response Trigger |
|-------------|-------------------|-------|------------------|
| Brand promise violation. PiggyVest's identity is built on "save first," and a credit product reads as a contradiction to existing power savers. | Negative sentiment spike in core saver cohort across app store reviews, Twitter, and support tickets. Sudden uptick in account closures or unusually large withdrawals. | Brand / PMM lead | 20% or greater negative sentiment shift in the core saver cohort within 7 days of launch, or account closures exceed 2x baseline. |
| Cannibalization of Safelock discipline. Users who would have completed a savings cycle take a credit advance instead, undermining the savings habit that earned their trust. | Drop in Safelock completion rates among credit-eligible users. Drop in average Safelock balance per user. | Lifecycle / Retention lead | 15% or greater drop in Safelock completion in the credit-eligible segment within 30 days. |
| Default risk amplification. Credit losses on a base optimized for savings create unsustainable risk and force aggressive collections that damage brand. | 30-day delinquency rate. Collections complaint volume. NPS drop in delinquent cohort. | Risk / Credit lead | 30-day delinquency exceeds the underwriting model threshold by 2x, or any collections-related public incident. |
| Mental model violation in onboarding. Existing PiggyVest users who did not sign up for credit suddenly see credit prompts everywhere, breaking the saver mental model. | Support ticket volume on credit-related questions among non-credit users. Drop in session length or feature engagement for non-credit users. | Product / Onboarding lead | Credit-confusion tickets exceed 5% of weekly support volume, or session length drops 10% in the non-credit segment. |
| Regulatory exposure. The new credit product attracts CBN or NDIC scrutiny that spills over to savings operations. | Formal regulatory inquiries. Audit requests. New compliance-related disclosures required. | Compliance / Legal lead | Any formal regulatory inquiry tied to the credit product, or any media report linking the credit operation to the savings brand negatively. |
**Blank table for your launch**
| Failure Mode | Leading Indicator | Owner | Response Trigger |
|-------------|-------------------|-------|------------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
---
## DIAGNOSE MODE OUTPUT (DIAGNOSE MODE ONLY)
When invoked in `diagnose` mode, run the framework in reverse. Audit an existing portfolio against the four core layers and score each.
| **Layer** | **Score (1-10)** | **What good looks like** | **Diagnosis** |
|-----------|------------------|--------------------------|----------------|
| Layer 0 - Brand Architecture | | The brand architecture choice is explicit and consistent across all customer surfaces. | |
| Layer 1 - Core Narrative | | The core narrative exists in writing, is visible (or appropriately invisible) per the architecture, and every product inherits from it. | |
| Layer 2 - Per-Product Positioning | | Each product has a defined lane within the suite. Migration paths are explicit. No two products fight for the same user need without a clear winner per segment. | |
| Layer 3 - Messaging Hierarchy | | Tier A, Tier B, and Tier C are coherent. Suite-level messaging is consistent. Per-product messaging inherits from suite. Feature messaging follows product-level constraints. | |
| **Total Coherence Score** | **/ 40** | | |
| **Diagnostic Output** | |
|---|---|
| **Top Three Fragmentation Risks** | The most damaging incoherences in the current portfolio. |
| **Top Three Repair Recommendations** | Where to start fixing it. Sequenced by impact. |
---
## EXAMPLES
Thirteen worked examples across the three brand architectures. Use these as analogues for your own decision. Every example follows the same four-field structure so you can compare directly.
### Branded House: PiggyVest
**Core Narrative:** PiggyVest believes Nigerians need a single trusted home for every form of saving and investing, and so it has built a digital financial warehouse for the user whose financial life is too complex for one product but who does not yet have a wealth manager.
**Architecture Logic:** Branded house. Investify, Safelock, Flex, and PocketApp all live visibly under PiggyVest. Each product inherits the warehouse narrative and the brand's beginner-friendly tone.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Safelock for fixed savings, Flex for liquid savings and FX exposure, Investify for higher-yield investing, PocketApp for younger users and small business expense management.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First Investify entry from a matured Safelock balance. First Flex dollar conversion from a naira savings account. First Pocket invitation accepted by a friend.
### Branded House: Moniepoint
**Core Narrative:** Moniepoint believes Nigerian businesses and the people behind them need infrastructure that makes running money invisible, and so it has built a single brand that sequences from POS terminals to agent banking to business banking to credit to personal banking.
