Brand Extension Packaging
New Complementary Brand Extension? Here’s How to Package it to Win with Your Loyal Fans
Highlights of this article:
The Four Fundamental Factors of Success
1 - A Clear Connection to the Brand
2 - Clear Differentiation from Other SKUs
3 - Riding the Brand Reputation
Are you contemplating adding a new product to your lineup that's complementary to your existing SKUs? Great idea!
Brand extensions can be an excellent way to broaden your brand presence and expand your brand equity.
Types of Brand Extensions
Among the different types of brand extensions, complementary extensions may be the most effective in expanding your presence and increasing sales. Unlike line extensions—such as a new flavour or fragrance—complementary extensions take the brand into an entirely new category, and therefore are more likely to result in expanded sales, rather than simply giving existing users a wider range of choice in a purchase they may have been planning to make anyway.
A complementary extension means creating a product that adds to your existing product line by providing additional benefits to the user. Typically, it's a product the consumer will use in conjunction with, or after use of, the primary product.
Often, this type of brand extension is a natural continuation of your brand's promise to its consumers. Your brand is known and trusted as a solution to a particular problem, and your consumers may be excited to see “the next step” in that process.
For instance, let's say your brand is known as the go-to OTC medication for acne. Your consumers love your brand for consistently restoring their smooth skin. Now they want to see products that carry through on that, by cleansing and moisturizing their skin to keep them feeling confident. And because they trust your brand, they would love to see the whole picture of skincare that your brand can provide.
Advantages and Risks
Your brand has earned the trust of its loyal fans. That’s why they come back. That’s why you continue to see repeat sales. That’s why they tell their friends and family to try it.
In fact, just about every brand has this kind of followers—consumers who see and truly embrace the character and values of the brand.
We call that your brand community.
Having such a community of dedicated fans creates an opportunity to expand, to branch out from the place where the brand started.
The thing to keep in mind is that there are many advantages to brand extensions, but they also come with risks.
Among the benefits: an extension can enhance the reputation of the brand; it can win new consumers; it can help your brand get more facings and therefore more presence at retail; and it can ultimately lead to an increase in sales.
However, you should consider a brand extension with caution. Remember that your brand community feels that your brand is their brand—which is a good thing. But it also means that you can't take the brand in a direction that seems foreign to them.
The purpose of a brand extension is to use the loyalty of your fans to springboard into new territory—so, make sure you don't leave the fans behind, wondering where you're going with a brand they thought they knew and trusted to remain consistent with its original character.
As Packaging Digest states, “Marketers should never forget that while there are some real advantages to considering a line extension, it comes with risks. Getting the package design right is a big part of avoiding those potential negatives.”
The Four Fundamental Factors of Success
To illustrate the factors that ensure success in your brand extension packaging design, we’ll use two brand extension projects we completed here at brandigital on behalf of our client, Columbia Laboratories.
1 - A Clear Connection to the Brand
Connection to the core brand is the first and most important principle of a brand extension. The point is to take advantage of brand equity by attaching some of that value to the new SKU. So, make sure your customers clearly make the connection.
In this example, the brand is Benzagel® a known and trusted brand for acne treatment, whose core products feature benzoyl peroxide, a proven, effective medicinal ingredient.
Our client knew that fans of the OTC product line were interested in an after-care moisturizing lotion that would soothe the sometimes-harsh effects of the acne treatment.
We were given the opportunity to treat the new packaging assignment as a brand refresh, that would still maintain the family look & feel.
Our first priority was to ensure that the design prominently carried the brand wordmark and icon, so it would jump out to regular consumers on store shelves.
At the same time, we made the package brighter & fresher, sporting the two colours of the core OTC products, while adding a bright orange element for differentiation.
The waves of colour across the bottom of the box picked up on the curves of the waving hair in the dual silhouettes of the brand icon, adding a feeling of freshness and fun.
Having a box for the outer package allowed us to keep detailed elements like the comprehensive ingredients list and the UPC code on the box itself. The side and back panels of the box also contained marketing copy to help persuade curious shoppers of the product benefits. Once removed from the box, the dispenser bottle could then present a friendly, uncluttered look on the user’s bathroom counter.
