Brand Extensions: A Review of 2007

Last week, Brandweek enlisted the services of TippingSprung to poll 785 of their readers to get their opinions on brand extensions in 2007.  The results are very entertaining.  From the PetSmart PetsHotel to the Hooters energy drink, some brand extensions were good and some were very, very bad.  Let’s take a look at the results.

The Most Inappropriate Brand Extensions of 2007

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

The Worst Food Brand Extensions of 2007

1. Hooters energy drink
2. Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breasts
3. Trump Steaks (Donald Trump’s rug collection was also a loser in the home brand extension category)

The Best Brand Extensions of 2007

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

The Best Food Brand Extensions of 2007

1. Curves cereal
2. Entenmann’s coffee
3. Russell Stover cookie dough
4. Jolly Rancher frozen beverages
5. Guinness whole grain bread

The Best Retail Exclusive Brand Extensions of 2007

1. The Food Network’s kitchenware line at Kohl’s
2. Sharper Image’s office supply line at OfficeMax
3. Better Homes and Garden home items at Wal-Mart

The Best Home Brand Extensions in 2007

1. La-Z-Boy outdoor furniture
2. Better Homes and Garden Real Estate Network

Some other interesting winners and losers in 2007 brand extensions are:

• Nonprofit Winner: The ASPCA Collection of pet travel and safety products
• Nonprofit Loser: Humane Society branded cell phone
• Celebrity Brand Winner: Newmann’s Own wine from Paul Newman
• Celebrity Brand Losers: Dany DeVito’s Premium Limoncello wine and the Jeff Gordon Collection of fine wines

What do these results tell us?  When the time comes to grow your brand through new product development and brand extensions, make sure those strategies stay true to your core brand image and brand message.  If you deviate too far from your brand image, customers will be confused, your message will become diluted and you risk reducing customer loyalty.  Bottom-line, use your common sense to ensure your brand extensions make sense for your overall brand and business. 

Can you think of any other brand extensions in 2007 that were particularly good or bad?  Here are two bad ones: Disney wine and Disney cologne for children.

To read more about brand extensions, check out these two Brandcurve posts:

Top 5 Risks of Brand Extensions

Top 5 Reasons to Extend Your Brand