Consumer Evaluations Of Brand Extensions Research Articles

Good Guys Can Finish First: How Brand Reputation Affects Extension Evaluations

This research investigates how consumer evaluations of brand extensions are affected by two distinct types of brand reputation: a reputation for social responsibility built through commitments to societal obligations, versus a reputation for ability developed by delivering quality offerings. Through six studies, we establish that while the two reputation types equivalently influence high fit brand extensions, a reputation for social responsibility (vs. ability) leads to more favorable responses toward low fit brand extensions by inducing a desire to support and help the company that has acted to benefit consumers. Furthermore, the facilitative effect of social responsibility on low fit brand extension evaluations is more prominent among consumers who value close relationships and caring for one another's well‐being (i.e., those with high communal orientation), and tends to dissipate when social responsibility initiatives are tainted with self‐serving motives (i.e., when these initiatives are aligned with the brand's core offering).

자아해석과 노스탤지어 큐가 확장제품 선호에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

자아해석과 노스탤지어 큐가 확장제품 선호에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Consumer evaluation of brand extensions: Comparing goods to goods brand extensions with goods to services

Studies in literature on consumer attitude toward the brand extension, and revision of attitude toward parent brand have focused on the influence of a variety of factors concerning parent brand, fit between the parent brand and extension, extension product category and consumer characteristics. In all such studies, the brand that is extended and the extension product category are both either goods-intensive offerings (GG brand extension) or services-intensive offerings (SS brand extension), and researchers have observed paucity of studies on brand extension from goods-intensive offerings to services-intensive offerings (GS brand extension), and services-intensive offerings to goods-intensive offerings (SG brand extension). In this study, the influence of factors concerning parent brand and fit between the parent brand and extension are contrasted between GG and GS brand extensions. Using survey design, data was collected from individual consumers recruited from households in two Indian cities, and analysis of the data was performed using a structural equation modeling approach. The findings from this study suggest that brand extensions from goods to goods is preferable to brand extensions from goods to services under some conditions, such as when quality variance across brand portfolio is high and when product category fit is present.

Modelling Consumer Evaluation of Brand Extensions: Empirical Evidence from India

Increasing costs involved in building new brands motivate marketers to adopt an alternate route for new product introductions in the form of brand extensions. While extensive research exists for understanding the intricacies of brand extensions in the Western context, there is limited understanding about its utility in the context of developing countries such as India. This study aims to identify factors contributing to the success of brand extension of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs) in India. Primary data collection was performed with 837 participants constituting management students of a renowned university in India. Hierarchical regression is applied to model the variables considered as major determinants for brand extension evaluation. This study is first of its kind in India explaining the inter-relationships among these variables with the help of residual centring technique for creating interaction terms leading to a better understanding of consumers’ evaluation of brand extensions. Interesting results emerging from the study, having managerial implications, are discussed in detail. Attitude towards brand extension advertisement is found to be the most significant variable affecting consumers’ attitude towards brand extension. While a majority of the prior studies has overstated the impact of perceptual fit, it only emerged as a significant variable along with brand trust and perceived quality. Negative interaction effect of perceived fit and trust is observed, implying that only strongly trusted brands may extend into low fitting product categories and vice versa, that is, lowly trusted brands should only extend into high fitting extensions. We believe that these implications will be useful for many of the multinational companies entering Indian markets while leveraging their equity by introducing extensions that are suited for the Indian consumers.

