Last evening I had dinner in a stately mansion (lord whatsamsajig's) and re-learned one of the fundamental marketing lessons: if you make two fundamentally different products, don't use the same brand. Volkswagens aren't Porsches, Jaguars aren't Fords, and Swanson's isn't Campbell's or Goddiva's. The British are not known for marketing. They aren't much worse at it than most other European nations, and in some cases (mainly beer advertisements) even approach American standards. But they violate the branding rules. Rolls Royces really are Bentleys. And the Brits are a bit insistent about some of their once-celebrated but now tiresome marks. Who cares about Wilkonson, now that they make second-rate disposable razors instead of swords? Back to the stately home with 25 foot ceilings and aproned "servants" (actually local highschool dropouts who'd rather be at home watching 'Friends' or Tori Spelling). They held dinner for 275 of my closest friends. The cutlery was almost a matched set. The stemware was French. And the place settings were Royal Doulton. China is one of those really competitive businesses where the Japanese moved in decades ago and clobbered just about anyone who didn't have extraordinary designs. As Mikasa and Noritake took over the commodity ceramics business, the sales volume of all indigenous manufacturers went down, and the factories had to turn to other products to keep busy. So it was with Royal Doulton. They soon found another ceramic product to keep their kilns utilized. And because it came from the same factory, it should have the same brand name...of course. The company also wanted to make sure its distributors and salesmen were busy with the new product, to reinforce their market strength. So they sold the new product to the same customers who revered the Royal Doulton name. So it was that after eating an elegant meal off of Royal Douton's china, I went to the loo and used their other product. Perhaps it would have been better if they'd made the investment in a second brand name.