A Process-Tracing Study of Brand Extension Evaluation

• Published in: Journal of marketing research Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 16 - 28
• Main Authors: Boush, David M., Loken, Barbara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago American Marketing Association 01.02.1991; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Brand image; Brand names; Brands; Comparative studies; Condiments; Consumer attitudes; Consumer research; Effects; Electronic products industry; Frozen vegetables; Marketing; Memory; Multivariate analysis; Product introduction; Ratings; Television sets; Vegetable soups
• ISSN: 0022-2437; 1547-7193
• DOI: 10.1177/002224379102800102

The authors explore the implications of considering a brand as representing a category consisting of its products. They report results of a laboratory experiment in which response times and verbal protocols were used to examine processes related to the evaluation of brand extensions. Evaluations of brand extensions were influenced both by the extension's similarity to the brand's current products (brand extension typicality) and by the variation among a brand's current products (brand breadth). An inverted U describes the relationship between brand extension typicality and evaluation process measures. Moderately typical extensions were evaluated in a more piecemeal and less global way than were either extremely typical or extremely atypical extensions. Subjects' attitudes toward brand extensions were correlated highly with their ratings of brand extension typicality.