Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Brand Extensions

When a firm uses an established brand to introduce a new product in a different category or price tier, the resulting offering is called a brand extension. Honda has used its company name to cover such different products as automobiles, motorcycles, snowblowers, lawn mowers, marine engines, and snowmobiles. This suite of products allows the firm to advertise that it can fit “six Hondas in a two-car garage.”

When marketers combine a new brand with an existing brand, the brand extension can also be called a sub-brand, such as Hershey Kisses candy, Adobe Acrobat software, Toyota Camry automobiles, and Courtyard by Marriott hotels. The existing brand that gives birth to a brand extension or sub-brand is the parent brand. If the ...