Brand Management Summary

Constructs:

* Consumer based brand equity: The differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. It involves consumers’ reactions to an element of the marketing mix for the brand in comparison with their reactions to the same marketing mix element attributed to a fictitiously named/unnamed version of the product or service.

* Managing CBBE: (1) take a broad and long-term view of marketing a brand (2) specify the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits for a brand (3) consider a wide range of traditional and nontraditional advertising, promotion and marketing options (4) coordinate the marketing options that are chosen (5) conducting tracking studies and controlled experiments (6) evaluate potential extension candidates.

Implications:

* Marketing activity can potentially enhance or maintain consumers’ awareness of the brand or the favorability, strength or uniqueness of certain associations. * This enables making short- and long-term decisions better and more insightful. Article 2: Esch, Franz-Rudolf, Tobias Langer, Bernd H. Schmitt and Patrick Geus (2006), “Are Brands Forever? How Brand Knowledge and Relationships Affect Current and Future Purchases,” Journal of Product & Brand Management, 15, 2, 98-105 Constructs:

* Brand attributes: awareness, image, perceived quality, perceived value, personality, and organizational associations. * Brand knowledge attributes: awareness and image, where awareness is a necessary condition to build brand image. * Brand relationships:

* Satisfaction: the exchange aspects of a relationship. It’s about giving vs. receiving. * Trust: the feeling that is the outcome of a communal relationship with a brand. * Attachment: a longer-lasting, commitment-inducing bond between the brand and the consumer. Satisfaction and Trust lead to brand Attachment. * Behavioral outcomes: Current purchase behavior and future purchase behavior.

Findings:

* Current purchases are affected by brand image directly and by brand awareness indirectly. * Future purchases are not affected by either dimension of brand knowledge directly, but brand knowledge does affect future purchases via a brand relationship path that includes brand satisfaction, brand trust and attachment to the brand. Concluding, brand knowledge is not sufficient to build long-term brand relationships. However, relationship variables are critical for predicting future purchases as well as current purchases. * Brand awareness does not significantly affect brand satisfaction and brand trust. * Brand awareness affects brand image and both are direct determinants of current consumer purchase behavior.

Implications:
* Currently, brand managers measure brand awareness and brand image. They should also consider brand relationship measures and develop strategic and tactical initiatives that ensure that consumers are satisfied with the brand, trust it and feel attached to it if they wish to achieve long-term success.

Lecture notes (27-08-2012): Introduction to Brand Management

Once, products were un-differentiable, often sold loose, the quality varied significantly and many people made the same thing. To make buyers prefer your ‘commodity’, brands were introduced: * A name, sign or symbol intended to identify the goods & services of one (group of) sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. It creates reputation, awareness and prominence.

Organizations perceive brands as physical products, where customers perceive it as psychological products, since they want to buy brands and not simply products. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. It consists of 4 levels: Core benefit, tangible product, augmented product and total product. * A brand is a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. It makes products different in a rational, tangible, symbolic, emotional and intangible way.

In reality, the most valuable assets are intangible ones.

A brand is important for
* Customers because: it’s an identification of a production source, it assigns responsibility to the maker, it reduces risk, it reduces search cost, it forms a bond / pact with the maker of the product, it is a symbolic device, and a sign of quality. * Manufacturers because: it allows identification to simplify handling or tracing, it allows legal protection of unique features, it’s a signal of quality level, it endows unique associations to products, it’s a source of competitive advantage and a source of financial returns.

As long is something is perceived as different, from the product category, it is branded. It should be given a label and provided a meaning. Types of things that can be branded: 1) Physical goods 2) Services 3) Retailers & Distributors 4) Online products and Services 5) People and Organizations 6) Sports, Arts and Entertainment (experience goods like Walt Disney and Pixar) 7) Geographic Locations 8) Ideas and Causes.

Brands Fail because market conditions change, where some companies fail to adapt (inertia).

Business Challenges & Opportunities:
* Savvy customers: More experienced customers demand more than respect. * Brand proliferation: few products are ‘mono’ branded nowadays. Often, complex brand families and portfolios are required. * Media fragmentation: New methods of communication arise (internet) and expenditures appear to shift from advertising to promotion. * Increased costs: Developing new products is costly so team up with other brands. * Increased competition: Differentiation becomes more difficult, markets start to be more mature and low-priced competitors arise.

Consider brand extensions. * Greater accountability: Engage short-term performance orientation, make sure you have your figures right. Customer Based Brand Equity: (1) Differential effect that (2) brand knowledge has on (3) consumer response to the marketing of that brand. Marketing a product should make the consumers’ response more favorable compared to not branding the product. Types are: * Consumer brand equity: A positive, strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. * Financial brand equity: enables earning more in the short and long run.

The Strategic Brand Management Process (to build, measure and manage brand equity): 1. Identify and Establish brand positioning and values: It is your attempt to get in the mind of the consumer in a distinct and valued place. This includes mental maps, a competitive frame of reference, points of parity & difference, core brand values and brand mantra. It is also about who is in your market. 2. Plan and implement brand marketing programs: The mixing and matching of brand elements (visual or verbal?), integrating brand marketing activities and leverage of secondary associations that convey meaning to consumers. 3. Measure and interpret brand performance: Use brand value chains (how will our activities influence what customers think, feel and do), audits, tracking, and equity management systems.

