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The purpose of this paper is to test and model the effect of parent brand salience, branding strategy and extension innovativeness positioning on the extent of transfer of associations from the parent brand to a brand extension.

A field experiment based on a 2×2×2 between‐subjects completely randomized factorial design involving 808 consumers was conducted. Three factors were manipulated: parent brand salience, product innovativeness, and the branding strategy.

The paper finds that, in addition to the main effects of salience and the branding strategy, all three factors jointly influence the extent of transfer of associations from a parent brand to an extension.

Despite the external validity of a natural experiment, some uncontrolled factors may have influenced the results. Also, transfer was assessed within time constraints (i.e. the time to complete the survey). The “duration” of any transfer effect is likely to be related to the ad exposure, which could be tested in future research.

The findings are important for line extension development since they suggest that the launch of an extension can be designed to maximize or minimize transfer of brand associations from the parent brand to a new line extension, depending on the specific marketing objectives for the parent brand and/or extension.

This paper fills an important gap in the literature in terms of identifying product innovativeness, parent brand salience and the branding strategy as synergistic factors affecting transfer of brand associations for parent brands to their extensions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which the accessibility of established parent brand information and the diagnosticity of newly launched horizontal and upward service line extensions affect transfer and reciprocal transfer of brand associations.

A field study using a survey methodology based on a 2×2 experimental random design was conducted with a sample representative of the target population of an established bank in Eastern Canada. Two levels of parent brand accessibility (high/low) and two levels of line extension (upward/horizontal) were tested. Pretests were conducted, and the analysis of results was done using a three-point-in-time confirmatory factorial analysis for each cell.

The findings indicate that for a newly launched horizontal service line extension, when accessibility of an established parent brand is high, information transfer and reciprocal transfer of brand associations is strong and complete. When accessibility is low, transfer is strong but incomplete, leading to partial dilution of the parent brand. In the case of a newly launched upward service line extension, for both high- and low-accessibility contexts, only key diagnostic parent brand associations transfer to the extension. Reciprocal transfer is strong, leading to a significant dilution of the parent brand.

Other kinds of extensions (e.g. downward, distant), other types of services, and consumer goods could be tested to observe the extent to which transfer works.

This study provides key findings to managers who are responsible for launching newly created service line extensions (horizontal and upward). When evaluating a new vertical service line extension, consumers actively process the available information at hand (e.g. print advertising, point-of-purchase materials), but key diagnostic associations of the parent brand tend to persist over time. Thus, marketers must be careful when using or not using parent brand information during launch, though an upward service line extension is likely to dilute the parent brand’s equity, either positively or negatively.

This paper brings new insights to the service branding literature with respect to the dynamics of transfer of brand associations between service line extensions (horizontal and upward) and their parent brands. Drawing on the accessibility-diagnosticity framework, it closes an important theoretical knowledge gap regarding the persistence over time of accessible vs diagnostic parent brand information in the mechanisms of transfer of brand associations to and from different types of service extensions.

Most research on branding highlights the role of associations for a single brand. Many firms, however, have multiple brands and/or different versions of one brand. The latter is largely the case for many corporate brands. This paper aims to broaden the understanding of corporate brand associations and their transfer within the firm’s brand and product portfolio. In particular, this paper also examines the concept of corporate brand innovativeness and the influence of brand architecture as supportive and restrictive boundary conditions for its transfer.

This conceptual paper explains the nature, benefits and challenges of corporate brand innovativeness within the context of a firm’s brand architecture. On the basis of a literature review, the authors provide an overview of the domain and derive avenues for future research.

Research and practice have not fully realised the importance of corporate brand images for supporting a firms’ product portfolio. In particular, (corporate) marketing managers need to consider the potential value of favourable perceptions of corporate brand innovativeness across products and the moderating role of brand architecture.

More empirical research is needed to understand the reciprocal relationship and transfer between corporate and product brand associations and equity.

A corporate marketing perspective allows firms to use corporate brand associations to support products and services for that brand. This paper discusses perceived corporate brand innovativeness as one particularly important corporate brand association.

The authors discuss the use of corporate brand associations under the consideration of brand architectures and boundaries and draw on several research streams in the brand management literature. Much of the branding and innovation literature centres on the product level; research on corporate brand innovativeness has been relatively neglected.

