Monday, January 14, 2008

The Good, the bad, and the ugly: line extensions of 2007

According to BusinessDictionary.com, a line extension is a “Multiproduct branding strategy whereby a firm markets one or more new products under an already established and well known brand name. The objective is to serve different customer needs or market segments while taking advantage of the widespread name recognition of the original brand. For example, maker of a popular perfume may introduce shampoos, bath soaps, body powders, etc., under the perfume's name. Line extension is encouraged by some marketing experts and frowned upon by others. Also called brand extension.”

A recent web survey listed out some of the best and worst examples of line extensions gone awry:

“The brands that did it right found a way to create innovative, succesful extensions that are in harmony with the core brand.” Ranking according to survey results showed the top 4 line extension of 2007 as:

1. PetSmart PetsHotel
2. Huggies Little Swimmers sunscreen
3. Disney's Fairy Tale wedding gowns
4. American Idol camp

On the other hand, the worst had some commonalities. “Too often new products stray from their core values "to the point where there is no relation to the brand at all," said Ries.” The three worst extensions were:

1. Precious Moments coffins
2. Humane Society Do Lovers Wine Club
3. Girls Gone Wild apparel

Read more about it at Brandweek.

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