In the process of designing the brand architecture sometimes only identifying the brands and subbrands could be a nontrivial task (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000, p. 134).

There is a famous picture that presents the brand architecture as a football team, presented in Figures 1 and 2. The football pitch is supposed to be the market map. There is a saying that if each football player represents brands, they are to cover the priority areas. Some players are the stars or super-brands others have minor roles and are support brands (Davidson, 2002, p. 28).

Figure 1: The ideal portfolio

If we think of each individual player as a brand, then identity and communication programs are tools or exercises that make the individual player better (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000, p. 133).

Sources:
Davidson, Hugh. 2002. Portfolio managing matters. Brand Strategy: 162, p. 28.
Aaker, David A. and Joachimsthaler, Erich. 2000. Brand Leadership. 2000. The Free Press. 350 p.