Branding

As we all know, the world of consumer packaged goods is littered with products that just don’t make sense.  The business environment is extremely competitive, and that competitiveness drives brand managers to constantly experiment with new products and innovations.  In many cases, these new products are so misaligned with their brands that consumers are left confused, and often even worse – irritated.  Buzzfeed recently featured a list of some of the most ridiculous (and hilarious) product failures of all time, which is worth a quick read.   Pizza Hut body spray?  Cheetos lip balm?  Yes please!!!

All that said, from time to time you see products that are so well-developed and so well-aligned with their brands that they just seemingly can’t miss.  We recently came across two such products, and of course we wanted to share with you all.  Below are a couple of products that, well, just make sense.

Texas Pete Cha!

We have long been surprised by how few Sriracha products exist on the market.  Sriracha is a Thai condiment that is made from a paste of chili peppers and vinegar, among other things.  It has very recently become one of the most popular condiments in the US, and it’s amazing that no national brands have entered into this market given its size and momentum.  To that end, there is only one dominant brand of Sriracha, which is produced by a little known company named Huy Fong Foods.  That said, Texas Pete, the maker of the #3 hot sauce in the country, is now planning a nationwide launch of its own Sriracha product, “Cha!”

Their entry into the Sriracha market is such a logical brand extension, as they have built a popular niche brand that is closely associated with hot sauces and condiments.  Sriracha is a perfectly reasonable extension for Texas Pete, and will allow them to enter into a cutting edge and growing product category, with precious little competition.  While nothing in life is guaranteed, how can this not work?

Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups

In January 2014 Nestle will be taking Butterfinger into the peanut butter cup world.  While peanut butter cups are a fairly crowded field (dominated by Reese’s, no doubt), we love this brand extension almost as much as the Texas Pete Sriracha (almost).  Butterfinger has built incredibly strong brand equity as a crispy, peanut buttery and chocolaty candy bar.  Seems to be a natural fit to extend this reservoir of brand equity while introducing the loyal Butterfinger fans to a new chocolaty and peanut buttery product, in a category that should be very familiar to them.  Nestle intends to introduce the Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups with a Superbowl ad, and we cant wait to see it (and to try it ourselves).