Using Brand Extension in Your Business

Brand extension happens when you have an easily identifiable brand image in one industry or product line and you extent that same image to an additional industry or product line. The common thread between the two would be the brand that ties itself to a business.

Image: Newscom.com

Let’s take for instance what many major movies have been doing for many years such as Transformers. You can find many products from toys to such things as the ice sculpture to the right that was made in China to welcome the new Transformer movie. Their brand extension is a classic example of how far and wide you can extend your brand.

As a business owner, applying brand extension to your business can take different routes. Below is a starter list  based on the acronym R.E.A.C.H. to help you develop the brand extension for your business:

• Research other industry. Check to see what alternative sources will work well with your business brand.
• Extend with purpose. Don’t just launch a brand extension campaign without having a specific purpose in mind. Determine the 5 W’s (what, why, who, when, where) and also how before launching.
• Assess your strategic partnerships to see if one of you strategic partners will work as part of your brand extention.
• Challenge yourself to think past your comfort level and try something new with your brand extention.
• Have backup plans in case the first direction you try doesn’t work. It’s OK to experience failure because you can bounce back from it. Make sure that you don’t wallow in your failure.

As you R.E.A.C.H. out to build your brand extention, do so after you have a plan in place. Your plan is your guide or map to discovering your next steps of success. Below are examples of other businesses who leveraged their brand by extending it into other industries:

• Arm & Hammer leveraged its brand from a basic baking soda product into the oral and laundry care product industries
• Ralph Lauren’s Polo brand was extended successfully from clothing to home furnishings that included bedding and towels
• Jello-gelatin decided to create Jello pudding pops to extend its brand
• Google extended their brand by purchasing other products such as Grand Central and turning it into Google Voice

Can you think of some examples? Please feel free to leave a comment and share your feedback about brand extension.