So I return to my blogs pertaining to The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

This week it’s chapter 10, The Law of Extensions.

The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything. Did you know that the beer market used to be pretty simple until Miller launched Miller Lite in the mid-seventies. Up to that point there were three major american breweries; Budweiser, Coors, and Miller High Life. Those three brands have now blossomed into nearly fifteen in roughly 30 years. The CEOs decided to stretch their brands to acquire customers from the competitors. What they didn’t realize was that a Coors customer is much more likely to buy Coors Light than Miller Light, and therefore sales of the original beers has fallen while the light beers has risen. Overall sales didn’t increase though.

One great idea came from Heineken USA when they realized the market was in the light beers. They introduced Amstel Light, which quickly became the leader of imported light beer. Then sheer brilliance hit, and they extended to Amstel Bier and Amstel 1870. Results were no different than the extensions of Bud Light and Miller Light.

What I learned:
Let sleeping brands lie. If the market is moving out from under you, launch a new brand, if not stay where you are and continue building the brand you already have.

_gern

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.