Riding the bourbon wave, Jim Beam Distillery has partnered with White Coffee to get a bit of bourbon into your morning cup of coffee. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), American whiskey captivated U.S. consumers with revenues up 7.7 percent to $3.1 billion in sales.
White Coffee has joined the movement by partnering with Jim Beam®, the No. 1 selling bourbon in the world, to present a line of non-alcoholic coffees including original bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon stick, signature dark roast and spiced honey. The packaging states, “Contains less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.” The product line includes single serve (K-cup) and 12 oz. ground coffees.
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White Coffee says the coffee line is, “Elegant, smooth and refined in character, Jim Beam’s rich flavor offers mellow hints of caramel and vanilla. Imagine the taste of “America’s Native Spirit” infused into the finest 100% Arabica coffee: a sweet, mild, flavorful coffee that delivers pleasure with every sip.”
Is a Line Extension Right for Your Brand?
According to a story from Adweek and research firm Parham | Santana a successful brand extension requires, “three pillars—fit, leverage and opportunity.” Research associate Edward M. Tauber, Ph.D., elaborates: “The brand should be a logical fit with the parent brand; the parent should give the extension an edge in the new category; and the extension should have the potential to generate significant sales.”
Beam Suntory believes they have a met these three pillars and the potential to generate significant sales with their new Jim Beam branded line of bourbon flavored coffees. The Jim Beam Coffee varieties will be available online and at retail outlets nationwide later this spring.
Brand Extension Winners and Losers
We’ve all seen brand extensions. Some make perfect sense and you wonder why no one that of it sooner, others make you scratch your head and wonder what the heck were they thinking. I’m sure you can come up with your own list of brand extension winners and losers. Here are a few examples, the first selection is one of my personal favorites.
Winner – Buffalo Trace Distillery takes a portion (a very small portion given their volume) of their spent distillers grain and converts it to Buffalo Trace Biscuit Mix and Buffalo Trace Pancake Mix. It’s available in the distillery gift shop for fans that make the pilgrimage to the distillery.
Winner – Adweek readers chose Orville Redenbacher Ready-to-Eat Popcorn as their No. 4 Winner.
Loser – Adweek readers were not so keen on “Zippo The Woman Perfume.” After all, who really wants to smell light lighter fluid.
Considering a brand extension of your own?
Check out this Slideshare presentation from the American Marketing Association.
