Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions

TLDR

The authors conducted two studies to investigate how consumers form attitudes toward brand extensions and how positioning strategies influence those attitudes. The first study assessed reactions to 20 brand extension concepts across six well-known brands, while the second study tested various positioning strategies for extensions. Attitudes were stronger when extensions fit the original brand and were perceived as high quality or not too easy to make, and negative associations were better neutralized by elaborating extension attributes than by recalling the original brand’s positives.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to obtain insights on how consumers form attitudes toward brand extensions, (i.e., use of an established brand name to enter a new product category). In one study, reactions to 20 brand extension concepts involving six well-known brand names were examined. Attitude toward the extension was higher when (1) there was both a perception of “fit” between the two product classes along one of three dimensions and a perception of high quality for the original brand or (2) the extension was not regarded as too easy to make. A second study examined the effectiveness of different positioning strategies for extensions. The experimental findings show that potentially negative associations can be neutralized more effectively by elaborating on the attributes of the brand extension than by reminding consumers of the positive associations with the original brand.