An Idea A Day

STRATEGY DEVELOP A SEPARATE BRAND FOR EACH MARKET Jim Blythe

BRANDS ARE THE personality of the product. They appeal to a particular segment, and what suits one segment will not suit another. Very few brands are able to cross between segments—people get to like specific brands, and (of course) dislike others.

Sometimes firms will use an overall brand to “wrap” the others—Heinz is a good example—and sometimes firms will use a single brand to cover a wide range of products (as Virgin does, very successfully), but in most cases firms use a separate brand identity for each product-segment match.

Sometimes, though, the product has to function in ...