2 - Clear Differentiation from Other SKUs
You want your community to welcome the brand extension, so it’s important to make sure they recognize it.
When you set out to produce a successful brand extension, what you don't want to do is confuse consumers or dilute the brand.
Too often a brand extension is dropped into the same design format as the other products in the line, without clear differentiation between subcategories. This can result in upsetting long-term customers who inadvertently pick up the wrong product and don’t realize their mistake until they open and start using it at home. Instead of a delighted new user of your brand extension, you could end up with a disappointed former fan!
With the Benzagel lotion, we underlined its purpose in the line-up by clearly stating it in the product name, right under the brand logo: Benzagel® After Care Moisturizing Lotion.
In this brand extension, we continued the practice of colour coding sub-categories within the brand: hot pink for acne gel, blue for acne wash, orange for the new lotion, and pale green for the soon-to-be added facial cleanser.
With this differentiation strategy, it’s clearly a companion product that works alongside the core brand.
3 - Riding the Brand Reputation
Once you’ve beautifully packaged your brand extension, you’ll want to introduce it as a new player on your roster.
So, what position is it playing?
The positioning of the new product is a consideration you need to be already thinking about before you even start writing the creative brief. You should be asking yourself how the new product will look when it’s released to the world, and you start promoting it.
The design brief for the new Benzagel moisturizer indicated that it would complete the 1-2-3 regimen for Benzagel users: 1) acne wash, 2) acne spot treatment gel, and 3) after care moisturizing lotion. When presenting our design concepts, we showed our options in this context, so that when the product was launched it fit naturally into place beside the core products.
As stated above, the point of adding a brand extension is to use the loyalty of your fans to springboard into new territory. So, it makes sense to ensure the package design works effectively within your brand advertising and social media communications.
4 - Projecting Excitement
The launch of your new product should be something that creates a buzz among your community of brand fans.
Packaging is the brand’s most powerful consumer touch point. It should be engaging, persuasive, and appealing.
This is especially true in the luxury or high-end facial care category.
Consumers may love and trust your brand, but they expect a more elegant look and feel when your product competes in a higher-end category.
This was the challenge when our client came to us to design packaging for yet another brand extension, this time in the competitive facial care field.
The new product featured a high-end, high-quality formulation, intended to compete with luxury brands. It therefore needed a high-end elegant presentation, both on shelf and on the consumer’s counter at home.
To begin with, we wanted the name of the product to clearly spell out the promise of benefit.
Our client agreed with the recommended name, Benzagel® Gentle Hydrating Foaming Cleanser and, to underline the unique high quality ingredient story, we added the subtitle on both the box and bottle, “With Betaine, Neem Leaf Extract and Vitamin B3”
We used an even bolder approach to the well-recognized dual silhouette brand icon that illustrates long hair billowing out from the male and female profiles: we made it so large that it would flow across two facings of the box (and half the circumference of the dispenser bottle).
We then developed simple but elegant icons to highlight the skincare benefits of the unique high-end ingredients
Subtle use of varnish on the key elements of the box design enhanced the look of distinction on store shelves, where the product competes with comparable offerings from international major brands like Vichy, CeraVe, Cetaphil, and La Roche-Posay.
The tall and slender bottle itself carries the look of stylish elegance to the bathroom counter. This location, too, is a battleground for attention and customer loyalty. Very often, the product that wins a proud place in the cabinet or on the counter is the one that wins repeat sales!
Finally, another good reason to build excitement around the appearance of your product is to take advantage of community ambassadors and social media influencers. People with followers on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest and other platforms love to show exciting and attractive products to their extended communities.
The package is your star performer. It deserves the time and attention to make it shine!
Are you planning (or starting to think about) a complementary brand extension?
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(Poll closes on July 24, 2025)
Sources referenced in this article:
Brand extension strategies to propel your brand forward - Qualtrics
Package Design Can Make or Break a Line Extension – Packaging Digest