**Architecture Logic:** Branded house, deliberately sequenced. Each product is designed to make the next one easier to adopt. Trust earned in payments unlocks credit, and credit unlocks personal banking.
**Per-Product Lanes:** POS for merchant acceptance, agent banking for grassroots reach, business banking for the operator, credit as a function of transaction history, personal banking for the consumer extension.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First credit drawdown unlocked by transaction history. First salary landing in a personal Moniepoint account paid by a Moniepoint business banking customer. First agent banking transaction by a customer who first encountered Moniepoint at a POS terminal.
### Branded House: Notion
**Core Narrative:** Notion believes the modern team needs one tool that bends to every workflow rather than five tools that each impose their own, and so it has built a connected workspace where notes, docs, projects, calendar, and mail share the same primitives.
**Architecture Logic:** Branded house with extreme product elasticity. Every new product (calendar, mail, AI) is a new surface inside the same workspace, not a new brand.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Notes for personal capture, docs for knowledge, projects for execution, calendar for time, mail for communication. Each is a Notion feature elevated to a product without breaking the connected workspace promise.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First doc that includes a database (signals adoption beyond simple notes). First Notion Calendar event linked to a Notion doc or project (signals workflow consolidation). First Notion Mail thread connected to a Notion doc (signals communication-to-knowledge integration).
### Branded House: HubSpot
**Core Narrative:** HubSpot believes growing companies need a single platform where marketing, sales, service, content, and operations share customer context, and so it has built a hub-based suite where each function gets its own product but every product reads the same customer record.
**Architecture Logic:** Branded house with hub naming convention (Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, Operations Hub). Each hub has its own positioning lane but inherits HubSpot's "grow better" suite-level narrative.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Marketing Hub for top of funnel and demand generation. Sales Hub for pipeline and CRM. Service Hub for support and ticketing. CMS Hub for website and content. Operations Hub for data sync and automation. Each hub serves a function and reads the same shared customer record.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First Marketing Hub contact converted to a Sales Hub deal. First Service Hub ticket linked to a customer record originated in Sales Hub. First Operations Hub workflow syncing data across two other hubs.
### Branded House: Apple
**Core Narrative:** Apple believes computing should disappear into the experience, and so it has built a portfolio of devices, software, and services that work better together than any of them does alone.
**Architecture Logic:** Branded house. iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Vision, Music, TV+, Fitness+, iCloud all read as Apple. Sub-brand naming uses the Apple prefix, the leading "i," or branded category words (Watch, Vision).
**Per-Product Lanes:** iPhone as the primary computing surface, iPad for content creation and consumption, Mac for professional work, Watch for health and continuity, Vision for spatial computing. Music, TV+, Fitness+ as services that compound device value. iCloud as the connective tissue across devices.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First iCloud sync between two Apple devices. First AirDrop transfer between an iPhone and a Mac. First Continuity handoff (start a task on iPhone, continue on Mac). First Apple Watch unlock of a Mac. First Apple Music subscription on top of an existing iPhone.
### House of Brands: P&G
**Core Narrative:** P&G's portfolio narrative lives in investor materials and recruiting decks, not on the bottle. Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Crest, Pantene, and Olay each operate as independent brands.
**Architecture Logic:** House of brands. The customer often does not know P&G owns the brand. Each brand has its own three-layer system, its own marketing engine, its own competitive set.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Tide for laundry, Pampers for new parents, Gillette for shaving, Crest for oral care, Pantene for hair care, Olay for skincare. Each brand defends a category, an audience, and a purchase context.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** Not applicable at the customer surface. House of brands operates with no intended cross-product migration. Activation events live at the trade level (retailer shelf placement, distributor relationships) and at the procurement level, where P&G's negotiating leverage with global retailers covers all brands at once.
### House of Brands: Unilever
**Core Narrative:** Unilever's portfolio narrative is sustainability and global reach, communicated to investors and partners. To customers, Dove is Dove, Hellmann's is Hellmann's, Ben & Jerry's is Ben & Jerry's.
**Architecture Logic:** House of brands. Each brand defends its own positioning and visual identity. Unilever is the holding architecture, not the brand on the shelf.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Dove for personal care, Hellmann's for condiments, Ben & Jerry's for premium ice cream, Knorr for cooking, Lipton for tea, Magnum for indulgent ice cream. Each brand defends its own audience and category.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** Not applicable at the customer surface. The portfolio's leverage operates at the retailer relationship level and global supply chain level, not in the consumer journey.
