The original V8 has grown beyond its vegetable roots, however. Now it has become the anchor in a brand family. In addition to varieties of the original V8, like High Fiber and Spicy Hot, the V8 brand includes three major brand extensions: V-Fusion, V8 Splash fruit juices, and Campbell’s V8 Soup.

V-Fusion is a vegetable-fruit blend that claims to give the consumer “a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit in every 8-ounce glass.” In September 2010, V-Fusion went through a line extension of its own with the introduction of V-Fusion + Tea, a variation that adds green tea to three new flavors, Pineapple Mango, Pomegranate, and Raspberry.

The V-Fusion + Tea launch was heavily supported with social media; in fact, according to Promo magazine, Campbell’s relied almost entirely on Facebook to let consumers sample the new juice. In a campaign that ran about 2-1/2 months, Facebook fans got the chance to receive a free sample of V-Fusion + Tea if they provided their mailing information.

Each time 1,000 samples of V-Fusion + Tea were made available in staggered offerings on Facebook, V8 exhausted its supply within a few hours. Juli Mandel-Sloves, a spokesperson for V8, told Promo, “We really consider the Facebook sampling to be a big focus. We wanted to create an engagement mechanism with people. We know consumers are very passionate about this brand, and we want to build on that with some ongoing involvement.” Mandel-Sloves also indicated that the Facebook sampling program offered “an opportunity to build some excitement about a product before it gets into stores.” V8 supplemented the campaign with very targeted live sampling in selected markets.

The V8 Splash line, which was brought to market about thirteen years ago, features fruit-only juices “with a hint of carrot.” V8 Splash comes in five flavors, as well as two Diet versions. The line also includes two flavors of V8 Splash Smoothies, which are positioned as “lighter textured fruity treats.”

Arguably, the highest risk brand extension for V8 is V8 Soups. Launched in 2008, this represented a significant category leap. However, Campbell’s prominently plastered its universally recognized logo above V8 on the product packaging – probably a wise move for a product introduction of this magnitude.

To distinctly differentiate V8 Soups from its traditional soup line, Campbell’s packaged them in square box-like containers rather than cans. Each of the six vegetable varieties carries this copy on the front of the package: “A Full Serving of Vegetables, No Artificial Flavors, No Preservatives.” Clearly, Campbell’s thought carefully about what it would take to set this new brand of soups apart.

Moving from vegetable juice to fruit juice is one thing. The addition of tea as a juice ingredient isn’t all that difficult to swallow either. But transferring V8’s brand equity to soup – now that’s a whole new ball game.

Yet Campbell’s sees soup as a natural extension for V8, and its faith in the V8 brand is apparent as the company pushes into new territory. Kelly Berrie, Campbell’s business director of wellness innovation, told Marketing Daily that V8 is “approaching its equity as a ‘mega brand’ committed to providing vegetable nutrition beyond 100 percent vegetable juice.” Berrie adds that “it just made sense to marry the equities of two of our top-selling brands — the vegetable nutrition of V8 coupled with the great taste and warm nourishment of Campbell’s soups.”

So looking down the product road, it would not be surprising to see other extensions of this “mega brand” coming our way. The iconic phrase, “I could have had a V8!” may take on all kinds of new meanings in the future as the V8 brand finds its name associated with… who knows what. Maybe that’s why Campbell’s is pretty juiced up about V8.

Barry Silverstein has been a frequent brandchannel contributor since 2007. He has thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is currently a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He founded and ran his own direct marketing agency and held executive positions with Epsilon, a leading database marketing firm and Arnold, a major ad agency. Silverstein is the author of three marketing books, including the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand, which he co-authored with Arnold CEO Fran Kelly.