Purpose: This paper seeks to examine whether the follower extensions with superior alignable differences can overcome the pioneer extensions with regard to brands. Design/methodology/approach: Three laboratory experiments were conducted to test hypotheses. Findings: Findings 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/implications: The limitation of the study is that it does not explore how low fit followers can overcome high fit pioneers. Practical implications: Managers can better determine whether and how to introduce brand extensions as a pioneer or follower. Originality/value: The originality and value lie in first examining whether follower extensions can overcome pioneer extensions.

No description available.

Only a few industries face challenges regarding sustainability to the same extent as the fashion industry being one of the largest consumer industries and the second most polluting industry in the world. These challenges are encouraged by the fast fashion business model, which is dominant in the sector and relies on the quick responsiveness to latest fashion trends while maintaining low prices, encouraging more consumption and shorter product life cycles. On the other side, a consumer shift towards more environmental consciousness can be observed leading to most fast fashion brands integrating sustainability in various forms into their products and services. A path that many fast fashion brands take in order to become more sustainable is the strategy of green branding through green brand extensions. Green brand extensions (GBEs) involve the application of an established brand name to new and greener products due to environmental considerations of the brand and can be divided into green line extensions (GLEs) and green category extensions (GCEs). Due to identified research gaps concerning how green brand extensions change consumer attitudes as well as the relationship between brand loyalty and the green image of brands, the following research question got developed to gain in-depth in consumer behavior in the fast fashion industry related to green brand extensions: RQ: How do green brand extensions of fast fashion brands affect the consumers’ parent brand attitude and brand loyalty? This primary study that aims to answer the research question was conducted following a deductive research approach and adopting a quantitative research design through collecting data by means of a web questionnaire. Thereby, the brand attitude of fashion consumers on green line and green category extensions as well as the relationship to brand loyalty got investigated focusing on Generation Y and Z as largest consumer groups of fast fashion. The main results of the study are that the introduction of a GLE by a fast fashion brand generally leads to a more positive brand attitude and a slightly improved brand loyalty of consumers towards the parent brand. However, when introducing a GCE, the launch has rarely a positive effect on the brand attitude and brand loyalty of consumers towards the parent brand. The relationship of GLEs and brand attitude is thereby moderated by the environmental concern of consumers as well as their friends and by the initial brand attitude towards the fast fashion brand. The relationship of GLEs and brand loyalty on the other hand is only moderated by environmental concern of consumers and the initial brand attitude. Looking at GCEs and their relationship with brand attitude as well as brand loyalty, it is influenced and moderated by the age of consumers, the environmental concern of their friends as well as consumers’ initial brand loyalty towards the parent brand.

