ABSTRACT

Given the widespread acceptance of extensions-led brand strategies on the one hand, and a reduction in the size of brand portfolios by marketers and retailers on the other, many product categories now consist largely of extensions of brands from other categories. This paper examines consumers’ evaluation of a brand extension when its competitive context consists of other extensions. The results from two studies show that consumers’ perceptions of the fit of a focal extension with its brand’s core category and their acceptance of the focal extension are conditional on the relationship of the competing extensions with their respective parent categories. This ‘backdrop effect’ is mediated by consumers’ perceptions of fit between the competing extensions’ parent and extension categories and moderated by consumers’ differentiation versus integration mindsets.

摘要

鉴于一方面以扩展为导向的品牌战略得到广泛接受，另一方面营销人员和零售商减少了品牌组合的规模，许多产品类别现在主要由其他类别的品牌扩展组成。本文考察了当品牌延伸的竞争环境由其他延伸组成时，消费者对品牌延伸的评价。两项研究的结果表明，消费者对焦点延伸与其品牌核心类别的契合度的看法以及他们对焦点延伸的接受度取决于竞争延伸与其各自父类别的关系。