Ballerina is Sweden’s biggest brand within biscuits. Over 90 % of Sweden’s population knows what Ballerina is. That is cool! How many marketers are privileged to work with such big brand? Right now, I am one of them!But that is not the reason why I write today. I will write and tell you about our big launch this week, McFlurry Ballerina Kladdkaka. We have taken the step into the ice-cream category, again. We have actually been there once before when we launched a sandwich-like Ballerina ice-cream for some years ago, but this is something different! We have developed small cookie-crunches and a delicious chocolate sauce to swirl into and on top of the soft ice-cream to get the perfect taste of Ballerina Kladdkaka. It taste so good, you must try it!
The first responses we have got are really good, the consumers love it. McFlurry Ballerina Kladdkaka will be sold the whole summer at McDonalds and I personally think is going to be a summer favourite. Of course, the weather is going to affect consumers’ hunger for ice-cream, but we all are longing for a sunny summer so lets cross our fingers.
The reason why I tell you this is not to promote McFlurry Ballerina Kladdkaka (of course, I will not be sad if you try it ;)). It is the fascinating part of how much a brand can be stretched, both within the same category but also into new areas. Biscuits and ice-cream are categories that are not far apart but how long can a brand be stretched without loosing its core and spoil its brand value?
To more well-known a brand is the easier to stretch it. For example, car-brands are selling clothes, chocolate-brands are selling nuts, bread-brand are selling cereals or when clothing-brands are selling glasses – is it too much? Most often it is not, but we as marketers must be aware. If we stretch a brand too long consumers will forget what the brand is famous for in the first place and it will loose status. However, Ballerina is such a strong brand and who knows, maybe you will se it in another category ahead….