Este trabalho aborda diversos aspectos da extensão de marcas. A construção de marcas fortes tem sido uma alternativa para criar diferenciação e vantagem competitiva. O sucesso em um determinado mercado costuma ser decorrente de fatores que vão além do próprio produto; a percepção do consumidor sobre uma marca é formada por um complexo conjunto de associações onde coexistem aspectos racionais, funcionais e objetivos, bem como elementos emocionais, subjetivos e abstratos. A marca representa um código, um resumo de todas estas associações e percepções, e o posicionamento psicológico da marca influencia a decisão de compra dentro de uma categoria. Muitas empresas adotam as extensões de marca como uma estratégia de crescimento, o que resulta em uma proliferação de marcas estendidas para categorias adicionais de produto, categorias muitas vezes sem similaridade com a categoria original da marca. O objetivo principal e razão de ser da extensão é a transferência de valores da marca original para o novo produto, encurtando os caminhos que ele deve percorrer para sua consolidação e aumentando suas chances de sucesso. Entretanto, há diversos casos de extensão onde a marca não passa de um nome que caracteriza a origem do novo produto ou, pior ainda, sua aplicação naquela categoria resulta na erosão de seu significado. Sendo assim, este trabalho busca trazer referências que indiquem se faz sentido estender uma marca para outras categorias. A metodologia adotada consiste em duas etapas: uma de revisão bibliográfica, que aborda os principais aspectos da extensão de marca-suas motivantes, vantagens e riscos, resultados de pesquisas anteriores, o processo de avaliação pelos consumidores, a reciprocidade da marca estendida na marca original; e uma etapa de verificação de uma realidade específica usando a visão de uma empresa-alvo de estudo de caso. Os resultados apontam para uma relação entre o posicionamento psicológico da marca e sua extensão para categorias próximas e distantes daquela onde a marca se originou, indicando a possibilidade de que quanto mais filosófico o posicionamento da marca, isto é, menos vinculado ao produto em si e seus aspectos funcionais, maior sua capacidade em ser aplicada em categorias de produto diferentes da categoria original. À medida que a dissimilaridade entre o produto original e o estendido aumenta, é cada vez menos freqüente e intensa a transferência de valores de marca. Os valores transferidos para categorias mais dissimilares, ou seja, os valores de maior alcance de extensão, têm natureza predominantemente subjetiva ao invés de racional ou vinculada a atributos de produto. Os resultados também sugerem que os atributos e benefícios considerados relevantes dentro de cada categoria funcionam como um filtro para a transferência de associações, ressaltando a influência do contexto da categoria da extensão no processo. / This study analyzes many aspects of brand extension. Building strong brands is seen as an opportunity to create differentiation and competitive advantage. Success in certain markets is a result of factors beyond the product itself; brand consumer perception is formed by a complex set of associations of rational, functional and objective aspects as well as emotional, subjective and abstract elements. A brand represents a code, a summary of all these associations and perceptions. The psychological positioning of a brand influences the purchase decision inside a category. Many companies implement brand extensions as a growth strategy. This results in a huge list of extended brands to additional product categories, many times without any similarity to the original brand category. The main reason and objective of an extension is transferring brand equity from the original product to the new one, reducing the path towards product consolidation and improving its chances for success. Nevertheless, there are many cases when brand extension is nothing more than just a name that reminds the product\'s origin or, even worse, its application in a certain category will result in loosing brand value and meaning. Based on this assumption, this study aims at bringing new references that indicate if it makes sense to extend a brand to other categories. The adopted methodology consists of two phases: one is a reviewed bibliography about the main aspects of extension - its motivations, advantages and risks, earlier researches results, consumer evaluation process and reciprocal effect of the extended brand over the original one; and second, the verification of an specific case study with a target company. Results point out a relation between brand\'s psychological positioning and its extension to closer and farther categories in relation to the original brand. It indicates that the more philosophical the brand positioning, meaning little association to the product itself and its functional aspects, the bigger its capacity of being applied to product categories different than the original one. As soon as dissimilarities grow in between the original product and the extended one, the least frequent and intense is the brand equity transfer. Values transferred to less similar categories, or, values of bigger extension capacity have a subjective nature instead of rational one linked to product attributes. Results also suggest that relevant attributes and benefits in each category works as an associations transferring filter, reinforcing the category content influence over the extension process.

Imagine how you would react if you learned that your favorite singer was recording new music in a style far from that which you have come to love. Perhaps you would disapprove. Then you might react like many Porsche consumers did when they learned that “their” brand would start producing sports utility vehicles. They are not without peers. In fact, how would you respond if a favored brand would launch, say, a chain of coffee shops? Some people would resist such an idea. These scenarios illustrate how strong consumer-brand bonds may complicate attempts to extend brands into new businesses. The research presented in the thesis explores this connection, towards a better understanding of the stakes facing both companies and consumers. It is an inquiry into tensions of extensions. The thesis comprises four published studies. Three explore how consumers with close ties to a brand react to brand extension. They acknowledge that consumers who come close to a brand potentially become stakeholders with opinions on efforts to change the products and marketing of that brand. They suggest that the implications of combining brand extension and strong consumer bonds can be substantial. The fourth study considers how the financial implications in particular can be analyzed and communicated within organizations. The findings show how brand extension can be an important event in a longer relationship with core consumers. This perspective is easily obscured when concentrating only on the perceptions of “the average consumer”. The thesis highlights symbolic and experiential aspects. It offers a closer look at such things as consumer identity, emotional reactions, and expression of criticism, and the findings should inform communication strategies and decision-making related to brand extensions. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2008. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser</p>

