There is a recent movement by retail brands already well established in certain categories to expand their sales by adding new product categories to the line of products that made them successful. A host of retailers are stretching their brands into uncharted product waters and into new lines of business.

What makes for a successful brand extension?

Did you ever wonder why so many marketers think that the way to succeed with a new product is to add an established brand name to the front of it? Actually, there are some very curious examples of major brands spending millions of dollars researching, testing and rolling out products with massive advertising support that fail miserably. This is because having a brand name added to a new product is not an automatic guarantee for success.

Recently, as part of a branding process, I asked a research partner to poll their staff and get reaction to two words: understated excellence. (as always they did an excellent job)