Country Music Festival, Kenny Chesney and Sammy Hagar – Which One of These Things Doesn’t Belong?

Remember the classic song from Sesame Street “Which one of these things is not like the others? Which one of these things just doesn’t belong?”  If not, you can watch it below.

That’s what popped into my mind today when I stumbled across an article from the Boston Herald about Sammy Hagar opening for Kenny Chesney at the Country Music Festival in New England.  It just seems like a strange mixture and makes me wonder (aside from the fact that Hagar and Chesney are apparently friends) how consumers and the Chesney and Hagar brands will benefit from the unusual pairing.

There is certainly nothing wrong with extending your brand into a new market segment, and if you read the article from the Boston Herald, you’ll actually see that Sammy Hagar is making a real effort to appeal to the country music fan segment and states that he knows he has to win them over.  However, he hopes to do so without changing his product to be more appealing to that audience. 

I think this is an interesting story that can be applied to any brand extension strategy.  Can you successfully extend your brand into a completely new market without making any modifications to your brand to appeal to that segment’s unique wants and needs.  I’m not sure if this strategy would work.  What do you think?  Not about Sammy Hagar but about the theory of extending a brand without modifying it in terms of messaging, etc. for a new audience.