Este trabalho aborda diversos aspectos da extensão de marcas. A construção de marcas fortes tem sido uma alternativa para criar diferenciação e vantagem competitiva. O sucesso em um determinado mercado costuma ser decorrente de fatores que vão além do próprio produto; a percepção do consumidor sobre uma marca é formada por um complexo conjunto de associações onde coexistem aspectos racionais, funcionais e objetivos, bem como elementos emocionais, subjetivos e abstratos. A marca representa um código, um resumo de todas estas associações e percepções, e o posicionamento psicológico da marca influencia a decisão de compra dentro de uma categoria. Muitas empresas adotam as extensões de marca como uma estratégia de crescimento, o que resulta em uma proliferação de marcas estendidas para categorias adicionais de produto, categorias muitas vezes sem similaridade com a categoria original da marca. O objetivo principal e razão de ser da extensão é a transferência de valores da marca original para o novo produto, encurtando os caminhos que ele deve percorrer para sua consolidação e aumentando suas chances de sucesso. Entretanto, há diversos casos de extensão onde a marca não passa de um nome que caracteriza a origem do novo produto ou, pior ainda, sua aplicação naquela categoria resulta na erosão de seu significado. Sendo assim, este trabalho busca trazer referências que indiquem se faz sentido estender uma marca para outras categorias. A metodologia adotada consiste em duas etapas: uma de revisão bibliográfica, que aborda os principais aspectos da extensão de marca-suas motivantes, vantagens e riscos, resultados de pesquisas anteriores, o processo de avaliação pelos consumidores, a reciprocidade da marca estendida na marca original; e uma etapa de verificação de uma realidade específica usando a visão de uma empresa-alvo de estudo de caso. Os resultados apontam para uma relação entre o posicionamento psicológico da marca e sua extensão para categorias próximas e distantes daquela onde a marca se originou, indicando a possibilidade de que quanto mais filosófico o posicionamento da marca, isto é, menos vinculado ao produto em si e seus aspectos funcionais, maior sua capacidade em ser aplicada em categorias de produto diferentes da categoria original. À medida que a dissimilaridade entre o produto original e o estendido aumenta, é cada vez menos freqüente e intensa a transferência de valores de marca. Os valores transferidos para categorias mais dissimilares, ou seja, os valores de maior alcance de extensão, têm natureza predominantemente subjetiva ao invés de racional ou vinculada a atributos de produto. Os resultados também sugerem que os atributos e benefícios considerados relevantes dentro de cada categoria funcionam como um filtro para a transferência de associações, ressaltando a influência do contexto da categoria da extensão no processo. / This study analyzes many aspects of brand extension. Building strong brands is seen as an opportunity to create differentiation and competitive advantage. Success in certain markets is a result of factors beyond the product itself; brand consumer perception is formed by a complex set of associations of rational, functional and objective aspects as well as emotional, subjective and abstract elements. A brand represents a code, a summary of all these associations and perceptions. The psychological positioning of a brand influences the purchase decision inside a category. Many companies implement brand extensions as a growth strategy. This results in a huge list of extended brands to additional product categories, many times without any similarity to the original brand category. The main reason and objective of an extension is transferring brand equity from the original product to the new one, reducing the path towards product consolidation and improving its chances for success. Nevertheless, there are many cases when brand extension is nothing more than just a name that reminds the product\'s origin or, even worse, its application in a certain category will result in loosing brand value and meaning. Based on this assumption, this study aims at bringing new references that indicate if it makes sense to extend a brand to other categories. The adopted methodology consists of two phases: one is a reviewed bibliography about the main aspects of extension - its motivations, advantages and risks, earlier researches results, consumer evaluation process and reciprocal effect of the extended brand over the original one; and second, the verification of an specific case study with a target company. Results point out a relation between brand\'s psychological positioning and its extension to closer and farther categories in relation to the original brand. It indicates that the more philosophical the brand positioning, meaning little association to the product itself and its functional aspects, the bigger its capacity of being applied to product categories different than the original one. As soon as dissimilarities grow in between the original product and the extended one, the least frequent and intense is the brand equity transfer. Values transferred to less similar categories, or, values of bigger extension capacity have a subjective nature instead of rational one linked to product attributes. Results also suggest that relevant attributes and benefits in each category works as an associations transferring filter, reinforcing the category content influence over the extension process.

This thesis examines one magazine's transition from print to digital media in order to shine a spotlight on one successful magazine brand and its attempts to navigate the digital revolution while also maintaining a successful magazine. Through a systematic descriptive analysis of communication strategies, a case analysis of Bon Appétit magazine is the focus of this thesis. Guided by the uses and gratifications theoretical perspective and informed by a systematic descriptive analysis, this thesis offers a rich examination of the Bon Appétit magazine brand and the ways the brand has been extended in the evolving digital media environment. The unique approach implemented in this thesis provides the opportunity to observe uses and gratifications from the organization's standpoint, instead of the consumer's. This unique approach was designed to reveal how Bon Appétit is attempting to fulfill consumer needs and gratifications through the digital media brand extensions, specifically its website, social media, and podcast. Analysis of Bon Appétit brand extensions indicate that six of Parham Santana's ten brand extension strategies are being implemented by Bon Appétit, including shift the form, transfer a component, transfer a benefit, leverage a special expertise, leverage your consumer base, and leverage a lifestyle. Another significant finding indicates that Bon Appétit implemented communication strategies centered on accessibility and convenience, surveillance, diversion, and interaction gratifications on its digital media platforms. Findings from this study suggest that future researchers would benefit from adding convenience and accessibility as gratifications considered in the uses and gratifications theoretical approach when researching digital media. Additionally, replication of the systematic method in this thesis, especially if applied to other magazine brands, could help reveal the types of brand extensions at play in digital platforms and whether other magazines use similar strategies to build and maintain relationships with consumers. / Master of Arts