Brand extension evaluation: real world and virtual world

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help marketing scholars view virtual worlds as new product–markets and trigger serious investigations on consumer evaluation of brand extensions when a brand is extended from the real world to a virtual world and vice versa. Design/methodology/approach – The paper makes an extensive review of studies on virtual world. Further, it amalgamates understanding from well-established literature on consumer evaluation of brand extensions into the emerging virtual world understanding to conceptualize moderating influence of contexts – the real world context and a virtual world context – on how consumers evaluate brand extensions. Findings – Through logical arguments supported by existing literature, the paper provides 14 well-conceptualized propositions that argue that the real world and virtual world contexts moderate the well-established relationships in brand extension literature. It broadly proposes that the relationships between the consumer evaluations of brand extension and its known determinants are stronger in case of within-the-world extensions and weaker in case of across-the-world extensions. Research limitations/implications – The paper introduces to the marketing scholars an entirely new area of enquiry as it challenges the known brand extension knowledge when a brand is extended across the worlds. Practical implications – Marketers considering launching new offerings across the contexts of real or virtual world would have implications on whether to extend the brand or not. Originality/value – Virtual worlds have largely been construed in marketing literature as fictional worlds. There is not much explored in terms of virtual worlds as new product–markets. The study offers unique value in conceptualizing differences among within-the-world brand extensions and across-the-world brand extensions.

How celebrity endorsers enhance parent brand extendibility to low similarity brand extensions

To exploit further growth opportunities, firms increasingly consider extending their brands not only within related categories but also into categories that do not fit well with the parent brand. Prior research has shown that brand extensions with a low similarity with the parent brand are risky and may result in high failure rates. This research investigates the extent to which celebrity endorsements for a parent brand enhances its brand extension potential and allows a brand to accommodate more diverse extensions. In two experimental studies with 927 respondents, significant interaction effects emerge between endorsement and similarity: celebrities increase consumer evaluations of brand extensions, more so for low similarity extensions than for high similarity extensions. Thus, celebrities can mitigate the negative impact of low similarity extensions. This effect stems from the reduction in perceived purchase risk. Finally, for a low similarity extension, celebrity endorsement is more effective for parent brands with small rather than large product portfolios.

Consumer Evaluation of Brand Extensions: Good to Service and Service to Good

Keywords KeywordsBrand Extension, Loyalty Proneness, Brand Consciousness, Consumer Attitude, Goods and Services

Brand extensions via complements or substitutes: The moderating role of manufacturing transferability

This research investigates how consumer evaluations of brand extensions that either complement or substitute the original parent brand vary depending on the level of manufacturing transferability (i.e., the extent to which the parent brand’s existing resources and skills can be used to make the extension). We propose that a complement extension is processed by consumers at a higher, more abstract level whereas a substitute extension is processed at a lower, more concrete level. Since manufacturing transferability activates concrete cognitions of the production process, an increase in manufacturing transferability tends to result in more favorable evaluations toward substitute extensions than complement extensions. Empirical tests using a multi-method approach reveal support both for the underlying theoretical mechanism and the proposed hypotheses.

Can advertising elements improve consumer evaluations of brand extensions with a moderate or low fit?

The focus of this paper is on analyzing how consumer evaluations of brand extensions with a moderate or poor fit to the core brand can be enhanced using advertising cues such as a fit prime and advertisement elements that are typically associated with the core brand. The results of the empirical study show that using a fit prime in advertisements is beneficial for moderately fitting brand extensions, but disadvantageous for poorly fitting extensions. Moreover, the results show that advertisement elements that are typically associated with the core brand can build links between the extension and the core brand and thus enhance the perceived fit. These findings imply that the options for extending a brand should not be considered as limited to product categories similar to the category of the core product because perceived fit can be influenced by communication. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Product difficulty incongruity and consumer evaluations of brand extensions

Ever since the appearance of Aaker and Keller's (1990) seminal article, the brand extension research stream has intensively investigated factors that impact consumer evaluations of brand extensions. However, the main effect of product difficulty and the interactions between the parent brand quality and fit variables have not been consistent across studies. We conjecture that this inconclusiveness of findings is due to an equivocal conceptualization and operationalization of the key concepts – product difficulty and product difficulty incongruity. The existing studies mainly focus on product difficulty, i.e., the perceived difficulty level of designing and making the extension, whereas the latter refers to the difference between consumers’ perceptions of the difficulty of designing and making the parent product and the difficulty in designing and making the extension product. We specifically propose that product difficulty incongruity will negatively impact consumer evaluation of brand extensions, and this negative effect is stronger for high parent brand quality and consumers with high levels of need for cognition. The findings from two empirical studies well support our predictions.

