• Healthcare
  • Wellbeing
  • health
  • marketing
  • communications
  • brand
  • extending brands
  • wellness

Leveraging brand equity: Considerations for extending brands in the health and wellness sector

With the UK consumer healthcare market valued at around 4.16 billion and forecast to grow steadily through to 2030 what do brand managers need to do to quickly and seamlessly capitalise on this growth?

With a myriad of brand, regulatory and production hurdles to overcome it can be a headache for teams at the start of this journey. 

We explore some of the key questions you need to ask yourself when extending your product lines and where some of your efforts are best placed.

How well do you know your audience?   Conduct deep market research to understand your target audience’s needs and preferences. Never ignore the value of qualitative research and hone that bullseye target persona. ALL Creative have just launched a new initiative to support Brand Managers through this insights process – read more here.

Are you staying true to your brand?   Ensure your new products align seamlessly with your brand’s values for trust and consistency. Remember that a successful brand extension should leverage the existing brand equity while also addressing the unique needs and preferences of your target audience. 

Is your proposition relevant and differentiated?   Identify unmet needs in the market and offer innovative solutions to set your brand apart. It could be a novel ingredient, a unique formulation, or a different delivery method that sparks the consumer interest. 

How well do you know the regulatory landscape?   Key to any extension will lie in your knowledge of the regulatory framework and the ramifications for your product story. Early conversations with the EMA or MHRA will give you a solid foundation to build on your product innovation. 

Will consumers trust your product?   Invest in rigorous testing and transparency to meet the highest health and safety standards. Consumers are increasingly more critical and expect transparency when it comes to ingredients, sourcing and manufacturing. Don’t overlook that one critical trial that will award you the gold standard. 

How clearly and concisely can you land that benefit?   This final point is something close to our hearts at ALL Creative as we believe in clear and direct communication is key to the success of any brand extension. Land that unique benefit in as few words as possible and highlight how it addresses that customer need that you identified in the research – bring it back full circle.

We navigated each of the points above on a recent project with Perrigo. We took the no.1 trusted pharmacy sleep-aid in Nytol and extended its reach into a new space of stress and relaxation through the creation of Nytease. During the research process a new consumer need for day time stress release was identified and through rigorous consumer testing, regulatory discussions and design interrogation and development a new product line was realised.  Read the full case study here. 

If you’re at any stage of your brand extension journey we can help you cut through the complexities with a clear and simple strategic plan to follow and execute with confidence – chat with us today. 

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