One year ago, Unilever embarked on a five-year program to reduce its staff by 10percentt, or 25,000 jobs; streamline its brand portfolio from 1,600 to about 400; and close uneconomic plants.
In removing the apprehension and costs of go to market with digital, they streamline a brand's entry into an unfamiliar territory and convert the test into a success story.
"HTC's strategy to streamline its branding and to offer fewer, better-differentiated products is a reaction to both market forces and engineering necessity," said Tony Cripps, principal analyst at Ovum. "Its decision to focus on perfecting core smartphone functionality around camera and music playback is an extremely pragmatic one".
We launched M&S Collection, and by streamlining the brands reduced product overlap by 10%.
"Modern-day production is far more streamlined, the brands far richer, and they can say no a lot easier today than they could 100 years ago," said Sam Hines, head of watch sales at Christie's Asia.
And streamlining its branding to appeal across multiple cultures is one small step on that road. .
One was that the company stopped carrying some brands to streamline the appearance of its shelves.
General Motors, the biggest of the troubled car companies, is expected to propose a significant shrinking of its North American operations, including shutting more factories and streamlining its sprawling brand lineup, according to people with knowledge of G.M.'s deliberations.
But while Tang was the most emblematic brand, streamlining food into powdered form was a wider Space Age trend: non-dairy creamer got added to coffee, mashed potatoes came from a box, and eventually a whole, instant breakfast fit in a glass.
This would be an interesting property for an acquirer that could streamline customer service and exploit the brand in new ways.
