An Algorithm That Predicts Your Brand’s Growth Potential?

Answer 5 questions and get a prediction with an 80% accuracy rate.

The LASSO algorithm, an academic project free to the branding industry, can predict which of your brands have the greatest potential to expand.

Using state-of-the-art statistical techniques, the LASSO algorithm assesses your brand’s expansion potential by comparing it to 56 failed and successful brand extension efforts, including those of major brands like Coca-Cola, Mickey Mouse, the NFL, Chupa Chupps, FIFA World Cup, Nerf, World of Warriors and dozens of others.

Get An Assessment Using Your Industry Sector’s Benchmarks

The LASSO algorithm allows you to benchmark its assessment of your brand by the industry it’s in. We’ve got benchmarked data in 22 sectors, from automobiles to consumer electronics to apparel and fashion.

LASSO Is An On-Going Academic Project Designed To Serve The Industry.

Rigorous statistical analyses show the algorithm currently has an 80% accuracy rate in assessing whether your brand is Under Optimized or Optimized. In order to reach our goal of 90%+ accuracy we need brand owners like you to take the 5-question assessment.

As we gain more data points, the LASSO model will become ever more robust in its accuracy, and also enable you to see whether your brand’s expansion capacity falls under one of five categories:

  • Under Optimized
  • Slightly Under
  • Optimized
  • Slightly Over Optimized
  • Over Optimized
  • It’s Free. Forever.

    We envision brand owners coming back for regularly updated assessments as often as they want for brands in different stages of their expansion/pre-expansion phases.

    Who We Are & Why We’re Doing This

    LASSO is the brainchild of brand thought leaders Mark Di Somma and Pete Canalichio. They assembled a team of statistical geniuses and a panel of brand experts to provide a repeatable, widely deployable, and inherently objective method for executives to evaluate their brands.

    Our goal is to build a vibrant, usable online self-evaluation tool that advances the industry’s understanding of brand extension points and help solve its challenges. It is free, collaborative, and self-perpetuating.

    Hand The Results To Your Staff, Agencies and Consultants

    Or better yet, have them take it too and compare notes–you might find your team has different perceptions of your brand!

    The Results Will Be Emailed To You For Privacy Protection

    You’ll get a full explanation of the results that you can then choose to share with your staff, agency or consultants.

    LASSO Brand Assessment



    • LASSO Brand Expansion Parameters
    • Before you answer, ponder these questions:
      1. What exactly is the problem your brand expansion solves for buyers? And why would consumers look to you to solve it?
      2. Is your brand closely linked to a specific product set (M&M candies offer multiple variations) or to an emotion (Harley Davidson conveys freedom and adventure)? If it’s the latter, what qualifies your brand to take ownership of that broader idea?
      3. Are you big enough and well known enough to extend or expand? What makes you more than a ‘fad’ in the minds of those who buy into you?
      4. How does your brand fit into the lives of your core consumers? What latitude will they give the brand to take up more space in their lives?


      Once you’ve reflected on these questions, select a LATERAL score for your brand.

      core identity chart
    • Before you answer, ponder these questions:
      1. What makes your brand addictive? Is your brand as addictive as Pokemon Go or is it more like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream?
      2. Do consumers value the various expressions of your brand (ex: Star Wars--feature films, toys, apparel) and how they connect to them? How will you direct your fans from one activity to another?
      3. On what journey are you taking consumers? Does that journey live within a universe where consumers can have an infinite variety of connections with your brand?
      4. Does your brand have the best mix of “addictive” features including frequency, intensity, access and surprise?


      Once you’ve reflected on these questions, select a LATERAL score for your brand.

      addictive chart
    • Before you answer, ponder these questions:
      1. How rich is your story? Is it like Coca-Cola that dates back to 1886 with the Secret Formula and has a myriad of facets to it, or is it more one dimensional like Facebook that was founded in 2004?
      2. How are you expanding how people perceive your brand through storytelling?
      3. Where will you tell your stories, and how will you use the channels to shuttle between the immediate and your wider world?
      4. What role do customers or partners have in helping to shape and influence your story?
      5. How have you connected your storying to your selling? How accurately can you measure how and when conversion occurs? Which of your storylines are most profitable?


      Once you’ve reflected on these questions, select a LATERAL score for your brand.

      narative chart
    • Before you answer, ponder these questions:
      1. Over how many sectors or markets can and should your brand stretch?
      2. Across how many countries can your brand travel? Is it like the NBA, which is broadcast in over 200 countries or more like the NFL, whose regular season is mostly limited to one country?
      3. Over what period of time can you afford to grow?
      4. What resources and assets are available to you to scale your brand?


      Once you’ve reflected on these questions, select a LATERAL score for your brand.

      critical mass chart
    • Before you answer, ponder these questions:
      1. What structure do you need to deliver your idea to its full potential? How much of that do you need to have a stake in to make your goal a reality?
      2. What do you need to own to succeed?
      3. What do you expect to own in the next five years, what do you expect to lose or share, and what do you expect to be copied or to become industry-standard?
      4. Which is more important in your sector, speed-to-market or ownership of market?


      Once you’ve reflected on these questions, select a LATERAL score for your brand.

      Commodity Chart
    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    Consulting areas of focus

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