Executive Summary
Why are some brands more elastic than others? Why are some brands able to launch brands into product categories that are very different from their primary businesses? One of the most important factors is the nature of the brand concept—prestige versus functional brands. Brands positioned on the basis of prestige, such as Rolex, have abstract brand concepts that are more elastic and can successfully expand into a variety of product categories. In contrast, brands positioned on functional attributes, such as Timex (reliability), are less elastic and are more successful if they extend to offerings that conform to the functional nature of the brand.
In this article, the authors find that, contrary to prior research, functional brands can extend to distant product categories if consumers engage in a certain style of thinking. When evaluating brand extensions, consumers with an analytic style of thinking focus on the specific attributes or products usually associated with the parent brand and try to match these features with those of the extension. Consumers with holistic styles of thinking seek out alternative ways to relate the extension to the parent brand, such as overall brand reputation, regardless of whether the extension conforms to the same attribute or product category profile as the parent brand. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors find that styles of thinking influence a brand’s elasticity when it has a functional brand concept. For prestige brands, analytic and holistic thinkers respond similarly to distant extensions of these brands. However, for functional brands, holistic thinkers evaluate distant extensions more favorably than analytic thinkers. Thus, analytic thinkers are the main roadblock for functional brands trying to extend into distant product categories.
In three subsequent studies (Studies 3, 4, and 5), the authors turn their attention to managerial strategies to increase the acceptance of distant extensions of functional brands among analytic thinkers. To meet this challenge, the authors offer several strategies, including (1) using a subbrand (Excer wallets by Toyota) instead of a direct brand (Toyota wallets) to reduce analytic thinking; (2) using elaborational communications, which address potentially problematic features of the extension, to reduce analytic thinking; and (3) matching extension information with the consumer’s style of thinking, which increases the persuasiveness of ad messages. Thus, contrary to prior research, functional brands can be extended widely, even into distant product categories, as long as managers employ strategies to address the potential objections of analytic thinkers.
Biography
Alokparna (Sonia) Basu Monga is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. She received a PhD in Marketing from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Lancaster University. Sonia’s research interests lie in the area of consumer behavior, broadly focusing on how consumers respond to branding activities (e.g., brand extensions, cobranding) as a function of their inherent analytic or holistic processing styles, self-construal, cultural orientation, and chronic power concerns. Sonia’s research has appeared in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She is currently on the editorial review board of Journal of Consumer Psychology. As a doctoral student, she received the Lieberman award for teaching excellence at the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation won the Association for Consumer Research/Sheth dissertation award for cross-cultural research.
Deborah Roedder John is a professor and Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Marketing in the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She received her PhD in Marketing from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She is an expert in consumer behavior, specializing in consumer brand management and children’s consumer behavior. In the branding area, her current research focuses on brand dilution, consumer response to brand extensions, and brand equity measurement. Professor John has published her research and served on the editorial review boards of Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She is a past president of the Association for Consumer Research and a former associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research. She consults for various organizations in the areas of brand research, brand dilution, and trademark infringement.
Journal of Marketing, Volume 74, Number 3, May 2010
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