### House of Brands: Reckitt
**Core Narrative:** Reckitt holds health, hygiene, and home brands that each defend their own credibility (Lysol, Dettol, Durex, Mucinex, Strepsils). The portfolio narrative is internal.
**Architecture Logic:** House of brands. Brand credibility in each category is the asset. Compressing them under a Reckitt master brand would break the trust each has earned.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Lysol for household disinfection, Dettol for personal antiseptic and household hygiene, Durex for sexual health, Mucinex for cold and flu, Strepsils for sore throat. Category-specific credibility is the asset.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** Not applicable at the customer surface. Each brand earns and defends trust in its own category. Cross-brand leverage exists in retail and pharmacy distribution, not in customer migration.
### House of Brands (Cautionary): OPay 2019 Super-App Phase
**Core Narrative:** OPay attempted a super-app expansion into ORide, OFood, OCar, OExpress without a coherent core narrative holding them together.
**Architecture Logic:** Effectively house of brands without house of brands discipline. Sub-brands shared a parent prefix but did not share a narrative or a coherent customer mental model. Each vertical demanded its own marketing engine, fragmented the brand identity, and made the value proposition harder to communicate to any specific user segment. The 2020 motorcycle ban and COVID forced a dismantling. The recovery rebuilt around payments and re-emerged as a branded house in a tighter category.
**Per-Product Lanes (during the failed phase):** ORide for motorcycle ride-hailing, OFood for food delivery, OCar for car ride-hailing, OExpress for logistics, OPay for payments. Each lane was real, but the lanes did not reinforce each other.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** This is exactly where the architecture broke. The expectation was that ORide users would convert to OPay users, but the customer mental model did not migrate. A motorcycle passenger paying for a ride did not see themselves as adopting a digital wallet. The intended cross-product activation event never landed at scale, which is why the super-app collapsed back into a payments-first branded house.
### Endorsed / Hybrid: Marriott Bonvoy
**Core Narrative:** Marriott Bonvoy is the loyalty and credibility infrastructure across thirty hotel brands. Each property brand (W, Westin, Sheraton, Courtyard, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton) keeps its own identity, audience, and category lane.
**Architecture Logic:** Endorsed/hybrid. Bonvoy is the parent endorsement. Each property brand defends premium, lifestyle, business, or family positioning. The customer can choose the property without losing the points.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis for luxury, W for lifestyle and design, Westin for wellness, Sheraton for upscale business, Courtyard for select-service business, Residence Inn for extended stay, Marriott itself for full-service mainstream. Each property brand defends a price tier, a travel context, and an audience segment.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First Bonvoy points redemption across two property brands. First elite-tier upgrade unlocked at one property and used at another. First multi-brand stay within a single trip (e.g., Courtyard for a business segment, Ritz-Carlton for a leisure extension). The Bonvoy points balance is the connective tissue that makes cross-property activation possible.
### Endorsed / Hybrid: Toyota and Lexus
**Core Narrative:** Toyota's portfolio narrative is reliability and accessibility across mass-market vehicles. Lexus is the premium endorsement that needs distance from the Toyota mass-market positioning to defend luxury pricing.
**Architecture Logic:** Endorsed/hybrid. Toyota and Lexus share engineering and ownership but have separate brand identities, dealerships, and customer experiences. The endorsement is invisible at the dealer surface, visible in investor materials and brand provenance.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Toyota for mass-market reliability across sedans, SUVs, and trucks. Lexus for premium luxury with distinct dealerships, distinct service experience, and distinct brand identity. Toyota's hybrid technology powers Lexus models, which is the technology endorsement, not a brand endorsement.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First Lexus purchase by a Toyota loyalist trading up. First Lexus service center visit replacing a Toyota dealership relationship. The activation event is the trade-up, which is what justifies the parent endorsement architecturally.
### Endorsed / Hybrid: Send by Flutterwave
**Core Narrative:** Flutterwave's portfolio narrative is enabling endless payment possibilities across Africa. Send by Flutterwave is the consumer remittance product that needed its own naming to reach a different audience while still borrowing Flutterwave's brand credibility in payments infrastructure.
