Finally. A Newsworthy Brand Extension.

Brands extend into new categories for lots of reasons.?? New awareness.? Strengthened credence with retail chains. A short-term testing strategy for new lines of business.? The royalties make a healthy difference in license agreements.? And for that matter, any meaningful financial return, as a brand’s multi-generational equity enjoys true superiority in a new space.

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Some brands try to extend because they want to strike a chord with younger generations.? Because they want to create new loyalty among Generation Z after enjoying the Baby Boomer cash cow for decades.? We get that.? But it rarely works. ?Brands born fifty years ago are too frequently tied to their core product.? and before anyone knows it, tastes have changed, and new entrants with strong equities are at the forefront new innovation geared toward younger consumers. ?Those entrants don’t need the legacy brands.?

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Then again, sometimes, it really works.? Trademark equities from the mid-20th century reinvent by combining the emotional end-benefit of their consumers’ experience with related innovation already drawing in the masses today.?

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Want proof?? Listen to The Journal, the Wall Street Journal podcast. ? Not once or twice.? But as frequently during the week as you may have once read that multi-section newspaper.? The Journal podcast is the best legacy media brand extension I have ever experienced.

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Here’s why.

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1.???? ?A Mirror Reflection Of The Equity’s Core Product

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The Journal podcast offers that same anticipation I once observed as readers flipped to the Marketplace section of the newspaper over the years.? Each day Marketplace offers the unexpected in print, while avoids irrelevance or non-relatability.? And the podcast delivers likewise.? Twenty minutes of their daily promise: Stories about money, business and power, without being op-eds.? Subjects in recent days as varied as zombie shopping malls; the resonance of It’s A Wonderful Life; the mysterious senior leadership of Shein; donor clashes at Ivy League. ?Real business tools that managers can take as they move through their day.

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2.???? Quality Experience, Embracing Of New Technology

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Without forswearing the benefits that kept WSJ in business over a century, this is no recitation of an article written for yesterday’s paper.? Nope.? The tone is talk radio, the hosts are young yet authentic, guest voices abound.? The background music is original and evokes the urgent demand for topical business journalism.? You get it all in twenty minutes flat.? Plus – like any strong podcast, The Journal does not replace the brand’s legacy product. ?It’s not a Cliff’s Notes of the day’s paper.? Each story is truly performed with passion, rather than read indifferently from a teleprompter.

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3.???? Reinforces The Brand’s Historic Promise

The one story in each Podcast, multiple times weekly, combines human interest, economic trends, and influential leaders – kind of like that front page of the Marketplace section. ?Folded up and dropped at a front door in black and white?? Not at all. ?But the brand’s age-old mission has not been compromised:? “We provide facts, data and information, not assertions or opinions. We believe in full separation between News and Opinion. We pursue exclusive stories, with the goal of breaking all important scoops in our core areas; deep insight and analysis; and actionable intelligence—being the first read and the last word.”? I cannot think of one episode that has ever veered from that brand DNA. The podcast’s journalists can find a thousand ways to veer from the WSJ equity.? For as long as I’ve listened, they never have.

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4.???? The Execution Is Strategic, Goal-Driven and Revenue-Generating

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This author presumes that the Wall Street Journal looks at its average reader – 55-64 – and recognizes a need to embrace younger consumers.? Podcasts secure audiences of 18-54, skewing on the young side.? As for The Journal, it’s the #3 Spotify news podcast in the U.S., and the #6 Apple daily news podcast in the U.S. Those numbers generate meaningful advertising, listener volume and subscription dollars. ?The hypothesis – that this brand extension succeeds in creating a loyal, younger generation while generating nice cash flow or profit – is legitimate.

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So.? Without printing more ink on more paper, without transporting newly printed goods to more homes, a brand steeped in 20th century news distribution, took its emotional end benefit, and applied it to a new context already in our hip pockets.

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Rather than compromising its core product, the podcast complements the current newspaper, drawing in younger listeners with a profitable business model.?

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So many newspaper brands rely on crossword puzzle and Sudoku books, travel accessories, laptop bags, coffee table photography books and monthly calendars.? The four tenets of The Journal’s success as mentioned above don’t come to fruition that way.?

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The Journal podcast is one brand extension we love to hear about.? Keep listening, and Season’s Greetings.