The other day as I was surfing the day’s marketing news, I came across an article that defined Virgin’s brand as “elastic.” When I saw this I started thinking about Virgin and the various industries the brand spreads across. An Elastic brand is defined as a brand that can effectively span across multiple markets and product lines without diminishing the overall brand.
It is true that the Virgin Brand has gone in every direction, from records to airplanes and beyond. However, what struck me as interesting about the idea of elasticity is the question of whether a brand is born or can be made an elastic brand. It was this questioning that encouraged me to take a deeper look into successful and unsuccessful examples of elastic brands.
Virgin is a great example of a successful elastic brand and they are great at it because it was built into their brand from the beginning. Virgin has always taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary, allowing it to span from magazines, stores, mobile phone service, airlines etc.
Other companies have not been so successful such as Harley Davidson, who decided to venture into the wine cooler business and were quickly shunned.
When it comes to extended product lines and markets it is important to take a look at what your brand was built on. If you can effectively convey the message of your brand within the product extension, you will be a success story for elastic brands. If you overlook the core message of your brand when extending to new products of markets you are simply trying to sell wine coolers to a group of motorcyclists.
