A Good Time to Split Your Brand

I have a friend who’s done some writing work for a company that makes brass bars, poles and fittings. I’m keeping everybody anonymous, just to be on the safe side.

I guess this company’s core business was selling poles and railings to strip bars (insert polishing joke here). They were doing all right, but had recently expanded into a new market sector. They were convinced they could just keep one website, and sell to both markets from the same place online.

My friend lobbied really hard for the fact that they needed to launch a second brand and website to accommodate the new market. I was shocked at how much persuading the brass company executives needed. You’ve probably guessed what the second market was…

Brass fittings and railings for church pews.

There is an obvious lesson about branding here. But the real lesson might be about how it’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re too close to your products.