Can followers overcome pioneers? The role of superior alignable differences in consumer evaluation of brand extensions

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine whether the follower extensions with superior alignable differences can overcome the pioneer extensions with regard to brands.Design/methodology/approachThree laboratory experiments were conducted to test hypotheses.FindingsFindings suggest that the effect of superior alignable differences on consumer evaluations of followers vs pioneers is moderated by two factors – the perceived fit between the parent brand and extensions, and order of market entry. High fit followers with superior alignable differences easily overcome pioneers; however, such alignable differences do not help low fit followers to overcome pioneers. Although the low fit followers with better quality and superior alignable differences can overcome the low fit pioneer, they cannot overcome the high fit pioneer.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study is that it does not explore how low fit followers can overcome high fit pioneers.Practical implicationsManagers can better determine whether and how to introduce brand extensions as a pioneer or follower.Originality/valueThe originality and value lie in first examining whether follower extensions can overcome pioneer extensions.

Consumer Evaluation of Brand Extensions: An Empirical Assessment in the Indian Context

Marketers are increasingly leveraging the strength of Brand to enter into various product categories. Using an extensive survey, the authors examine the evaluation of brand extensions for real brands in hypothetical product categories. Comparison of success evaluation is obtained for the following products: Lux and Nirma brands into deodorant, Amul and Maggi brands into potato chips; LIC and Reliance into banking sector; Tata Motors (four wheeler) venturing into bikes (two wheeler); and Bajaj Auto Limited (two wheeler) entering in car. The findings show that extensions into similar categories tend to be more readily accepted. These findings are consistent across various product and service categories. Based on regression analysis, the study identifies brand relevance success factors. The findings indicate that success of brand extensions depends not only on strong parent brand associations but also on extendable category borrowed brand association.

Empirical generalizability of consumer evaluations of brand extensions

The authors investigated the empirical generalizability of existing brand extension research results. Using a comprehensive data set compiled from two large-scale consumer samples and panel data, they address the generalizability of empirical findings (1) beyond the lab to conditions with real extensions, (2) across fast-moving consumer goods product categories, (3) across different types of parent brands, (4) across respondents (students versus non-students), and (5) across success measures (attitude versus market-based success measures). Many important results of brand extension research generalize, to a certain extent, across all five areas of empirical generalization. However, some notable differences occurred (e.g., between different types of parent brands). Beyond its implications for brand extension research, this study underscores the need for the development of empirical generalizations that provide sound knowledge to practitioners and academics.

An investigation of consumer evaluation of brand extensions

AbstractThis paper deals with the effects of perceived quality, perceived fit and perceived difficulty, and interaction between perceived quality and fit on consumer evaluations of brand extension. We used multi‐item scales to measure these constructs. Data were analysed via structural equation models. Results show that both perceived quality and perceived fit have direct positive effects on consumer evaluation of extensions. We find support for the chance of transferring the positive values of a brand to an extension is greater when consumers see the extension as a good fit with the original brand and the original brand is considered as of high quality.

Empirical generalizations from brand extension research: How sure are we?

Bottomley and Holden [Bottomley, P.A., and Holden, S.J.S. (2001). Do we really know how consumers evaluate brand extensions? Empirical generalizations based on secondary analysis of eight studies. Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 494–500.] conducted a secondary analysis of Aaker and Keller's [Aaker, D.A., and Keller, K.L. (1990). Consumer evaluations of brand extensions. Journal of Marketing, 54, 27–41.] seminal brand extension study and seven other close replications, generated several empirical generalizations, and hence called for a revision of the extant understanding of brand extension evaluations. We re-examine Bottomley and Holden's conclusions. We prove analytically that the simple effects estimated by B&H are incorrect, thereby rendering some of their generalizations suspect. We re-analyze the same data using appropriate statistical techniques, and our new results clarify the understanding of how consumers indeed evaluate extensions. Specifically, we find that, although the simple effects of neither parent brand quality nor measures of fit affect evaluations of brand extensions, the interaction effects of parent brand quality with fit are important determinants of brand extension evaluations. We discuss the substantive implications of our findings and offer directions for future research.

