Why Extend Your Brand?
First, however, consider a brief overview of the entire proposition of brand extensions.
The best companies managing brands today recognize that brand, and what it represents,
drives almost two-thirds of most customer purchases, impacting nearly every functional area within the
organization. This translates into what it calls the Brand-Customer Relationship. Building and preserving this
relationship is a crucial strategic motivator among those leading corporations that understand Brand is, in fact, a
true asset of the total business and not merely a marketing communications icon. And stewardship of the brand is
the underlying rationale behind their decision-making processes – including the analysis that should go into
brand extensions.
Brand extensions – or extending the equity of your brand – are crucial to both fuel growth and outpace
competitors. The brand has been accepted and proven in the marketplace through existing products and
services.
New offerings are stamped with instant credibility and a built-in endorsement from the underlying
brand.However,
David Aaker, author of 11 books on brand and considered by many as the modern-day “father” of brand,
cautions
in his book Brand Leadership (Free Press): “When a product istied closely to a product class, its potential to
extend is limited… Brands that have credibility inintangible associations – such as weight control (Weight
Watchers), healthy eating (Healthy Choice)… – are more able to extend to new categories because those
intangibles work in a wide variety of contexts.”So one thing is sure extensions have close relevance with
consumers.