Would you grab my Crystal Pepsi™ and Xerox™ computer out of my Cadillac Cimarron™?

Every so often – usually at the end of the year when it’s time to sum up the hits and misses in the marketing world – some scribe will come up with his or her entry into the discussion of the most boneheaded marketing moves of the previous 12 months.

Many on those “What were they thinking?” lists are inane line extensions, in which a company borrows from the equity it has strategically built in a brand name to venture into uncharted territory where it sees riches available for the taking.

Such thinking brought us the genius that was Crystal Pepsi, a beverage that was essentially the same as regular Pepsi, but without the trademark caramel color. There was the ever-popular Xerox computer, brought to you by the people who thought, “Heck, they trust us to make copies…why won’t they trust us to create a computer that stores their mission-critical data?” And, who could forget the Cadillac Cimarron, the perfect car for people who wanted to pay for a Cadillac and get a Buick?

But, there’s another category that’s the no-account brother-in-law of the line extension: Dredging up a new benefit in an effort to expand a product’s appeal into a completely new market. Case in point: Guinness as a “diet” beer.

That’s right, Guinness – the molasses-colored beverage that’s not for the faint of heart – is now advertising its relatively low calorie count with billboards that say, “Guinness has only 125 calories. We don’t believe it either. But it’s true.”

(Who knew that you could pound down four or five tankards of Guinness in a sitting and still feel good about your weight management program?)

Seeing Guinness trying to pass off its signature product as a light beer feels a bit like when Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC, to de-emphasize the word “fried” during a time when removing fried foods from one’s diet was touted as the way to go. Essentially, this strategy could be called, “Don’t change the product. Just make it more OK for the discriminating customer to consume.”

It helped KFC ride out the major hubbub over fried foods; they’re even starting to reintroduce the original name on their buckets and other paraphernalia. But, one wonders if this move by Guinness is aimed at its existing customer base – to make certain they keep their current consumption levels in spite of expanding waistlines – or at diet beer drinkers to get them to come over to, if you will, the dark side.

If you’re thinking about introducing a new benefit, consider the following:

• Will it reinforce your relationship with your current customers, or just confuse them? The Guinness image has always been one of sturdy people who enjoy a stout beverage. Promoting its low calorie count might seem to diminish the experience for the current customers.
• Are the growth opportunities meaningful? While Guinness might entice a few brave diet beer drinkers to try its product, can you really see many Coors Light™ aficionados switching to Guinness long-term?
• Will dividing your marketing budget diminish your impact? Every time you go after a new market segment, the budget pie gets cut into smaller pieces.

The message: New claims come with their own risks. Before you rush headlong into breaking out a campaign to push a new benefit, better sit down, have a pint and think about the impact.