The Influence of Brand Concept and Styles of Thinking on Brand Extension Evaluation

Why are some brands more elastic than others? Prior research shows that consumers are more accepting of extensions into distant product categories for brands with prestige concepts (Rolex) versus functional concepts (Timex). We examine consumers’ style of thinking—analytic versus holistic thinking—to better understand the elasticity of prestige versus functional brands. For functional brands, we find that holistic thinkers provide more favorable responses to distant extensions than do analytic thinkers; however, for prestige brands, holistic and analytic thinkers respond equally favorably. Thus, analytic thinkers are identified as the roadblock for functional brands extending to distant product categories. We find that using a sub-brand (vs. a direct brand) and matching extension information with the consumer’s style of thinking increases the acceptability of brand extensions.

Citation:

Alokparna B. Monga and Deborah R. John (2011) ,"The Influence of Brand Concept and Styles of Thinking on Brand Extension Evaluation", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 437.