Brand alliances: the role of brand concept consistency

Purpose - Previous research demonstrates the importance of product category fit in evaluating brand alliances. However, many factors determine fit between alliance partners. For example, conclusions from brand extension research suggest that the evaluation is a question not only of product category fit, but also of brand concept consistency. Therefore, this study introduces brand concept consistency in research on brand alliances. Design/methodology/approach - The paper builds on the categorization and incongruence literature. An experiment was employed to test the two hypotheses in the study. Findings - The results indicate that both product category fit and brand concept consistency influence consumers' evaluations. However, the results also show that product category fit is important in only functional and mixed-brand concept-based alliances. For expressive brand alliances, product category fit is not important in evaluating the alliance. Practical implications - Managers should take care in finding potential alliance partners who have brands that in some way, either on the product category level or in brand concept, fit well with their company's brands. However, managers of a functional brand should find a partner whose brand has high product category fit, since low-fit partners presumably will hurt the potential alliance. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates that brand concept consistency, not only product category fit, is an important variable in consumer evaluations of brand alliances.