• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Then there are the examples of successful brand extensions that encourage other brands to follow suit. Of these, Virgin is the most obvious. ‘Brands are built around reputation, not products,’ says Richard Branson. Yet even Virgin has proved considerably more successful in some categories than others. Virgin Cola, for instance, proved a complete flop. Furthermore, Virgin has built its reputation as the consumer’s champion, entering significantly different markets (bridal wear and pensions, for example) without diluting its identity. The consumers’ perception of Virgin is also unified by the charismatic figure of Richard Branson himself. Think Virgin, and it’s not too long before you think of Branson. So while the Virgin product and service offerings broaden year by year, the brand identity remains coherent.

Most other brands, however, do not have such versatility. For instance, Volvo has built up its reputation around the notion of ‘safety’. If it was suddenly to launch a car without airbags, it would contradict its established brand identity.

And yet, despite the danger involved, brand extensions are everywhere. Nine out of 10 new grocery products are line extensions. Think also of the beer market. US beer drinkers 25 years ago had a choice of three major brands – Miller, Coors and Budweiser. Today there are over 30 varieties of these same brands, yet the number of beer drinkers remains roughly the same.

Having said that, most of the brands which boast successful extensions have moved into related categories. Coca-Cola had a global hit when it launched Diet Coke. It was less successful however when it introduced its own range of clothing. Gillette is often celebrated as a great ‘how to’ model for brand extension. It moved smoothly from selling razors to selling shaving cream. With such compatible products the success of one product feeds the success of the other, and the brand as a whole feels the benefit.

Often however, extensions have been made by companies with no apparent understanding of what their brand is about. Many believe they can have their cake and eat it, that having built a strong brand perception based around one product category, they can transfer it to unrelated products and increase sales on the back of the same brand name. Other companies that may have a better understanding of their brand identity may still weaken their brand assets by launching products so similar that they cannibalize their original market. As the examples over the next few pages serve to illustrate, both approaches result in failure.

20 Harley Davidson perfume

The sweet smell of failure

In various magazines, at various conferences, and in his online newsletter, Saatchi and Saatchi’s worldwide chief executive officer, Kevin Roberts, has talked of the ‘mythology of the brand’. The most powerful brands, according to Roberts, are those that have built their own mythology, or rather, that have helped their loyal customers to build this mythology. The one brand with perhaps more mythology attached to it than any other is, without doubt, Harley Davidson.

Courage. ‘You can call it character’ began the company’s 2009 annual report. ‘You can call it determination. Or you can just call it guts. But courage changes everything. Ask any rider. It’s the stuff that gives you the confidence to power forward, seize the road and live your dream. And it’s at the heart of every hard decision. 2009 was a year that called on Harley Davidson to focus our direction, move boldly and do the right things to fuel our future. After all, there’s a reason we’ve been around 107 years. We know what it takes to succeed.’

Harley Davidson owners aren’t just loyal. They love the brand. They do not care that the motorcycles they ride are not the best in terms of technology or that they may be prone to the occasional oil leakage. What matters is the biker myth – the freedom of the open road, and all its macho connotations.

This myth is vividly conjured up in the book Hell’s Angel: