Brand Extension Research: Clorox Case Study

Creating a Brand Plan

We provided a brand plan advocating the household sanitizer/cleaner product be introduced first. It had the broadest appeal and helped customers adjust to Clorox moving out of the laundry room. Then the other products like toilet bowl cleaner would be more acceptable and expected by consumers. One of the surprises for the company was that their main competitor was not going to be other laundry products companies, but Lysol. While Lysol then “owned” the benefit of disinfecting, it was not thought of as a strong cleaner. Also, consumers didn’t know how Lysol disinfects. This offered the opportunity for a Clorox sanitizer cleaner to position itself as a stronger version because of the ingredient of bleach.

1. From a brand perspective, what was the brand image or central meaning of Clorox? In other words, what did customers associate with Clorox in terms of “performance” attributes/benefits or “imagery” attributes/benefits? How was the Clorox family brand able to provide points of difference over other brands in the natural household cleaners market?

2. Discuss the Green Works brand architecture. What type of brand is this (i.e., house of brands, branded house, sub-brand, endorser brand)? What role does Clorox play? Greenworks?