David Taylor 
Brand Stretch 
Why 1 in 2 Extensions Fail, and How to Beat the Odds

Stretching the Brand offers practical and actionable
advice on how to extend successful brands into new areas without
losing sight of the value of the original brand itself. Examples of
brand stretching include Dove soap, which has now been extended to
the shampoo and deodorant markets. This book presents a
single-minded focus on brand stretching that covers topics not
found anywhere else, such as how to launch brand extensions and
support them.

Stretching the Brand will help companies increase
their chances of winning by looking at the lessons learnt from both
successes and failure in brand stretching. It provides the tools
and techniques to stretch a brand successfully.

Table of Content

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1. Brand stretch – or brand ego trip?

Extension advantages.

So why does the success rate suck?

Virgin: The biggest ever brand ego trip?

Shotgun weddings.

Quitting the brand ego trip.

Brand added value.

Dove: Brand added value in action.

The Brand Stretch workout.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 1: Brand Stretch – or brand ego trip?

2. Step One: Strengthen the core.

In shape to stretch?

The heart of a healthy brand.

Anchoring the core range.

Bud and Bud Light: Sun and planets.

Risky business.

Tango: Taking the eye off the orange ball.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 2: Strengthen the core.

3. Step Two: Vision.

GPS for brands 30

The masterbrand challenges.

Less myopic marketing.

Blockbuster: Out of the video box.

Climbing the brand ladder.

Pampers: From bottoms to babies.

Axe: Ladders and snakes.

Elastic brands.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 3: Vision.

4. Step Three: Ideas.

Start close to home.

Moving out.

Innovation shortcuts.

The fairytale world of innovation.

Starbucks’ Frappuccino: Real world innovation.

Innokill survival kit.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 4: Ideas.

5. Step Four: Focus.

Meet the seven dwarves.

Heroes or zeroes?

Bertolli: Virtual venture capital.

Dimension one: Brand vision building.

Dimension two: Show me the money.

The easy Group story: Murder on the balance sheet.

easy Group summary.

Alternatives to going it alone.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 5: Focus.

6. Step Five: Delivery.

Underestimating execution.

Nescafé Hot When You Want: Not so hot execution.

Brand damage.

Brand and deliver.

The Apple i Pod: White hot execution.

Delivering the promise.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 6: Delivery.

7. Step Six: Brand architecture.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Architecture for brands.

Houses versus streets.

Mono-platform brands.

Multi-platform brands.

Lego: Building blocks of a new future.

When the rubber hits the road.

Comfort: Designing a turnaround.

Let’s go round again.

Key takeouts.

Checklist 7: Brand architecture.

Appendix 1: Masterbrand positioning tips and tricks.

Appendix 2: Example masterbrand positioning tool.

Appendix 3: Masterbrand positioning tool template.

References.

Index.

About the author

David Taylor is Founder and Managing Partner of the
brandgym, a consultancy helping teams develop action-oriented
brand strategies. He has worked with many highly acclaimed and
well-respected companies such as Unilever, SAB Miller, Danone,
Cadburys and Blockbuster to help them boost brand and business
performance. He was recently named by the CIM as one of the 50
leading marketing thinkers of today.

He began his career in brand management with Procter & Gamble
and Sara Lee before completing an MBA at INSEAD, France. He then
started and successfully grew the Paris office of Added Value,
Europe’s leading marketing consultancy.

His first book, ‘the brandgym: A practical workout for boosting
brand and business’ was published in 2002 and quickly
became Amazon UK’s best selling branding title. He has also
written many articles for Marketing, Brand Strategy, Marketing
Business and Market Leader, and is a regular speaker at branding
conferences.