Brand Extension Analysis

“Does this brand extension fit well with our brand?”

A Brand Extension is a leap of faith for any brand. On the one hand, it’s filled with chances en potential for further growth in new markets. On the other hand, a misstep might irreparably damage a brand’s image. This danger is especially dire when the brand forks off in an area with which it shares little associative linkage.

It’s no secret that successful Brand Extensions share associations with the mother brand (Jap, 1993). The Brand Extension Analysis quantifies the unconscious component of these associations, thus providing profound predictive power whether a potential brand extension strengthens or weakens the current brand identity.

Scale: Large
Purpose: Decision aid
Area: Marketing

Research Set-up

In order to be successful, a brand extension needs to fit like a glove. Not only on the level of the actual product category, but on the underlying brand identity as well. The research trajectory within a Brand Extension Analysis therefore aims to disentangle two distinct types of associations:

Product associations: does the brand’s current product category (e.g., hearty snacks) have a high associative fit with the new product category (e.g., soft drink)
Identity associations: do identity associations with the new product category fit will with the current brand identity?

To answer the first question, we perform a categorical association test. This procedure measures the degree with which two or more product categories match the same parent category or usage situation. Subsequently, we explore whether or not the new product category fits well with the desired brand identity.

What's next?

The results of the Brand Extension Analysis offer an impression of the chances a Brand Extension will succeed in the marketplace without taking a bite out of current brand value.

The analysis should be regarded a strategic tool to assess the viability of a side step in new product territory. It is meant to enrich – not replace – current tools and research methods that serve the same purpose.