PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATORS AND BRAND EXTENSION

Brand is a name ,term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from competitors     (Kotler :1995) .But I am more interested in brand extension. Brand extension is a marketing strategy of attaching an existing name to a new product, service, organization based on the success of an old name.

Most Pension Fund Administrators in the country are the product of brand extension, and according to Adrika et al (1997:130) “brand extension strategy is an effort to use a successful brand name to launch new or modified products or line” Trustfund pensions plc is a product of brand extension. Section 42 subsection 1 of the Pension Reform Act 2004 states that “the NSITF shall establish a company to undertake the business of pension fund administration in accordance with the act and in section 42 subsection 2, “it states that the fund contributed by any person before the commencement of the act together with any attribute income thereof not reserved for the purpose of administering maximum pensions as determined by the commission shall be computed and credited into the respective retirement savings account to be open by NSITF for each contributor or beneficiary of the contributor made under the NSITF of 1993”

Therefore Trustfund becomes a brand extension in establishing Trustfund pensions and also the origin of its payoff line “pension is all about trust”, other PFAS which are product of brand extensions include

Fidelity pensions Ltd

Crusader Pension Ltd

Leadway Pensions Ltd

Sigma Vaughan sterling pensions

Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Ltd etc

 The advantage of brand extension is that a strong brand name     gives a product

 Instant recognition Adrika et al (1997:130), it could be observed that Trustfund is a brand extension of NSITF, as Stanbic IBTC pension is to Stanbic ibtc bank, fidelity pensions an offshoot of fidelity bank, crusader pensions an offshoot of crusader insurance etc, the list could continue. But there are also disadvantages of brand extension as the failure of a brand may ultimately lead to the failure of its brand extension. But the gains far outweigh the disadvantages as most brand extension has established their feet and has even made their impact felt on a global scale.

From these extensions, it could be observed that most PFAS are collaborating for the purpose of achieving the objective of the group or the holding company.

Majero (1993:85) noted that when a good brand image is built, it can command a premium price, owing to the valuable psychological tangibles associated with its name. Such is the power of name that most women adopt their parents name before attaching their marital name. Name especially a good product name or service or organization most times becomes a sort of goodwill that becomes a great asset in balance sheet of most organization. In extreme situation branding and brand extension becomes so powerful that customers adopt the name as generic product.