**Architecture Logic:** Endorsed/hybrid. Send is named with the parent endorsement built in. Flutterwave's developer audience and Send's consumer audience overlap only at the brand-trust layer.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Flutterwave for businesses (payment infrastructure for merchants, developers, and platforms). Send for consumers (cross-border remittance, currency conversion, peer-to-peer transfer). Distinct audiences, shared brand-trust at the parent level.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First Send transaction by a user whose employer uses Flutterwave for payroll infrastructure. First Send referral from someone who recognizes Flutterwave from a checkout experience. Cross-product activation is intentionally limited because the audiences are genuinely different. The endorsement does the work the migration would do in a branded house.
### Endorsed / Hybrid: Carbon and CarbonExpress
**Core Narrative:** Carbon's portfolio narrative is digital lending and banking for African consumers. CarbonExpress extends the brand into rapid loans without diluting the main Carbon banking proposition.
**Architecture Logic:** Endorsed/hybrid. The Carbon prefix is the endorsement. The Express suffix signals the lane.
**Per-Product Lanes:** Carbon for full-service digital banking (savings, current accounts, debit cards, longer-term loans). CarbonExpress for rapid loans (faster underwriting, smaller ticket sizes, higher rates). Same audience, different urgency contexts.
**Cross-Product Activation Events:** First CarbonExpress loan taken by an existing Carbon banking customer. First Carbon banking account opened by a CarbonExpress repeat borrower. The activation event is the upgrade or downgrade between urgency tiers.
---
## RELATED MIA SKILLS
- [/product-positioning skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/blob/main/skills/product-positioning/SKILL.md) - Single-product positioning. Runs once per product after Layer 0 and Layer 1 are set.
- [/product-messaging skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/tree/main/skills/product-messaging) - Single-product messaging. Runs once per product after Tier A is set.
- [/icp-persona skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/tree/main/skills/icp-persona) - Run per product audience after this template establishes the audience map across the portfolio.
- [/product-launch-gtm skill](https://github.com/realjaymes/marketingagentskills/tree/main/skills/product-launch-gtm) - Run for each new product launch with this template's Layer 5 as the architectural overlay.
---
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SKILL.md
---
name: portfolio-positioning
description: "Creates positioning, messaging, and brand architecture frameworks for multi-product companies. Use when the user wants to 'position a product suite,' 'multi-product positioning,' 'portfolio positioning,' 'brand architecture,' 'core narrative,' 'house of brands vs branded house,' 'product portfolio messaging,' 'launch a second product,' 'launch a new product into our suite,' 'audit our portfolio messaging,' or 'are our products fighting each other.' Sits above product-positioning and product-messaging in the hierarchy. Forces a brand architecture decision first, then builds the layered framework that single-product skills run inside of."
version: "1.0.0"
argument-hint: "[architect | diagnose | launch] [company name]"
---
# Portfolio Positioning Assistant
You are a strategic positioning consultant who specializes in brand architecture and portfolio-level positioning for multi-product companies. Your job is to give the user a coherent system that holds a product suite together: a brand architecture decision, a core narrative, a positioning cascade per product, and a messaging hierarchy from suite to feature.
This skill sits above `product-positioning` and `product-messaging`. Those run for a single product. This runs once for the whole portfolio and establishes the frame those skills operate inside.
## When to Use This Skill
Invoke when the user:
- Has more than one product and needs a system that holds them together
- Is launching a second product or major new product line and wants to do it without breaking the first
- Mentions "portfolio positioning," "multi-product positioning," "product suite," "core narrative," "brand architecture," "house of brands," "branded house," "endorsed brand," "sub-brand," "super app positioning"
- Says "our messaging is fragmented," "our products feel disconnected," "we're cannibalizing ourselves," "our users don't understand our suite," "every product has its own voice"
- Wants to audit whether their portfolio messaging is coherent
- Is a fintech or SaaS adding a second or third product into an already-activated user base
Do not invoke for:
- Single-product positioning (use `product-positioning`)
- Single-product messaging (use `product-messaging`)
- Sequencing a launch for a single product when no portfolio context exists yet (use `product-launch-gtm`)
- Repositioning a single product inside a suite that already has a portfolio framework (use `product-positioning` and reference the existing portfolio context)
## Modes
| Mode | When to use | Output |
|------|-------------|--------|
| `architect` (default) | User has multiple products and needs a portfolio framework, or is about to add a second product and wants to build the framework first | Brand architecture decision, core narrative, per-product positioning cascade, messaging hierarchy, migration logic |
| `diagnose` | User has an existing portfolio and wants to audit whether it's coherent | Diagnostic report scoring fragmentation, architecture coherence, narrative alignment, recommendations |
| `launch` | User has an existing portfolio with a working framework and is adding a new product to it | Sequencing plan that respects the architecture, comms strategy for existing users, cross-product activation event design |
If no mode is specified, default to `architect`.
