I second sdeveloper's comment. This is about establishing authority, not being pigeonholed. Pigeonholing is something done to you regardless of what you do. Pigeonholing doesn't make you the #1 result on Google for a term. Pigeonholing tells you that because you're the #1 result for "French chef" in Google, you're not qualified to make tacos.
You're right, that part of the interview really was more about the fear of pigeonholing for the independent dev/consultant, not the actual results of pigeonholing for the FTE.
