Spillover effects seem to be pervasive in consumers’ decision-making. Yet, research examining spillover effects of competing brands’ associations is scarce, particularly in the context of brand extensions. In this research, we examine the extent to which associations of rival brands are transferred from the parent category to an extension category and how it influences extension evaluations. In two studies, we demonstrate a spillover effect of rivalry associations such that the success (failure) of a prior extension by a rival brand leads to a more (less) favourable brand extension evaluation, this effect being present in a high (vs. low) fit category. In addition, we show that this effect is moderated by relative brand strength of the rival brand. A stronger spillover effect is observed when the extension of a market leader brand is introduced following a prior successful extension by a challenger brand.

溢出效应似乎在消费者的决策中无处不在。但是，缺乏研究竞争品牌协会的溢出效应的研究，特别是在品牌扩展的背景下。在这项研究中，我们研究了竞争对手品牌的关联从父类别转移到扩展类别的程度以及它如何影响扩展评估。在两项研究中，我们证明了竞争性关联的溢出效应，这样，竞争对手品牌在先扩展的成功（失败）会导致更（较差）有利的品牌扩展评估，这种影响表现为高（相对于低） ）适合类别。此外，我们证明，这种效果会受到竞争对手品牌的相对品牌强度的影响。