## Before Starting
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
### Required Inputs
- **Company name**: What is the parent company called?
- **Industry**: What industry is this in? (e.g., fintech, B2B SaaS, e-commerce, consumer goods)
- **Products**: List every product, sub-product, or major feature line in the portfolio. Include the ones that are already live and the ones planned.
- **Audience overlap**: For each product, who is it for? Note where audiences overlap and where they diverge.
- **Current state**: Is the user building this from scratch (`architect`), auditing an existing portfolio (`diagnose`), or adding a new product (`launch`)?
### Optional Context
- Existing positioning or messaging documents per product
- Brand architecture history (was the company founded as multi-product or did it expand?)
- Acquisition history (M&A often forces house of brands or endorsed structures)
- Regulatory or licensing constraints (often forces sub-brands in fintech)
- Known confusion in the user base or in sales conversations
- Cross-product usage data (do users adopt second products organically?)
- Competitor portfolio architectures for reference
## Framework Structure
Build the Portfolio Positioning Framework following this exact structure. Do not skip layers. The layers compound: each layer's output is the input for the next.
### Layer 0: Brand Architecture Decision
Before anything else, force a brand architecture choice. The choice determines how every other layer behaves.
Present the three textbook options and ask the user to choose, or recommend one based on the inputs and explain why.
**Branded House**
Single master brand. Every product lives visibly under it. Strong inheritance from the parent. Tight constraint on per-product positioning.
Examples: Apple, Google, HubSpot, Notion, PiggyVest (Investify, Safelock, Flex, PocketApp), Moniepoint (POS, business banking, personal banking).
Right when: audiences overlap heavily, brand equity is the main asset, products reinforce one mission, the company wants users to migrate across products.
Wrong when: audiences are genuinely different, products serve incompatible mental models, regulatory or reputational firewalls are needed.
**House of Brands**
Independent brands with distinct identities. Parent is mostly invisible to the customer. Each brand runs its own three-layer system.
Examples: P&G (Tide, Pampers, Gillette), Unilever (Dove, Hellmann's, Ben & Jerry's), Reckitt, OPay's 2019 super-app phase before the rebuild.
Right when: audiences are genuinely different, M&A history brought independent brands in, regulatory firewalls are needed, products serve incompatible mental models.
Wrong when: marketing budget is constrained (each brand needs its own marketing engine), cross-product retention matters, the parent has more equity than the children.
**Endorsed / Hybrid**
Sub-brands with parent endorsement. Parent lends credibility, sub-brands have room to differentiate.
Examples: Marriott Bonvoy (W, Westin, Sheraton, Courtyard), Toyota and Lexus, Nestlé Nespresso, "Send by Flutterwave," Carbon and CarbonExpress.
Right when: products share buyer credibility but need distinct visual or category identity, premium and mass tiers exist, expansion happened through acquisition but full rebrand is unwise.
Wrong when: the company is small enough that one brand is enough, the parent's equity is mature enough to absorb the sub-brand directly.
**Output for Layer 0**: a single sentence stating the chosen architecture, three to five sentences explaining why it fits this company, and a callout of the constraints this choice imposes on the rest of the framework.
### Layer 1: Core Narrative
This is the connective tissue. The single sentence or short paragraph that every product in the portfolio is an expression of. Calibrated to the architecture choice.
For a **branded house**: the core narrative is on every customer surface. Visible, repeated, owned.
For a **house of brands**: the core narrative is mostly internal (investor decks, recruiting, partnerships). Customers may never see it.
For an **endorsed / hybrid**: the core narrative is visible but lighter. It supports the sub-brands without dominating them.
**Build this section with the user, do not generate in isolation.** Ask for:
- The mission of the company in plain language
- The job-to-be-done at the portfolio level (what users hire the company for, regardless of which product they enter through)
- The macro shift, market change, or category insight the portfolio is built around
- The connective tissue between products in the user's own words
Then synthesize into:
**Core Narrative Statement** (1-2 sentences)
The portfolio-level claim. Not a tagline. A thesis. Example pattern: "We believe [macro shift], and so we are building [type of company] for [audience] to [outcome]."
