Pitch Magazine

I was interviewed recently for 'Pitch' an online marketing magazine (which ironically, I don't think I get a subscription to). It was about brand extensions. I don't know the whole thrust of the piece, but if I manage to get access to it, I can post it. Anyway, as there is little chance of me finding it, let alone saving it, here is my little section. I was talking about having no problem with Dove extending to a male audience, if it was done correctly, but having more issues with Weetabix, a staple British breakfast cereal, doing a chocolate version.

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“Dove stands for inner and real beauty in all sorts of people. Why shouldn’t that extend to certain segments of a male target?” he (ie me) says."How Dove express that thought may need some thinking about, but the thought itself is valid and seems to build out the brand equity"


In contrast, he is far less convinced about Chocolate Weetabix. “Sometimes you can see brand extensions undercutting a brand. Weetabix is a healthy, simple, fortifying breakfast. The addition of chocolate doesn’t build that equity, it detracts from it.

The only way to really make it work would be to think again what the overall brand stands for. For example, if Weetabix was about 'healthy fortification' the introduction of chocolate starts to push the overall Weetabix brand to a more 'fortification can be fun' place. So the extension re-defines the parent brand."

"It's like the kids redefining the parents!"