Oreo amplified ice cream. Dyson restyled haircare. Google challenged the smartphone. What do these brands have in common? They seamlessly integrated new products into their existing portfolios without confusing consumers. These “elastic brands” have stretched and expanded their offerings by being nimble, innovative, and customer focused, all while maintaining their core identity and values.

Successful elastic brands research, test, and read the market

In addition to generating incremental revenue and profit, brand stretch innovations can extend your brand’s reach to new consumers – if you know your target audience. For example, extending into new customer segments may involve targeting new demographics by reimagining products as Lego did by developing video games and apps that appeal to adults and gamers.

Other brands look for like-minded attributes to reach new audiences. Dolce & Gabbana teamed up with the home appliance manufacturer Smeg to produce a series of vibrant and colourful toasters, kettles, juicers, and blenders to capitalise on the highly covetable, lucrative, and Insta-famous home interiors market. Designer Issey Miyake and Dyson took cross-collab to the extreme with the vacuum brand designing limited-edition luxury apparel and the Japanese luxury brand creating its own vacuum cleaner.

Authenticity and aligned values are key to believability to stretch into a new category 

Google extended its tech origins in search into hosted emails and smartphones while Nike and Apple forged a natural collaboration on the Apple Watch. Nike also leveraged its reputation for high-quality athletic apparel and footwear into trend-focused tech and casual wear. Successful elastic brands are those that can tap into new and emerging trends quickly – think Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, and Nike, which have all collaborated with Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims. 

You don’t need to be a legacy brand to extend in today’s fast-paced, competitive market where brands and retailers are constantly challenged to adapt and evolve to stay relevant. For example, industries like health and wellness provide opportunities for retailers to expand and merge ecosystems for great brand resilience in our ever-changing world. To capitalise on the rising demand for personalised nutrition and well-being products, Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers has entered the 

healthcare market with purchases of beauty chains and a pharmacy wholesaler and retailer. Wesfarmers has also invested in a digital medical diagnostics business and a telehealth prescription start-up. 

Successful elastic brands are future-focused and agile for evolution and growth 

After years of economic volatility and disruption, brands and retailers have had to navigate headwinds including technological advances and shifting consumer preferences. The thriving brands have a firmly future-focused, agile stretch strategy for evolution and growth. Circana’s comprehensive strategies ultimately drive growth and loyalty by delivering real-time analytics so you can measure and accelerate demand to stretch your brand to success.

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