The paper seeks to discuss and analyse the nature of place umbrella brands and the role such brands play in promotion of a country, a region, or a city. The purpose is also to identify some salient success criteria of provenance associations as core values of place umbrella brands.

The study delineates a conceptual framework, which illustrates important components in place umbrella branding. It also highlights a set of criteria to aid prioritisations among prospective provenance associations that have a potential to be used as brand values of place umbrella brands.

The paper identifies some characteristics of provenance associations, which make them more transferable across a bundle of umbrella brand partners. The generation of better marketing theory in the field of place branding will make it easier for practitioners to reach the right decisions in choice of provenance associations.

It is claimed that transcendence is related to the transferability of provenance associations across a bundle of brands. Because transferability strongly depends on perceptions of similarity, the starting point is to identify matches between the partner brands based on their shared provenance.

The article ends with a recommendation that researchers in place branding should carefully analyze provenance associations according to the suggested criteria.

Understanding brand associations and their role in the formation of attitude towards brands is necessary for managers to understand fully the dynamics of their brands and how consumers evaluate and make brand choices. This research paper aims to explore the role of brand associations in the formation of an attitude towards a brand alliance.

A series of hypothetical alliances using real brands were presented to undergraduate students. Data were gathered from a series of open‐ended free associations for the brands alone and in their alliances, and structured questions regarding quality and likelihood of purchase for the alliance attitude rating.

The study identified that brand associations, which are positive on an individual basis, can change when transferred to a new product category with a brand partner. Alliances with poor overall attitudes were often linked to associations of attributes of the original product class, whereas alliances with strong attitudes were linked to favourable associations related to the fit between the alliance partners.

The value of this study is that it has identified that consumers can become “locked in” to brand‐specific associations that may be hard to shift in a brand leverage strategy. Therefore, practitioners should factor into their decisions about whether or not to form a brand alliance not only concrete measures, but also the abstract nature of brand associations. This study focused on consumer brands and hypothetical alliances and used students as a sample. Different findings may therefore be found using non‐student samples, services brand or business‐to‐business brands.

Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular forms of marketing, and this study aims to suggest that celebrity endorsement should be considered as a brand alliance, where meanings and values can transfer from either partner to the other. This paper seeks to report on an exploratory attempt to identify the processes involved and explore whether celebrity endorsement should be considered a brand alliance.

After a review of both celebrity endorsement and brand alliance literature, a case of meaning transfer process was examined. The collaboration between Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was studied as a case, within which a special episode of negative publicity emerged and was analysed through newspaper articles.

A model for a reciprocal meaning transfer process is proposed and the existence of a brand‐alliance‐like relationship in the case is established.

The paper is the first qualitative study to examine meaning transfer process in a real life celebrity endorsement context. It indicates the need for managing celebrity endorsement as a brand alliance by suggesting that celebrity endorsement should be considered as an alliance of equals. A model illustrated and supported by a case study is proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the strategic positioning of associations that can be established between a corporate brand and entities in its surrounding network such as brands, product categories, persons, places and institutions.

A semiotic approach is used to describe image transfer processes between the corporate brand and other entities. The paper provides a structure to leverage the corporate brand in different product market contexts.

The paper offers the “corporate brand association base model” as a conceptual framework for brand‐to‐brand collaboration. The model structures how a corporate brand can develop more expansive brand architecture through transfer of image from sources of brand equity in the internal brand hierarchy and surrounding brand network.

A useful source for brand managers in the process of co‐positioning corporate brands and assessing risks, in relation to brands, product categories, persons and institutions. The framework will make it easier for brand managers to design strategic brand alliances.

The value of this study is that it has presented a model that adds depth and texture to the current academic discussion of corporate brand capitalization, by introducing a balance between in‐house leverage and external leverage of the corporate brand.

Despite the prevalence with which firms change the brand names they use, this research stream has received little academic attention. Managers confronted with brand name substitutions fear most a loss of brand equity, which would decrease their market share. This research aims to identify key influences that might enable companies to minimise their brand equity losses in response to brand name substitutions.

A preliminary qualitative investigation (20 semi‐directive interviews) pertained to better understand how brand equity loss might be minimised in the case of a brand name substitution. This qualitative research and a relevant literature review provided input for the questionnaire design. Furthermore, the resulting survey data from a sample of 300 consumers served for the test of the research propositions.

