So you have a core product, a source of authority and profit for your brand. And there are NEED STATES and CONSUMPTION OCCASIONS that need new products to tap into.

A good start point is to map BARRIERS TO TRIAL among ‘Aware Non Trialists’ for your core product.

An example.

In 2015, ODOMOS CREAM, a mono product legacy brand stood for protection from mosquitoes.

A. Quantitative research on these CORE CREAM Non users revealed:

• Product STICKINESS barrier. Mothers found the cream sticky.
• Product MESSINESS barrier. Mothers found the application messy.

This led to the launch of:

• GELS variant with Non sticky and Cooling sensorials
• LOTIONS variant with Non sticky and Easy Spreadability Benefits.
• SPRAY packaging format for Non Messy application.

B. BRAND and PACKAGING ARCHITECTURE- CONSIDERATIONS.

You could employ DESCRIPTORS, OWNABLE DESCRIPTORS, SUB BRANDS, ENDORSED BRANDS or NEW BRANDS while considering BRANDING ARCHITECTURE.

This choice is driven by considering FUNCTIONAL and EMOTIONAL stretch of the new product from the core product. For low stretch on both dimensions, DESCRIPTORS are sufficent.

So in our case, Product descriptors like GEL, LOTION, SPRAY were employed due to similar Mosquito repel performance across the formats- LOW FUNCTIONAL STRETCH and similar PERSONALITY of Users.

Price premium, younger TG, Male vs Female TG, mean Higher Emotional stretch and generally need the use of a Sub brand.

More on- use of SUB BRANDS and NEW BRANDS- in another post due to a character limit here.

C. PACK GRAPHICS considerations.
We need to ensure a BALANCE between CONSISTENCY AND NAVIGATION in the range. The Range needs to look like a family with unifying elements- CONSISTENCY and also clarify what each product stands for- NAVIGATION.

• So the Odomos brand name, it’s font, colour, consistent placement in top half of pack; Boy girl in the outdoors visual device; Clinical Proven & Safe Claim, was CONSISTENTLY executed across the range.
• The DESCRIPTOR Branding clarified the role of each product.

To see the Range –

D. PRICING and PROFITABILITY considerations.
A lot of users will shift from the core CREAM Product to these New products hence their PRICING and PROFITABILITY needs to be higher than the core product.

To summarise, Line extensions drive PENETRATION and PREMIUMISATION by recruiting new users with new sets of Needs and/or Occasions and higher profitability as well. We also need to ensure BRANDING that clarifies the role of each new product, while ensuring key PACKAGING equities are retained and consistently executed across the Range.

#branding #pricing #packaging #marketing #profitability

By Ajay Motwani – (Marketing and Brand Management consultant with IndusGuru Network Partners – a curated platform of independent management consultants)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of IndusGuru Network Partners