Towards the formation of consensus in the domain of co-branding: Current findings and future priorities

Abstract

Co-branding has emerged as an attractive management option in the past three decades because of the growing realisation that it can exploit companies' existing brand equities. Despite extensive research into branding, existing knowledge about co-branding remains relatively limited. This article summarises the findings in the literature with regard to how co-branding strategies may benefit (or harm) both managers and end users, the mechanisms by which brands share their associations, and the conditions in which consumers might evaluate a co-branded product favourably (or unfavourably). To further our understanding of the factors that lead to successful co-branding arrangements, this article explores examples of successful and unsuccessful co-branding initiatives and introduces a value exchange framework to demonstrate how value is created within these co-branding arrangements. This research also defines the scope of co-branding by identifying the areas of agreement, disagreement and boundary conditions within this domain. Finally, an agenda for further research is set forth based on priorities found in the existing literature.

Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

“…Using the online context, we investigate if a consumerpackaged goods (CPG) brand benefits from advertising with a charity or a retailer and how this pairing affects ad recognition, brand recall, and the influence of ad context on audience memory. Our study addresses numerous calls for research into co-branding effectiveness from advertising and cognitive-processing perspectives (Besharat and Langan 2014;Helmig et al 2008;Leuthesser et al 2003).…”

Consumer perceptions of co-branding alliances: Organizational dissimilarity signals and brand fit

“…Co-branding alliances have primarily been studied from a marketing and brand management perspective (Bengtsson and Servais, 2005;Besharat and Langan, 2014;Gammoh and Voss, 2011). This perspective explores the effects of consumer perceptions of co-branding alliance partners, such as brand and product fit, brand awareness, quality perception, brand attitude, brand equity, and brand credibility on performance (Aghdaie et al, 2012;Levin et al, 1996;Park et al, 1996;Sénéchal et al, 2014;Simonin and Ruth, 1998;Swaminathan et al, 2015;Washburn et al, 2004).…”

“…Co-branding alliances, which are a 'strategy of presenting two or more independent brands jointly on the same product or service' (Erevelles et al, 2008, p. 940), have become increasingly popular in recent decades (Ahn and Sung, 2012;Baxter and Ilicic, 2015;Besharat and Langan, 2014;Helmig et al, 2008). Prior research has mainly been concerned with the drivers of customer evaluations of co-branding alliances (Gammoh and Voss, 2011), such as perceived partner brand fit (Park et al, 1996;Simonin and Ruth, 1998;Van der Lans et al, 2014).…”

Introduction to the special issue: Harnessing the power of brand and co-created innovation

“…A handy framework for thinking about these interdependencies is the brand-innovation virtuous circle, whereby: (i) brands support the introduction and adoption of innovation, (ii) innovations influence brand perceptions, attitudes and usage, and (iii) brands provide strategic focus and guidance to innovations (Brexendorf et al 2015). Despite this body of work, there remain calls for more detailed and specific investigations (Besharat and Langan 2014;Brexendorf et al 2015). These calls are particularly pertinent today because of new opportunities in digitally empowered marketplaces and in emerging markets (e.g.…”