This study identifies five key influence factors that marketing managers can use to transfer brand equity in the case of brand name substitution, based on consumers' knowledge of the brand change, attitude toward brand change, perceived similarity between the old and new brands, degree of attachment to the initial brand, and recognition of the presence of an umbrella brand. Finally, the brand equity dimensions are interrelated, such that the transfer of perceived quality and brand image influences loyalty transfer, and brand quality transfer improves brand image transfer.

This research represents a first attempt to answer the pressing question: how can firms transfer brand equity successfully in the case of brand name substitution? The study also identifies for the first time key influence factors that favour brand equity transfer from an old to a new brand.

While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially with regard to the branding of celebrity CEOs. To contribute to this debate, this paper aims to explore the co-branding of celebrity CEOs and corporate brands, integrating endorsement theory and the concept of meaning transfer at a level of brand attributes.

A between-subjects true experimental design was chosen for each of the two empirical studies with a total of 268 participants, using mock newspaper articles about a succession scenario at the CEO level of different companies. The study is designed to analyse the meaning transfer from celebrity CEO to corporate brand and vice versa using 16 personality attributes.

This study gives empirical support for meaning transfer effects at the brand attribute level in both the celebrity-CEO-to-corporate-brand and corporate-brand-to-celebrity-CEO direction, which confirms the applicability of the concept of brand endorsement to celebrity CEOs and the mutuality in co-branding models. Furthermore, a more detailed and expansive perspective on the definition of endorsement is provided as well as managerial guidance for building celebrity CEOs and corporate brands in consideration of meaning transfer effects.

This study is one of only few analysing the phenomenon of meaning transfer between brands that focus on non-evaluative associations (i.e. personality attributes). It is unique in its scope, insofar as the partnering relationship between celebrity CEOs and corporate brands have not been analysed empirically from this perspective yet. It bridges the gap between application in practice and the academic foundations, and it contributes to a broader understanding and definition of celebrity endorsement.

This paper aims to examine whether brands derive their personalities from their culture of origin, the stereotypes about their cultures of their origin or the cultures of their buyers. It also examines which of a culture’s personality traits are more transmittable to brand personalities (BPs), as well as the consequences of the BP resemblance to the personalities of the brand’s culture of origin and consumers’ culture on BP’s clarity and consumer attachment to the brand.

Hypotheses were developed and tested on survey data from a sample figure of 1,116 US consumers of luxury brands on 23 luxury brands originating from France, the USA, Britain, Italy and Germany. Trait by trait and personality profile analyses were performed using hierarchical model analysis (linear mixed effects models) and Cattell’s (1969) pattern similarity coefficient.

The culture of a brand’s origin accounts for differences of different brands personalities. The personality profiles of a country’s brands are distinct from the BP profiles of brands from other countries. The conscientiousness trait of a culture is the most transmittable to BPs. BPs derive their characteristics from stereotypes of a culture’s personality than the actual personality of the culture. The assimilation of a brand’s personality to consumer’s culture is not supported. The similarity of a BP to both real and stereotypical personality of the culture of the brand’s origin enhance perceived clarity of the BP.

The study’s focus is limited to established luxury brands coming from countries that are the traditional producers of luxuries. Empirical evidence also comes only from American consumers of luxury brands. New luxury brands from countries that have recently emerged as luxury producers need to be included.

Brands retain a significant space to differentiate their personalities beyond the influence of their culture of origin on BPs. With the exception of conscientiousness, personality traits of culture are not automatically inherited or transmitted to the brands. Cultural stereotypes find their way into BPs easier than real personality traits and managers should focus on them. BP matching with the personality of a culture is a good way for managers to increase the perceived clarity of their brands’ personality.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the culture’s influence on BP using a compatible to the BP construct cultural framework, McCrae and Terracciano’s (2005a) personality of a culture framework. Three cultural meaning transfer processes are examined (cultural inheritance, cultural stereotyping and acculturation to the consumer’s culture) within the same study from a trait-by-trait and a configurational (i.e. personality profile) perspective. The consequences of BP similarity to the brand’s culture of origin as well as consumer’s culture on the BP’s appeal are also assessed.