Portfolio and rhyming
Notes and perspectives from the Value Proposition Studio.
Notes from the studio.
01 / Portfolio and rhyming
Pricing and scarcity · Sep 20, 2026
Supreme: two owners in four years, and the arithmetic of selling scarcity
VF Corporation bought Supreme for 2.1 billion dollars in 2020 and sold it to EssilorLuxottica for 1.5 billion in 2024. A case on why a brand whose product is the drop resists the growth plans that make acquisitions pay.
Read articlePortfolio and rhyming · Sep 16, 2026
Google gives away platforms to protect the business that pays for them
Android and Chrome cost their users nothing and carry Google's services to billions of screens. In 2026 Gemini is being pushed through the same channels. A case on the Platform Turn, and on the launches that never repeated into a beat.
Portfolio and rhyming · Sep 3, 2026
Xiaomi: how a phone company made a car rhyme
Xiaomi went from software to phones, to a web of connected devices, to electric cars, and each step echoed the one before. A case on portfolio rhyming, and on what the rhyme cannot settle.
Portfolio and rhyming · Aug 4, 2026
Microsoft sold the same assets three times: as licences, as subscriptions, as cloud
Windows and Office became Microsoft 365, the servers became Azure, and since 2023 Copilot is sold across all of it. In fiscal 2026 Azure passed 100 billion dollars of revenue. A case on a portfolio that climbs, and on the launches that had nothing to climb from.
Supreme: two owners in four years, and the arithmetic of selling scarcity
VF Corporation bought Supreme for 2.1 billion dollars in 2020 and sold it to EssilorLuxottica for 1.5 billion in 2024. A case on why a brand whose product is the drop resists the growth plans that make acquisitions pay.
Pricing and scarcity · Portfolio and rhyming · Moat · In the news
Read articleGoogle gives away platforms to protect the business that pays for them
Android and Chrome cost their users nothing and carry Google's services to billions of screens. In 2026 Gemini is being pushed through the same channels. A case on the Platform Turn, and on the launches that never repeated into a beat.
Portfolio and rhyming · Moat · Channels · In the news
Read articleXiaomi: how a phone company made a car rhyme
Xiaomi went from software to phones, to a web of connected devices, to electric cars, and each step echoed the one before. A case on portfolio rhyming, and on what the rhyme cannot settle.
Portfolio and rhyming · Positioning · In the news
Read articleMicrosoft sold the same assets three times: as licences, as subscriptions, as cloud
Windows and Office became Microsoft 365, the servers became Azure, and since 2023 Copilot is sold across all of it. In fiscal 2026 Azure passed 100 billion dollars of revenue. A case on a portfolio that climbs, and on the launches that had nothing to climb from.
Portfolio and rhyming · Pricing and scarcity · In the news
Read articleWhy isn't Sony Spotify? The company that sold every format and missed the listening
Sony owned the Walkman, the CD and a record label, and still left music listening to Apple and Spotify. PlayStation shows what the same company does when it reads the job right.
Portfolio and rhyming · Positioning · Brand history
Read articleMeta named itself after a future, and a pair of glasses filled the name
In October 2021 Facebook, Inc. became Meta and promised to be metaverse-first. Five years later the name is carried by glasses and AI. A case on what a company name holds, and on which way value flows between a parent brand and its products.
Rebrand · Portfolio and rhyming · Core values · In the news
Read articleSnap Spectacles: ten years of a product looking for its place in the portfolio
Snap launched camera glasses in 2016, wrote down unsold stock a year later and kept releasing new versions. In June 2026 it opened preorders for 2,195 dollar AR glasses. A case on launches that rhyme, and launches that repeat.
Portfolio and rhyming · Autopsy · In the news
Read articleDisney sells the same story in four registers, and each one sells the next
Films feed the parks, the parks feed the merchandise, and since 2019 streaming sits on top of all three. In March 2026 the head of the parks became Disney's chief executive. A case on the Flywheel, the portfolio pattern that rhymes because every part draws on one hub.
