Brewed By Lamborghini.(Top Shelf)

Byline: Nick Foulkes

Rolex's Oyster watch fits the 25-meter rule: it is recognizable long before the brand name is visible.

The other day I was sent a press release about a new kitchen. It was unremarkable except for the name associated with it: Lamborghini. I found it difficult to suppress a giggle; I would have thought Lamborghini owners were too busy affecting noisy gear changes in tangerine-colored sports cars to be interested in brewing coffee.

Sadly, when I looked into it a bit further I found that the coffeemaker had nothing to do with the carmaker, or at least not in the way you might think. Tonino Lamborghini is the son of the eponymous tractor- maker turned car builder, and it is he who sells such non-automotive products as coffee and umbrellas. It is the Audi-owned Automobili Lamborghini--which is no longer affiliated with the family that founded it--that makes the snarling supercars, the vehicle of choice for those who find a Ferrari, well, just a bit too discreet. Nevertheless, it prompted me to think about how much brand extension a name can stand before it loses its elasticity.

I have driven various Lamborghinis over the years and they are thrilling cars. I love the idea of Tonino's father, the truculent tractor-maker Ferruccio, complaining to Enzo Ferrari that his gearboxes could be improved. "You stick to the tractors and let me worry about the sports cars," was the gist of Ferrari's reply. So Lamborghini came out with his own automotive marque. A few years later he designed the Miura, a revolutionary vehicle that looks as exciting, audacious and desirable today as it did in the late 1960s. Although he might not have realized it, with that product Lamborghini had created a brand.

There is a misconception that once one develops a brand, it is enough to make--or stick the brand's name on--any old object. Not so. It helps to have a product that also conforms to the 25-meter rule: the idea that consumers can tell what it is long before they get close enough to read the name. Rolex is a great example of this rule; the world is full of watches, but only Rolex makes the Oyster, a product so strongly recognizable that it has enabled the brand to flourish for a century.

However, my favorite 25-meter product is one that's not only seen, but heard. The Dupont lighter makes a distinctive "ping" sound when opened. Indeed, I was lucky enough to be in Davidoff of London once when I saw a man who was purchasing a Dupont on behalf of his employer get his boss on the phone and open a range of lighters near the handset so that a proper decision ...