POSITIONING FIT AND CATEGORY FIT DURING BRAND

Brand extensions are a popular method adopted by marketers and brand custodians toenhance and augment brand equity and there have been numerous studies undertakento determine the factors that play a role during this brand-building process. Most ofthese have highlighted the importance of category fit.The purpose of this Research Report has been to examine both category fit andpositioning fit during brand extensions and determine the relative importance ofpositioning fit. The Delphi Technique was selected as the methodology for this pieceof research. The panel selected included a broad range of marketers, strategists andconsultants including Rae McGraw (Marketing Director, Dulux), Derek Carstens(Brand Director, FirstRand), Siyabonga Khuzwao (Brand Manager, Unilever), MikePerry (Founder, Perry & Associates) and Sarah Mathems (Managing Director,Original Insight Learning).The initial findings of this research indicate that current marketer thinking does notassign a critical role to positioning fit during the process of brand extensions.However, later stages of the research and subsequent analysis indicate that positioningfit certainly plays a role and should be one of the factors considered when undertakingbrand extensions.