Technological congruence and perceived quality of brand extensions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose and test a series of precepts which explain the role of technology and technology congruence in consumers' perceptions of brand extensions.Design/methodology/approachA series of relationships between technological congruence and consumer evaluations of brand extensions is proposed. Regression analysis and a series of planned contrasts are employed to test these relationships.FindingsIn general, extensions that are higher in overall technology content are perceived as being higher in quality. Higher technology brands benefit from a superordinate brand technology effect. However, this technology content effect is moderated by the congruence/incongruence of the levels of technology of the brands, products, and attributes.Research limitations/implicationsThe primary limitations of this research are that it focused on a relatively small and homogeneous segment of the population (average age 24) and it tested the effects of technological incongruence only on perceived quality.Practical implicationsThese results have extensive implications for designing and positioning brand extensions in the market. The implications are particularly salient for brands that are perceived as employing relatively low technology.Originality/valueThese results improve one's understanding of customers' responses to brand extensions, particularly when the product or associated attributes are technologically incongruent with the brand.

The Influence of Positive Mood on Brand Extension Evaluations

The current research examines how positive mood influences consumer evaluations of brand extensions. As a means of addressing this issue, we integrate findings from prior research on brand extensions with those concerning the effect of mood on similarity and evaluative judgments. Our results indicate that positive mood primarily enhances evaluations of extensions viewed as moderately similar (as opposed to very similar or dissimilar) to a favorably evaluated core brand. This pattern of effects prevailed in separate studies using two different types of mood manipulations. The evidence supports a mood process in which the influence of positive mood on extension evaluations is mediated by its effects on perceptions of the similarity between the core brand and the extension as well as the perceived competency of the marketer in producing the extension. Implications of these findings for marketing managers are presented along with suggestions for further research.

The formation of attitudes towards brand extensions: Testing and generalising Aaker and Keller's model

The apparent lack of agreement between Aaker and Keller's original study (Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions, Journal of Marketing 54, 27–40, 1990) and Sunde and Brodie's (Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions: Further Empirical Evidence, International Journal of Research in Marketing 10, 47–53, 1993) replication of how consumers form attitudes towards brand extensions indicates that further empirical evidence is required to investigate the scope of the propositions. Responding to these concerns, we not only provide an additional data set but also undertake new analyses at the brand level on both it and Sunde and Brodie's (1993) data set, in order to extend our understanding of the area. Consumers' attitudes toward brand extensions would appear to be driven primarily by the perceived quality of the parent brand and the perceived fit between the two product categories and moderated by interaction terms of quality and fit. Moreover, analysing the results at the individual brand extension level provides an opportunity to investigate the generalisability of the propositions to other extensions. Whilst the main effects model appears to be robust across brand extensions, only weak support is found for the full effects model.

The Effect of Brand Portfolio Characteristics on Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions

The Effect of Brand Portfolio Characteristics on Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions

The Effect of Brand Portfolio Characteristics on Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions

A growing number of brands are becoming associated with a portfolio of different product categories. Although concerns have been raised that adding products to a brand may weaken it, there is a paucity of research exploring the effects of brand portfolio characteristics on brand strength. Using two laboratory experiments and a survey, the authors examine the effects of several brand portfolio characteristics on consumers’ confidence in and favorability of their evaluations of subsequent brand extensions. The experiment-based findings reveal a positive relationship between the number of products affiliated with a brand and consumers’ confidence in and favorability of their evaluations of extension quality. These results were not replicated in the survey. However, in both methods, the authors found that as portfolio quality variance decreases, a positive relationship between number of products affiliated with a brand and consumers’ confidence in their extension evaluations emerges. Implications of these and other findings for both the theory and practice of brand management are discussed.