**Connective Tissue** (3-5 sentences)
How the products in the portfolio relate to each other. What the migration logic between them is. What a user gains from being inside the suite that they would not gain from any single product.
**Inputs for Every Product Below**
The 3-5 themes, values, or constraints every product in the portfolio inherits from this narrative. Each product will be tested against these.
### Layer 2: Per-Product Positioning Cascade
For every product in the portfolio, produce a positioning brief that inherits from Layer 1 and respects Layer 0.
**Do not run a full single-product positioning framework here.** That is what `product-positioning` is for. Here, produce only what is needed to show how this product fits inside the portfolio.
For each product, output:
**Product Name**: As it appears to customers (or as proposed if pre-launch)
**One-Line Positioning**: For [target] who [need], [product] is a [category] that [benefit]. Calibrated to inherit from Layer 1.
**Lane Within the Suite**: What this product specifically does that no other product in the portfolio does. What it explicitly does not do.
**Audience Within the Suite**: Which segment of the parent's audience this product is for. Note overlap with sibling products and the migration path.
**Migration Paths**:
- *Inbound*: which existing products feed users into this one
- *Outbound*: which products this one feeds users into
- *Adjacent*: which products this one runs in parallel with for the same user
**Architecture Compliance Check**: A one-paragraph audit of whether this product's positioning is consistent with the Layer 0 architecture choice. Flag any tension.
Repeat for every product. If the portfolio has more than 5 products, group them into product families first and run this section per family.
### Layer 3: Messaging Hierarchy
Three tiers. Each tier inherits from the one above and constrains the one below.
**Tier A: Suite-Level Messaging**
This is the messaging the parent brand uses on its homepage, in investor materials, in PR, and at the top of every product surface.
Output:
- One value proposition (10-20 words)
- One elevator pitch (2 sentences)
- One long-form description (100-150 words)
- 3-5 outcome pillars at the suite level (the macro outcomes the whole portfolio delivers)
For a house of brands, this tier exists but does not appear on customer surfaces. Mark it as "internal only" if so.
**Tier B: Per-Product Messaging**
For each product (or product family), output:
- One value proposition (10-20 words) calibrated to inherit Tier A's pillars while staking the product's specific lane
- One elevator pitch (2 sentences)
- 3 outcome pillars specific to this product, mapped back to the relevant Tier A pillars
- Tone calibration note: how this product's voice differs from sibling products while staying within the parent's tone (for branded house and endorsed) or operating with full independence (for house of brands)
**Tier C: Feature-Level Messaging**
Within each product, the messaging for major features. Do not generate these in this skill. Instead, output a one-line rule per product that constrains how feature messaging should be written.
Example: "Investify feature messaging must always anchor in 'building wealth that compounds,' must reference the user's savings progress where relevant, and must avoid investment-language that contradicts PiggyVest's beginner-friendly tone."
### Layer 4: Cross-Product Logic
This layer only runs in `architect` and `launch` modes. It captures the rules of engagement between products.
Output:
**Activation Event Map**
For each product, define the cross-product activation event that signals trust migration into the suite. Not feature adoption. The action that proves the user has decided this platform is where their financial life, work life, or category life lives.
**Suppression and Sequencing Rules**
Which products should never be marketed to the same user at the same lifecycle stage. Which sequences are recommended (e.g., users who complete X in product A are eligible for product B's onboarding flow at day Y).
**Conflict Resolution**
When two products could serve the same user need, which one wins for which segment. Why.
**Cannibalization Watch**
Where the portfolio risks cannibalizing itself. What the early signal is. Who watches it.
### Layer 5: Launch Sequencing (launch mode only)
Skip this layer in `architect` and `diagnose`. In `launch` mode, build a sequencing plan for the new product entering the portfolio.
Output:
**Pre-Launch Architecture Audit**
Confirm the new product fits the existing Layer 0 architecture. If it does not, escalate the question of whether the architecture should evolve before the launch ships.
**Internal Segmentation Before Broadcast**
Identify the user segments inside the existing base. Decide which segments hear about the new product first, which hear later, which never hear at all.
**The Cross-Product Activation Event for the New Product**
Define the action that, when a user takes it, signals they have adopted the new product as part of the suite (not as a one-off trial). This is the launch metric.
**Comms Sequence**
Week-by-week or phase-by-phase plan for how the new product is communicated to existing users, new users, partners, press. Anchored in the architecture choice.
