In most consumer markets, brands spend years trying to carve out a single clear identity. Build recognition, hold onto customers, avoid confusion. It’s usually a one-lane strategy.
NGP Empire didn’t follow that route.
Instead, they built two of the most visible nicotine pouch brands in Europe, Pablo and KILLA, operating side by side in the same category, often with similar strengths and flavours, and somehow avoided the obvious trap of one eating into the other.
It’s not accidental. It’s controlled.
Same Category, Different Energy
On paper, Pablo and KILLA overlap heavily.
Both sit firmly in the high-strength end of the nicotine pouch market. Both offer bold, recognisable flavours. Both are aimed at users who already know what they’re looking for rather than those just entering the category.
If you looked only at the product specs, you’d expect them to compete directly.
But consumers don’t buy based on specs alone.
Pablo: Minimal, Direct, and Built Around Strength
Pablo’s identity is deliberately stripped back.
The branding is clean, almost clinical in places, with a clear emphasis on strength and intensity. It doesn’t try to entertain or over-explain itself. It assumes the customer already understands the category and wants something that delivers without distraction.
That positioning attracts a very specific type of user. People who are already familiar with nicotine pouches, who prioritise strength, and who aren’t particularly interested in lifestyle branding.
It’s functional, but in a way that feels intentional rather than basic.
KILLA: Louder, More Expressive, and Harder to Ignore
KILLA takes the opposite approach.
The branding is more aggressive, more colourful, and more immediately attention-grabbing. It leans into personality in a way Pablo avoids. The flavours feel more playful, the presentation more energetic.
It still operates in the same high-strength space, but it speaks to a slightly different mindset. One that values variety, visual identity, and a sense of energy around the product.
Where Pablo is controlled, KILLA is expressive.
Why Similar Products Don’t Mean the Same Audience
The interesting part is how much overlap NGP Empire has allowed at product level.
Flavours cross over. Mint, fruit, ice combinations appear in both ranges. Strength profiles are often comparable. From a manufacturing perspective, there are clear efficiencies in that approach.
But the brands don’t feel interchangeable.
That comes down to perception. The same flavour can feel different depending on how it’s presented, named, and positioned. Pablo’s version of a flavour reads as direct and intensity-focused. KILLA’s equivalent feels more stylised, more part of a wider range.
Consumers don’t just buy the flavour. They buy into how it’s framed.
Avoiding the Cannibalisation Problem
Running two brands in the same space usually leads to internal competition.
One brand wins, the other fades, or both dilute each other’s impact.
NGP Empire has avoided that by not forcing a hard divide. Instead of separating the brands by product, they’ve separated them by identity.
That creates a different kind of behaviour.
A user might switch between Pablo and KILLA without seeing it as switching brands in the traditional sense. It’s more like choosing between two modes. One more direct, one more expressive but both familiar.
That flexibility keeps users within the same portfolio rather than pushing them towards competitors.
A Portfolio That Feels Bigger Than It Is
From the outside, Pablo and KILLA can look like entirely separate players.
In reality, they’re part of a single strategy that expands coverage of the same market without fragmenting it.
It allows NGP Empire to:
- occupy more visual and mental space within the category
- appeal to different preferences without redesigning the product from scratch
- test variations in branding and flavour presentation across two platforms
It’s a way of scaling presence without relying on a single identity to do all the work.
What Other Brands Can Take From It
The obvious takeaway is that product differentiation isn’t always the main driver of success.
In categories where the core product is relatively standardised, brand identity carries more weight than small variations in formulation.
NGP Empire has leaned into that.
Rather than creating entirely separate products, they’ve created two distinct ways of experiencing the same category, each with its own tone, audience, and visual language.
It’s not about avoiding overlap. It’s about making that overlap feel intentional.
Controlled Competition, Not Internal Conflict
Pablo and KILLA don’t compete in the way most dual-brand setups do.
They operate alongside each other, drawing from the same foundations but presenting them differently enough to feel separate.
That balance is difficult to get right.
Too much similarity, and one brand cancels the other out. Too much difference, and you lose the efficiencies that come from shared development.
NGP Empire has found a middle ground where both brands grow, and neither gets in the other’s way.
In a crowded and fast-moving category, that’s not just good branding. It’s good business.
