Brand Extensions
by KMF Kamal
A commonly held view is that the more variety a consumer has to choose from the better. The concept certainly seems logical. There are numerous individual needs for a plethora of individual customers. It stands to reason that the greater the range of products available, the better these personal preferences and quirks can be catered to. Hence, manufacturers and retailers have been known to expand their selections of sub-brands almost endlessly in order to capture as many segments as they can. A brand may decide to venture into undiscovered country, introducing products and services in areas they have never been associated with.
However, how do brand extensions work? More importantly, what is the impact of extensions on the effectiveness of the brand? This article will explain the rationale and effects of extensions in products and services to brands.
If the new product or service is introduced within an identifiable category that the brand is associated with, this can be termed as a line extension. A company may produce washing up liquid in with different scents, or a beverage manufacturer may introduce low-calorie versions or differentiated flavours.
The most important rule of creating a line extension is to ensure that the consumer can always refer back to a common element of the brand within the category. A soft drink may come in different flavours, but since the brand of soft drink may create an association of a “refreshing beverage”, if all of the drinks create that “refreshing beverage” association in the consumers mind, the brand can remain strong.
Good line extensions create and reinforce brand associations in the minds of consumers. In this, the product or service category is part and parcel of the brand. A brand that creates experiences always associated with soft drinks is a soft drink brand. The product category is intermixed with the brand experience. The categorization does not have to be so niche, a brand can be known as a producer of a generic category, for example “men’s products”, and still be able to promote many sub-lines, such as aftershave, moisturizer, body deodorant, shaving creams, and so on.
