Searching for competitive advantage with the brand extension process

The main purpose of this article is to present a research study of brand extension with developing an innovative product in a new product category.

A case study is presented by one of the leading Slovenian brands in the market of fast moving consumer goods. More specifically, the paper deals with the market of chicken pariser sausages products and the brand called Poli. Poli is the first chicken pariser sausage on the European market and the best‐selling sausage in its category. The challenge that the Perutnina Ptuj d.d. company faced, as the owner of the abovementioned brand, was how to fully utilize the strength of the Poli brand. The article concentrates on the results of the quantitative research in a sample of n=800 chicken products consumers in Slovenia.

Results show the positive influence of the parent brand on the brand extension to the new product category. With launching a new product brand Poli is entered into a new category, namely the group pate.

The article shows that a combination of steps with the competition analysis, brand analysis, analysis of the purchase decision‐making process and analysis of brand perception represents an efficient tool for the brand extension.