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.

When a brand is so pervasive that you can introduce new products or services different from the initial ones, and carry that branding across, why wouldn’t you?

Mr. Clean, an established and popular P&G brand of household cleaners, rather than focusing inward, has expanded nationwide to offer car washes. Delaware Online reported that, “spokesman Jeff LeRoy said it is licensed to operate in 41 states and the company plans to “make it as big as we can.”"

Despite the bad economy, despite household’s tightening their belts, and despite even the car wash industry suffering, P&G execs insist that the Mr. Clean brand itself is so strong that it can make the $15 to $24 car washes worthwhile. P&G’s VP of FutureWorks division Nathan Estruth said, “we start with an incredibly powerful brand, which is quite a difference versus the rest of the car wash industry.” But after P&G forecast that its total sales would fall for the current quarter, Mr. Clean must be a very strong brand to weather this climate.

But there’s more.

The car washes aren’t just about getting your vehicle clean. The car moves though a 160-foot wash tunnel that allows kids to shoot suds at the cars while adults can casually watch sports or news on flat-screen TVs sipping coffees. Sounds relaxing, but it’s the kids who are loving it! And now you’ve got your product.

Now, Mr. Clean doesn’t just cut the grease, he keeps your kids occupied for under $24. We may be in a tough economy and $24 seems a little steep for a car wash, but packing the kids up and providing at least a few hours of solid entertainment cannot be a bad idea.

It’s entirely possible that the marketing folks at LEGO were big fans of their product in their earlier years, because they’ve clearly had practice at turning these little plastic blocks into much more.

LEGO has a long history of building their fanbase by just giving us a fresh perspective on what’s really a simple concept. From Star Wars endorsements and LEGOLand to LEGO ice cube trays and external hard drives, they have built and adapted their product in interesting ways.

And they’re still doing it…

A recent announcement is a collaboration with Metaio (Germany) which will change retail displays… As you can see above, the LEGO Digital Box will allow customers to see in 3D how the contents of each box will look once assembled. All that users will need to do is hold the box up to a camera at the top of each ‘Digital Box’.

It will definitely be a popular in-store attraction, but we will have to wait until November to find out how it affects sales.

Another recent announcement, made at this year’s CES was this:

The soon-to-be-released LEGO digital camera in collaboration with DigiBlue will definitely appeal to those LEGO fans who feel like they’re too old to play with blocks anymore. Although the LEGO watch has already been done, a new range of portable electronics will be an interesting replacement for some of the unique DIY LEGO products to be found online.

The great thing about LEGO is that even though they’re extended their product lines it never feels like they’re pushing the limits of the brand.

If this is what the kids of tomorrow will be playing with, they’ll have a good example of creativity.

Story 1 and Image: NotCot

Story 2 and Image: Kids Tech Review

The day is finally here.  Chrome, Google’s newest brand extension and answer to Microsoft Internet Explorer, will debut in 100 countries tomorrow - September 2, 2009.  Here’s how the brand battle is shaking out:

Microsoft hates Google because Google dominates online search and advertising and is getting dangerously close to Microsoft’s territory with its Google Apps and other strategies that Microsoft thinks are too close for comfort.  In other words, Microsoft wants Google to lay off of its monopolistic markets.  Microsoft dominates 75% of the web browser market.

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Time for another brand extension, and this time it’s the cooking competition show Iron Chef extending to the world of video games in the new Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine coming for the Nintendo Wii in September 2008.

Iron Chef joins another popular cooking show, Hell’s Kitchen, in extending to the Nintendo Wii market.  I haven’t played Hell’s Kitchen, but I’d imagine if you like either of these shows, you’d enjoy the video games, too.  In fact, if the games are good, it sounds like a good brand extension.

So what do you think?  Will you take a break and try a game of Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine when it debuts this fall?  Actually, it sounds like a great holiday gift idea.

Image: Amazon.com

Is it possible that all these years Campbell’s (NYSE: CPB) has been sitting on one of the best brand extensions without realizing it?  Could V8 Soup be the next “it” product in the soup aisle at your local supermarket?

V8 Soup certainly sounds like it has a good chance to be a winner.  Many recipes already exist that incorporate V8 Juice, including a variety of soup recipes.  Heck, I use V8 Juice in a slow-cooker pot roast recipe that’s killer! 

However, the soup market is crowded, not so much by a variety of brands but by a couple of brands that completely dominate it.  Can Campbell’s win over new customers or steal market share from Progresso or other soup brands with V8 Soup or will it simply cannibalize its own market share?  From that perspective, what do you think about V8 Soup?  Brilliant or ridiculous?

Image: V8juice.com

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.

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If networking your family’s home computers has been a dream of yours, then get ready to get your geek on thanks to Cisco’s plans to infiltrate the consumer market! 

Cisco has been touting its plan to takeover the consumer market for awhile now first by rebranding equipment that became part of its portfolio through acquisitions of companies like Scientific-Atlanta in 2005 and Linksys in 2003 and now by acquiring Pure Networks which makes network management software for home users.

Based on what Cisco has been saying at conferences and to the media, one would think this will not be the end of their initiatives to get a stronghold in homes.  We’ll have to wait and see what comes next and if Cisco’s strategies to extend the brand to the consumer market will work.

What do you think?

Image: Flickr

On July 28th, Brandcurve will participate in the Bloggy Giveaways, one of the biggest blog carnivals for contests!  One of the prizes I’ll give away on Brandcurve will be a CNN.com Headline T-Shirt with the winner’s favorite headline on it. 

When I first heard about CNN.com Headline T-Shirts, I thought it was a unique way to generate additional word-of-mouth marketing for the CNN brand and website.  With that in mind, I interviewed Andy Mitchell, VP of Interactive Marketing for CNN Worldwide.  Following is a recap of that interview:

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The Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG) brand is one of the most iconic brands in history, and Harley Davidson customers are extremely loyal to their brand.  In fact, Harley Davidson has come to symbolize the ultimate goal of relationship branding with over 1 million members around the world in the Harley Owners Group (HOG).  A new tribute to that brand opened on July 12, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (the home of Harley Davidson) - the Harley Davidson Museum.

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