They Might Be On To Something

I’ve read a number of books that reference the perils of line extensions. That’s basically where a company decides it needs to grow by marketing something new. It’s usually talked about like it’s a bad idea. If a company has actually succeeded in perpetuating a strong brand with some level of commercial success, extensions can be dangerous because they risk diluting the meaning of what a brand means to people that have accepted a predetermined position. Does anyone remember the McDonalds pizzas? Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Then there are those that are able to pull it off. That generally happens when someone understands their core enough to expand while staying on track. In retrospect, it almost always seems like an obvious card to have played. I was excited, even in awe, of the recently released They Might Be Giants CD: Here Comes Science. Now these guys figured it out. They’re selling kids music, and they’ve been doing it for a long time. It didn’t just start in 2005 when they released their CD/DVD set Here Comes the ABCs. In fact, I remember seeing them perform a song about the sun on Conan O’Brien back in 1993. It came as no surprise to me that “Why Does the Sun Shine?” made a reappearance on Here Comes Science track #9, although it is a bit more punked out (for the kids of course). So while they were showing up on MTV as far back as 1986 (Don’t Let’s Start), they’ve always sort of seemed like big kids to me. It seems then that shifting the product to the kids was an obvious move; a perfect brand extension. Aside from at least four kids albums that I know of, they’ve also got a book or two and have shown up as cartoons on Disney. (As an aside, a documentary on the duo is worth checking out: Gigantic)

One principle behind successful brand extensions is doing something you’re passionate about. I don’t know which of TMBG’s markets has been most lucrative, but their work largely meshes together under the banner of doing what they love to do and what comes naturally. Maybe it’s more odd that they started selling music to adults in the first place.

Generally speaking, people can accept things that seem to make sense based on their past experiences. My guess is that the kids album from Nine Inch Nails hasn’t done nearly as well.