On Successful Brand Extensions

-Are all cookies yummy?

-Hell yeah!!!

-…and who thinks cookies are healthy?

-…(hesitation)

Well I guess very few can answer positively to the last one. One of the most difficult challenges for the food industry is to change unhealthy product category perceptions. Most companies subtract the “guilty” ingredients from products and offer a “light” version of them. In this manner, no sugar / low fat / no palm oil / … products emerge. Thus, products are healthier… but they are also perceived as far less indulgent (since you take something out of them)! Companies face a difficult trade off, as fixing one problem creates another one.

Cookie manufacturer Violanta, took another direction and instead of subtracting ingredients, they added healthy ones (like oats for example), thus solving the riddle of manufacturing cookies that are perceived both tasty and healthy.

I believe the practice of adding wellness ingredients in order not to compromise taste, has been the spearhead for the success of Violanta cookies during the last few years. Their practices also included clear packaging, the right amount of emphasis on “Greekness”, serious sales development efforts and distinctive merchandising material… but this is another topic.

Concisely, Violanta nailed it with their product development…

When a success with a product comes, management thinks on the next steps… and when it comes to next steps, going after a brand extension is a reasonable option.

Companies often try to “milk” their hero brands creating other product categories that fall under the hero brand umbrella. All of us have personal experiences with brand extensions that are very often unsuccessful. The reason for this is that companies fail in creating new consumer benefits. In such cases, where the new products do not bring enough meaningful value to the consumer, brand extensions feel more like brand stretches.

-How do breakfast cereals taste?

-Usually not great… but if my cereals taste like yummy healthy cookies then they must be tasting great too.

Violanta recently launched a line of breakfast series taking advantage of the strong equity built in their healthy and great tasting cookies. Their breakfast cereals brand extension, does bring a significant value (that of indulgence) in a category which is already established as “good for you” in the consumers’ minds. All cereals are healthy, but not all taste great. Violanta borrow one category’s values to the other, reap the benefits of the halo effect between the two categories, and are ready to cash out while competing in the tough breakfast cereals category.

Do you want to read more on practices I appreciate in the market? Take a moment to visit my blog with thoughts while being in the market. 

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