Portfolio and rhyming · Moat · In the news
Read articleFerrero and Kinder: how values pass down a family of brands
Kinder carries Ferrero's trust and adds childhood; Kinder Surprise adds play on top of both. A case on value inheritance in an umbrella architecture, and on the 2022 recall that showed the same channels carry damage.
Portfolio and rhyming · Core values · Brand history
Read articleFiat 500, 2007: a relaunch that rhymed with 1957
Fiat presented the new 500 in Turin on 4 July 2007, fifty years to the day after the original. A case on portfolio rhyming, a name that carries a family, and how far a rhyme can stretch.
Portfolio and rhyming · Rebrand · Brand history
Read articleTaylor's Version: how to out-build an asset you no longer own
Taylor Swift lost the masters of her first six albums and re-recorded them. Read as music on a staff, it is the cleanest rhyme in recent business history.
Portfolio and rhyming · Core values · In the news
Read articleDyson: one engineering value, carried from vacuums to hair, and where it stopped
Dyson moved from vacuum cleaners to fans, hairdryers and stylers on the strength of one value, and made that value visible in every product. A case on product proof, portable value, and the two launches that found its limit.
Portfolio and rhyming · Core values · Brand history
Read articleMoonSwatch: how Omega lent its legend and kept it
In March 2022 Swatch and Omega put the Speedmaster's design into a colourful Bioceramic watch at a fraction of the price, and Speedmaster sales rose. A case on bridges between brands and the perimeter that protects the original.
Moat · Portfolio and rhyming · Brand history
Read articleLEGO went back to the brick, and its films and games finally rhymed
In the early 2000s LEGO diversified into parks, in-house games and toys with few bricks in them, and came close to collapse. A case on portfolio rhyming and on returning to the core you already own.
Portfolio and rhyming · Core values · Brand history
Read articleKodak built a digital camera in 1975 and kept protecting film
A Kodak engineer built a digital camera prototype in 1975, and Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. A case on the portfolio a company protects, and the value its customers carried somewhere else.
Portfolio and rhyming · Autopsy · Brand history
Read articleBarbie: the film that turned a doll into a franchise Mattel could tell
In July 2023 Greta Gerwig's Barbie became the year's biggest film, and Mattel presented it as proof that its toys are intellectual property. A case on portfolio rhyming and on the cultural promise a franchise then has to keep.
Portfolio and rhyming · Premise, promise, proof · In the news
Read article- 01Supreme: two owners in four years, and the arithmetic of selling scarcityPricing and scarcity
- 02Google gives away platforms to protect the business that pays for themPortfolio and rhyming
- 03Xiaomi: how a phone company made a car rhymePortfolio and rhyming
- 04Microsoft sold the same assets three times: as licences, as subscriptions, as cloudPortfolio and rhyming
- 05Why isn't Sony Spotify? The company that sold every format and missed the listeningPortfolio and rhyming
- 06Meta named itself after a future, and a pair of glasses filled the nameRebrand
- 07Snap Spectacles: ten years of a product looking for its place in the portfolioPortfolio and rhyming
- 08Disney sells the same story in four registers, and each one sells the nextPortfolio and rhyming
- 09Ferrero and Kinder: how values pass down a family of brandsPortfolio and rhyming
- 10Fiat 500, 2007: a relaunch that rhymed with 1957Portfolio and rhyming
- 11Taylor's Version: how to out-build an asset you no longer ownPortfolio and rhyming
- 12Dyson: one engineering value, carried from vacuums to hair, and where it stoppedPortfolio and rhyming
- 13MoonSwatch: how Omega lent its legend and kept itMoat
- 14LEGO went back to the brick, and its films and games finally rhymedPortfolio and rhyming
- 15Kodak built a digital camera in 1975 and kept protecting filmPortfolio and rhyming
- 16Barbie: the film that turned a doll into a franchise Mattel could tellPortfolio and rhyming