With a group of six students we explored the opportunities of a brand extension for the brand 'PIXAR', famous by the production of its animation movies. 

 

Approach

First, a brand description is set up. This description contained a short analysis of the brand logo design, the history of the company, its flagship product, the brand identity (Kapferer, 1992), and the design management on strategic, tactical and operational level.

Second, a brief design description for the extension is determined by analysing the current situation of the brand equity, the brand awareness, and the state (and actions) of competitors. Furthermore, the future strategy concerning brand communication and specific brand elements and the strategy implementation were determined.

Then, a brainstorming session is executed, to find a feasible category extension for PIXAR. Three types of extensions were distinguished, namely brand extensions based on (1) Complementarity, (2) Substitutability, and (3) Transferability with Pixar's existing product portfolio. An extension is selected, based on the core values of PIXAR and the found analysis results. 

Finally, an implementation plan, including the expected challenges and strengths of the brand, and the possible branding strategies, is written. 

 

Suggested Extension

After the analysis phase it could be concluded that the best choice for Pixar is to reinvent one of its ordinary product types with state of the art technology. The combination of associations with the familiar product and a cutting-edge technology creates an adventurous brand extension. However, it is not too adventurous, which might deter the target group.

Based on this conclusion, our final suggestion is to design a non-violent, strategic, Augmented Reality board game concept. Characteristic for family board games is that those will be used to encourage adults to participate and stimulate social interactions between the players. The board game will be translated to a virtual three dimensional environment with special effects to compete with common video games. The product includes Pixar characters that act like the storytellers of the game and create a more vivid experience. The Augmented Reality board games, branded as ‘Pixar Virtual Games’, will be compiled into a Pixar Universe, accessible with a Pixar head-mounted display. This suggested extension suits the exploring, adventurous and innovative entities of the brand Pixar. 

 

Performed together with Abel Gerrits, Tjibbe van de Laan, Myrthe Lamme, Qilan Li and Maartje Rouwenhorst

Result: 8