**Failure Mode Watch**
The three to five things that could break existing user trust during this launch. The leading indicator for each. Who owns the response.
Reference `product-launch-gtm` for the granular launch playbook. This layer is the architectural overlay on top of that.
## Diagnose Mode (diagnose only)
When invoked in `diagnose` mode, run the framework in reverse. Audit an existing portfolio against the four layers and score each.
Output a diagnostic with:
**Layer 0 Score**: Is the brand architecture choice explicit and consistent? 1-10.
**Layer 1 Score**: Is there a core narrative? Is it visible (or appropriately invisible) per the architecture? 1-10.
**Layer 2 Score**: Does each product have a defined lane within the suite? Are migration paths explicit? 1-10.
**Layer 3 Score**: Is messaging coherent across the suite? Is there a hierarchy or is each product writing in isolation? 1-10.
**Total Coherence Score**: Sum out of 40.
**Top Three Fragmentation Risks**: The most damaging incoherences in the current portfolio.
**Top Three Repair Recommendations**: Where to start fixing it. Sequenced by impact.
## Output Format
Output as Markdown with:
- Each layer as a top-level section
- Bold sub-headers within layers
- Bullet points for lists
- Tables only for the architecture decision matrix and the activation event map
- Keep all five layers (or four for `diagnose`) intact, do not skip or rename
- Save the framework as a single document the user can adopt as the source of truth
## Constraints
- Force the Layer 0 architecture decision before producing any messaging output. No exceptions.
- Layer 1 (Core Narrative) is built with the user, not generated in isolation. Ask the right questions and synthesize.
- Per-product positioning in Layer 2 is a brief, not a full positioning framework. Direct the user to `product-positioning` for the full framework per product.
- Per-product messaging in Layer 3 is a brief, not a full messaging framework. Direct the user to `product-messaging` for the full framework per product.
- Use plain prose. Avoid dashes, jargon, and X/Y juxtapositions in framework outputs.
- Cite real architecture analogues (PiggyVest, Moniepoint, HubSpot, P&G, Marriott) when the user is unsure which architecture fits.
- For Nigerian and African contexts, prefer Nigerian fintech examples first.
## Reference Examples
When generating outputs, reference and adapt the structure from these architecture analogues. Cite them in the Layer 0 decision conversation and use them to ground the user's choice in real precedent.
**Branded House**
- PiggyVest (Investify, Safelock, Flex, PocketApp under one master brand)
- Moniepoint (POS, agent banking, business banking, credit, personal banking sequenced under one brand)
- HubSpot (Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, Operations Hub under one platform brand)
- Notion (notes, docs, projects, calendar, mail under one connected workspace)
- Apple (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Vision, Music, TV+, Fitness+, iCloud all read as Apple)
**House of Brands**
- P&G (Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Crest, Pantene, Olay as independent brands)
- Unilever (Dove, Hellmann's, Ben & Jerry's as independent brands)
- Reckitt (Lysol, Dettol, Durex, Mucinex, Strepsils as category-specific brands)
- OPay 2019 super-app phase (cautionary case: house of brands without the discipline)
**Endorsed and Hybrid**
- Marriott Bonvoy (W, Westin, Sheraton, Courtyard, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton under Bonvoy endorsement)
- Toyota and Lexus (parent endorsement invisible at dealer surface, visible in provenance)
- Send by Flutterwave (consumer remittance product named with parent endorsement built in)
- Carbon and CarbonExpress (parent prefix as endorsement, suffix as lane)
**Companion fillable template** with all four-field structure, worked examples (PiggyVest activation event map, hypothetical PiggyVest credit launch failure mode watch), and the thirteen-company architecture analogue library lives at [references/framework-template-mia.md](references/framework-template-mia.md). Use it as the canonical document users fill out when running this skill.
## Related Skills
- **product-positioning**: Run per product after this skill establishes Layer 1 and Layer 2.
- **product-messaging**: Run per product after this skill establishes Tier A messaging and the per-product brief in Tier B.
- **icp-persona**: Run per product audience after this skill establishes the audience map across the portfolio.
- **product-launch-gtm**: Run for each new product launch with this skill's Layer 5 as the architectural overlay.
- **competitor-profiling**: Use to audit competitor brand architectures as input for the Layer 0 decision.
- **competitor-alternatives**: Use after this skill to build comparison pages for each product, anchored to the suite's core narrative.
- **product-marketing-context**: Use to capture the portfolio framework as the shared context other skills reference.