Does the tail wag the dog? Brand personality in brand alliance evaluation
| Published date | 01 April 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420610668612 |
| Pages | 173-183 |
| Date | 01 April 2006 |
| Author | David O. James,Madge Lyman,Susan K. Foreman |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Does the tail wag the dog? Brand personality in
brand alliance evaluation
David O. James, Madge Lyman and Susan K. Foreman
Henley Management College, Henley-on-Thames, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to identify and test some strategic elements that consumers use when evaluating brand alliances.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores branding elements previously identified in the literature as being important to understanding
brand extensions, and seeks to identify whether these elements apply to brand alliances. Consumer reactions to, and their beliefs and attitudes about,
various fictitious brand alliances are explored.
Findings – Managers should focus on finding a similarity between brand alliance partners, not only in concrete dimensions but also in areas such as
brand personality. Where brands do fit together, the likelihood of consumers purchasing the new product is improved
Originality/value – When looking for brand alliance partners, there are strong consumer-based brand equity issues that need to be considered. This
study shows that there are other ways to measure these variables, and because of their impact on consumers’ decisions, they should be investigated
along with financial factors when considering an alliance.
Keywords Brands, Brand management, Brand identity, Brand extensions, Strategic alliances
Paper type Research paper
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Firms are constantly searching for growth opportunities to
exploit and leverage their existing brand equity. In the past
firms have looked to leverage via brand extensions and line
extensions. Continual leveraging of a brand stretches and
dilutes its equity as suitable product categories to leverage
into diminish. Evidence suggests that firms are now tur ning to
other forms of growth strategy to counter this. Brand
alliances, where two or more firms combine brands in
co-operative marketin g activities in the for m of brand
integration, is one such technique (Rao and Ruekert, 1994;
Simonin and Ruth, 1998; Aaker, 2004; James, 2005).
In September 2004, the alliance between AOL and Time
Warner to form AOL Time Warner underwent a dramatic
name change to Time Warner. An unattractive image and
reputation associated with AOL was a main reason cited for
the change, one analyst describing the AOL brand as a “very
unattractive tail on a very beautiful dog”. Dropping the AOL
prefix highlights a key risk in entering a brand alliance:
partners which a priori seem to offer powerful levels of
synergy fail to find suitable levels of fit when actually bound
together.
Though a rich vein of literature exists on leveraging existing
brands via brand and line extensions (Aaker and Keller, 1990;
Bottomley and Holden, 2001), there have been few scholarly
investigations into firms engaging in brand alliances. Rao and
Ruekert (1994) introduced the subject to a wider audience
and a number have examined consumer issues (Park and Jun,
1996; Samu et al., 1999; Rao et al., 1999; Ruth and Simonin,
2003). None of these studies used brand personality measures
when discussing consumer reactions to alliances, nor, did they
apply existing brand extension frameworks (James, 2006).
This study goes some way to addressing this gap by
examining consumer perceptions of brand personality in
brand alliances. The paper is structured as follows. First, the
objectives of the research are introduced, the literature
supporting the posited model examined and the resulting
hypothesis identified. The research methodology and data
collection techniques are presented, and the findings of the
study are discussed. Finally, a series of recommendations for
academics and practitioners based on the study findings are
offered.
Research objectives
The objective of this study is to identify and test some
strategic elements that consumers use when evaluating brand
alliances. It looks at branding elements previously identified
as important to understanding brand extensions (Aaker and
Keller, 1990; Batra et al., 1993; Bottomley and Holden,
2001) and seeks to identify whether these elements apply to
brand alliances. Overall consumer reactions to and their
beliefs and attitudes about various fictitious brand alliances
are explored. The study looks at abstract personality issues
and considers how consumer-rated brand personality traits fit
and transfer when two brands are presented in an alliance.
Conceptual model and theoretical base
Theoretical bases for previous brand alliance studies
originated in two areas. Both support the premise that prior
beliefs, attitudes about, and brand affect the perceptions and
beliefs about the same brand when presented with another in
a brand alliance.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
15/3 (2006) 173–183
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610420610668612]
173
To continue reading
Request your trial