India, Jan. 9 -- For decades, B-schools formulated brand strategies such as co-branding, single-identity, and multi-branding. Each one had its pros and cons, some succeeded, some failed. One of the models was to market multiple brands in the same segment. Volkswagen Group does it admirably with Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, and Porsche, "each targeting a different luxury or performance segment." BBK Electronics, a China-based group, which was deregistered in 2023, went several steps ahead. It gave birth to multiple smartphone brands, grew them globally, made them profitable, and left them to co-exists independently, or in a dependent manner.

With renowned brands such as OPPO, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, and iQOO, BBK pursued a strategy that ...