Many firms attempt to ensure the success of new product introductions by applying an existing, well-known brand name to the product. The strategy, known as brand extension, has become commomplace. In recent years, the strategy has been used in media industry. Especially, since the Internet started gaining in popularity in the mid-1990s, the newspaper industry has started applying brand extensions to online markets. For example, United Daily News, Chinatimes, and so on has developed websites of various types. However, we doubt whether it¡¦ll affect consumers¡¦ attitude toward the parent brand. For this reason, we attempt to figure out consumers¡¦attitude toward the newspaper brand when a newspaper office has introduced extensions with good or poor fit. Besides, in this study, we also propose that three factors including ownership status, product attributes, and dominance of the parent brand will influence consumers¡¦s evaluation of the parent brand. Previous research have provided mixed evidence about the reciprocal effects of a brand extension on its parent brand and rarely studied the impact of these four factors on parent brand evaluation, especially in media industy. As a result, we select United Daily News and Appledaily as two objects of the study and find out the extensions (websites) with good and poor fit of these two newspaper brands through group discussing. After T-test analysis, we have some findings as follows: 1.There¡¦s no significant effect of fit on parent brand attitude toward United Daily News, but there¡¦s significant difference for Appledaily. 2.The consumers who think of the newspaper brand as more dominant have higher evaluation of attitude toward the parent brand than those who think of the newspaper brand as less dominant, whether extensions with good or poor fit introduced. 3.The owners of newspaper brands have higher evaluation of attitude toward the parent brand than nonowners, whether extensions with good or poor fit introduced. 4.The product attributes of newspapers brands will affect consumers¡¦s attitude toward the newspaper brands.

Intresset för lyxprodukter har ökat runt om i världen vilket också blivit allt mer framträdande i Sverige. Marknaden för lyxprodukter har de senaste åren förändrats och banat väg för en ny kategori av lyx tillgänglig för en globalt växande medelklass. Den nya kategorin benämns ofta som new luxury vilket innebär en åtkomlig kategori av statusgivande produkter som är lägre i pris än de traditionella lyxprodukterna. Allt fler lyxföretag väljer att expandera för att kunna nå en bredare kundbas och tillämpar därför produktlinjeutvidgning eller varumärkesutvidgning. En alltför omfattande expandering kan dock innebära risker eftersom den uppfattade exklusiviteten hos ett lyxföretag kan gå förlorad. Många underlinjer riktar sig mot en yngre kundbas och Generation Y har visat sig vara en fördelaktig målgrupp att rikta sig mot på lyxmarknaden.Denna studie har som syfte att bidra med teoretisk kunskap kring vilka lyxprodukter svenska kvinnor av Generation Y konsumerar och vilka attityder och värderingar de har kring lyxkonsumtion och lyxvarumärken inom kategorierna traditionell lyx och new luxury. Det tycks finnas en brist på forskning i Sverige som behandlar kopplingen mellan Generation Y och lyxkonsumtion, varvid denna studie fyller en viktig kunskapslucka. Åtta semi-strukturerade intervjuer utfördes med kvinnor i åldrarna 20-26 som är konsumenter av lyxprodukter. Resultaten visar att svenska kvinnor av Generation Y främst konsumerar lyxprodukter i form av accessoarer och framförallt handväskor. Det framgår även att överexponering av ett lyxvarumärke frammanar negativa attityder och att de lätt tröttnar på det om de ser det för ofta och om det används av personer utanför deras referensgrupp. Utifrån kategoriseringen av traditionell lyx och new luxury kan vi se att svenska kvinnor av Generation Y är medvetna om skillnaderna mellan kategorierna. Dock gjorde de inte någon medveten skillnad mellan underlinjer och modervarumärken vilket innebär att dessa delar samma image och kvalitetsuppfattning hos svenska kvinnor av Generation Y.

<p>Förändringar i konsumenters smak, tekniska utvecklingar och tryck från konkurrenter leder till att företag inte kan förlita sig på gamla lyckade produkter. En förutsättning för att företag ska lyckas idag är att de ständigt utvecklar nya produkter för marknaden och många företag väljer att göra det genom varumärkesutvidgning. Innan en varumärkesutvidgning genomförs är det viktigt att fastställa klara och tydliga strategier. Inom livsmedelsbranschen sker cirka fyrtio procent av nya produktlanseringar via varumärkesutvidgning.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om valet av strategier, vid två av O.Kavli AB:s produktlanseringar, har haft avgörande betydelse för produkternas framgång.</p><p>Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ studie med en beskrivande karaktär. Designen för insamlingen av primärdata var intervjuer som sedan analyserades med hjälp av de teoretiska resonemangen.</p><p>Uppsatsens studie indikerar att de strategier kring marknadsmixen som fastställs innan en varumärkesutvidgning i form av produktlanseringar har avgörande betydelse för lanseringens framgång. Studien omfattar endast två produkter inom livsmedelsbranschen och resultaten kan därför inte generaliseras för alla typer av varumärkesutvidgningar.</p>