find interesting.
This past weekend, my wife and I visited Chicago for our last hurrah (aka Babymoon) before we introduce our first child into the world. We were also looking for some final items to add to our nursery, so we visited as many of the great furniture stores available in Chicago– which aren’t available in Indianapolis. While browsing West Elm, I came across this table of trinkets and gadgets and one item caught my eye: Pantone toothbrushes.
Pantone is best known for their inks used by designers and the corresponding ink color books. While I’m not discovering Pantone’s reach outside of color chips for the first time, I was shocked to see them branding toothbrushes. As a side note, typically in branding, it’s important not to stretch your brand outside of what you do well. You can end up damaging your perception by confusing your audience.
However, when you have a dedicated designer following, much like Pantone does, their audience is already aware of what they do well, but is so proud of their products that their willing to shroud themselves, and even their dogs, in anything they produce. So, I started digging and found that Pantone has literally extended their brand into everything from chairs, to clothes, to household paints, to shoes, to mugs — and the list goes on. You can literally cover yourself, your house, your car and even your mouth in Pantone branded products.
Arrested Development’s Tobias Funke couldn’t have said it better than this, “I think I just Blue myself!”
What companies have you “bought” into that have extended their brands into multiple facets of your life?
