A final critical consideration is the parent company’s long-term mission for the brand. Given the costs highlighted in the article, it is more necessary than ever to extend only those products that will advance the brand in the appropriate strategic direction. Consider the experience of a major materials company, which had a branded home-improvement product with line-extension opportunities in several markets, including do-it-yourself, retail, wholesale, and institutional markets. Only when the company identified the brand’s equity and focused its efforts did the marketing department have the direction it needed to plan strategic product-line extensions.