Using Product Brands to Brand Retail Stores

Some companies have used product brand names to extend to branding retail stores. Some have used retail store brands to sell a product in a different store.

There are three types of brand extensions that move from stores to products or products to stores:

• Restaurant Products Extended to Supermarkets

• Manufacturers Branded Products to the same Brand Retail Stores

• Product Brands Leveraging Expertise in Branding Retail Stores

Some brands move from a service such as a restaurant to sell their products in retail such as Lawry’s Seasoned Salt which started in Lawry’s restaurants and moved to supermarkets.

Chains once feared that offering their food in supermarkets would keep consumers away from the restaurants. But today, restaurant food brands are increasingly finding a great deal of success offering some of their products at retail supermarkets. Marie Callender’s started as a restaurant but their pies and frozen meals can be found in most major grocery store chains. Dunkin’ Donuts’ and Starbucks both sell coffee in the same retail space.

Some other prominent brand extension examples are Cinnabon Air Wick, Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll fragrance and Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll K-Cup packs for Keurig brewers. Cinnabon “owns” the flavor cinnamon so it is logical to brand cinnamon flavored products sold at retail with the Cinnabon brand name.

Taco Bell sells its hot sauce and taco kit in supermarkets. Other restaurant grocery items include frozen meals from Boston Market, California Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang’s and TGI Friday’s.

Manufactures’ retail stores are another type of brand extension. Some companies that make products own or license franchise stores that sell those companies’ products such as Goodyear Tire Stores. Because tires need installation, having factory licensed stores makes sense. Chevrolet and other car manufacturers have independent branded car dealers to sell and service their car. Apple has its own stores to sell its products.

A third type of product brand to retail is rare but possibly a future trend. Some companies take their brand of product and use it branding a retail store NOT selling their product! These are the most unusual brand extensions extending the equity and awareness in the product to a commodity retail category. For example, most car washes and dry cleaners are small family businesses branded with some generic or family name. Proctor and Gamble made the decision to license their well-known brand names leveraging their perceived expertise in cleaning.

Mr. Clean

P&G’s initial effort was extending the Mr. Clean brand into car washing kits for home use. After launching this simple product, P&G began extending the Mr. Clean brand to professional car washes.

Tide

Similarly, the Tide brand was franchised as a licensed brand for dry cleaners. Changing their definition of “What business they are in” (detergent business for cleaning and care of clothes) led to the extension. As the brand leader in a mature category (washing machine detergent), the only way to grow the brand’s business is through brand extensions outside the laundry room.