How Jessica Alba is Expanding Her Brand

Since I’ve decided to devote the month of March to shining a spotlight on media as it relates to branding and licensing, the second post in my series honors actress Jessica Alba, who was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2001 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series for Dark Angel. And though it was a while ago, Alba has built upon the foundation of her successful acting career by evolving into entrepreneurship and, now, home renovation.

I’ll admit that I never followed Alba’s career path until she started dipping her toe into the consumer product goods space. I was very impressed by her commitment to the environment and her children’s health, which led her to form her brand, The Honest Company. The health and beauty category is saturated, yet Alba made a strong mark in the field, and her brand is still leading the way in more environmentally focused categories.

Alba already has a very strong brand. But as I’ve said many times, so many celebrities create brand expansions – a marketing strategy that uses a brand name’s recognition to launch an entirely new product in a category where they didn’t previously exist (think Nike, known for their shoes, extending into athletic wear, or Snickers, known for their candy bar, extending into ice cream bars).

No more is this illustrated than with Alba’s Roku show, Honest Renovations. On the show, she and fellow entrepreneur, Lizzy Mathis, stay very much on brand with what The Honest Company stands for, as they have created a home makeover show that pays attention to what goes into the home (or is repurposed), just as Alba’s products focus on what goes into the body or into the environment. I love that they have tips throughout each episode about ways you can be mindful of what you use in your home. Things like repurposing furniture in other parts of your home to reduce landfill waste. In their first episode, they moved a family’s kitchen cabinets to the outdoor kitchen space they created so that new materials did not need to be brought in. They talk about donating to Habitat for Humanity, using low-VOC paints, being mindful of healthy snacks for the kids and how using gas or propane grills gives off less emissions than charcoal grills.

The show also focuses on being a parent and navigating life as a professional caregiver, which still aligns with Alba’s brand, as it’s focused very much on positive parenting. Alba could have gone on to do home renovations without taking her personal brand into consideration, but she has done so seamlessly, extending in a way that many might not think to go.

I’m curious to see what you think of the show or how Alba has found creative ways to expand her brand.

And if you have your own brand and are wondering if it is strong enough to extend or expand, answer 5 questions and get a prediction with an 80% accuracy rate with my LASSO model. Take the assessment at petecanalichio.com/lasso/.