What if coincidence builds a Brand?
Brand extensions and their conditions
Sometimes, a Brand extension doesn’t start with a masterplan, but with coincidence. A failed glue formula. A soap that suddenly floats. A brand that ends up in a different product category by chance and unexpectedly thrives.
What all these examples have in common? Not the coincidence itself, but the strategic ability to recognise it, harness it and anchor it within the brand story.
A Brand extension is the use of an existing brand – or the CoreBrand – for a new product or service, regardless of whether it belongs to the same or a different product category. You can distinguish between different types of brand extensions:
- Line extension: the brand is applied to a variant within the same product category, such as Coca-Cola Zero alongside the classic Coca-Cola.
- Category extension: the brand expands into a completely different product category, such as Michelin, which alongside car tyres also publishes restaurant guides.
- Functional extensions: the existing brand is used in a new context or function. For example, Arm & Hammer originally produced baking soda. When consumers discovered it also neutralised odours, the brand expanded into deodorant and toothpaste – applications that were not initially planned but perfectly matched their brand value of natural purity.
With each of these forms, it remains important that the core values of the brand remain recognisable and align logically with the extension. Read more about the evolution of core values here.
Take the Post-it by 3M. What began as a failed attempt at a strong adhesive ended up as a smart solution for office notes that can easily be moved around. A colleague who sang in the church choir happened to use the weak glue as a bookmark – and the rest is history. 3M saw the potential, positioned the product as smart innovation and gave it a standalone brand name. Although Post-it is presented as an independent brand, 3M remains subtly present as an endorser – visible on packaging and communication as a guarantee of quality.
The same goes for Ivory soap by Procter & Gamble. The soap began to float – allegedly due to a manufacturing error – and that quickly became a unique advantage. Years later, internal notes revealed the floating effect had in fact been deliberately pursued. The anecdote stuck. Because whether the coincidence was real or not, the brand value was authentic: a product that literally rises to the top.
Arm & Hammer went even further. Originally a baking soda producer, consumers discovered it could also neutralise bad smells. The brand expanded into toothpaste, cat litter and even deodorant – always based on that same brand value: natural purity. Here, coincidence led to a consistent and scalable brand extension.
A great example in this context is Daikin. The brand faced a strategic dilemma: should the name Daikin remain exclusively linked to air conditioning, or could it also be applied to other innovative solutions such as heating? The question became even more urgent when sub-brand Altherma grew into a strong, nearly independent brand in Europe, causing brand confusion.
Remarkable conducted a strategic audit and brought together various stakeholders. The outcome? The brand mission was broadened from ‘air conditioning’ to the wider concept of ‘climate management’. This allowed Altherma and future innovations to be integrated within a coherent brand architecture — without undermining the parent brand. This case demonstrates that brand extensions can also arise from acquisitions or scaling, and highlights the importance of strategically anchoring such growth.