What is a Business Value Chain:

a. Customer brand equity management goal: build, sustain, and leverage a strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. b. Financial brand equity goal: to enable more earnings in the short and long run. 4. Grow & Sustain brand equity (how to improve things): concepts that are used are brand-product matrixes (shows all brands and products sold by one firm), brand portfolios and hierarchies, brand expansion strategies and brand reinforcement and revitalization.

The 6 deadly sins of branding:

1. Brand Memory loss: don’t forget what a brand stands for, don’t change identity. 2. Brand Egoism: overestimating your (supplying) capabilities and importance. 3. Brand Deception: Don’t include fictional ingredients that appear healthy or try to cover the reality of your product. 4. Brand fatigue: Companies are bored with their brands, causing a lack of creativity. 5. Brand paranoia: Too much focus on competition instead of product quality. 6. Brand irrelevance: Not staying ahead of the product category’s market. Lecture notes WC week 1 (29-08-012 / Red Bull Case):

Sources of brand equity for Red bull:

* First mover advantage, premium pricing, and special ingredients (taurine). * New market creation (energy drink), and an all round occasion product. * Sampling often, source efficacy, cool image, limited availability, and specific associations such as sports and athletes. Their strategy is a global approach. Tactics are always similar, and sports are always important. How does the marketing program contribute to the brand equity: * They have a broad positioning, aiming for high quality and high price, being a premium product and being exclusive.

Some terminology:

* Disruptive products are those that break the rules, the normal way of doing business. * They do so ‘below the line’ by using exceptional promotion activities. * They do so ‘above the line’ by using out of the box marketing. * Share of voice: Share of expenditures on advertising, as a share of the product category. * Share of belly: Share in all types of drinks consumption. * The most important things for branded products are involvement and interest. * ‘Jump on the bandwagon’ means following the mainstream (Bullit vs. Red Bull). Why are Red bull’s advertisements so successful and how do they maintain their marketing monumentum?

* High integration and a consistent program.
* Limited availability, which causes buzz marketing.
* Their ads use a specific humorous tone of voice, which builds awareness. Findings of the energy drink experiment:
* All energy drinks increase blood pressure. Placebos only do so under high motivation. Red bull and brand extensions (the key to success is a ‘fit’ with your brand): * What did they do already? Shots, different tastes, Red Bull cola, Premix with alcoholics, refrigerators, and using different sizes. * Which ones were successful? Different sizes, sports events, magazines, shows, and the flagship store that sells a lot of merchandise. * Which ones were unsuccessful? Different tastes, Cola, and energy shots.

Week 2: Branding Objectives: Values, Identity and Positioning Article 1: Brown, Tom J., Peter A. Dacin, Michael G. Pratt and David A. Whetten (2006) “Identity, Intended Image, Construed Image, and Reputation: An Interdisciplinary Framework and Suggested Terminology,” Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 34, 2, 99-106

Constructs according to CED (Central, enduring, and distinctive organizational level of analysis): * Identity: An individual’s self-difinition / who are we as an organization. * Organizational identity: the property of a social group rather than an individual. * Intended Image: mental associations about the organization that organization leaders want important audiences / stakeholders to hold. * Construed image: Mental associations that organization members believe individuals or multiple people outside the organization hold about the organization. * Reputation: mental associations about the organization actually held by others outside the organization.

Findings:
* Image concerns what an organizational member wants others to know about the organization, while reputation is a perception of the organization actually held by an external stakeholder. * Corporate associations belong with the stakeholder, not to the organization. They may be influenced by a variety of outside sources: competitors, industry analysts, consumer activists and the media in addition to communications from the company.

Implications:
* Not mentioned

Article 2: Coleman, Darren, Leslie de Chernatory and George Christodoulides (2011) “B2B Service Brand Identity: Scale Development and Validation,” Industrial Marketing Management, 40, 1063-1071

Constructs:
* B2B service brand identity: the strategist’s vision of how a B2B service brand should be perceived by its stakeholders. It consists of the following scale dimensions: * Marketing Culture: unwritten policies and guidelines which provide employees with behavioral norms. It’s also about the importance an organization places on the marketing function. * Client relationship management: relationships with customers are the cornerstone of industrial marketing. Therefore, the quality of CRM is very important. * Corporate Visual identity: logos can simplify the process of communicating brand benefit by being visual metaphors. They also help distinguishing a brand. * Integrated marketing communications: they help an organization’s brand identity manifest. For B2B, communications focus on organization rather than products. * Brand personality: The strength, favorability and uniqueness of the brand personality association. It should be easy to describe by clients, and favourable.

Findings:
* After two factor analyses, the paper chose to rename some dimensions: * Employee & client focus: The organization treats employees & clients as an essential part of the organization, will help them in a responsive manner, will discover and respond to their needs, and top management is committed to providing quality service. * Corporate visual identity: Our font and logo is an important part of our visual identity, which makes us recognizable. * Brand personality: Associations are extremely positive and favorable, and clients have no difficulty describing them.

* Consistent communications: There’s a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all communication tools. Furthermore, Advertising, PR and Sales are providing consistent messages. * Human resource initiatives: There are employee-training programs designed to develop skills required for acquiring and deepening client relationships. Moreover, the organization regularly monitors employees’ performance. * The model is now empirical instead of conceptual. In addition, it is a synergistic network since all dimensions are highly correlated.

Implications:
* When managers want to asses the effectiveness of B2B service brand identity efforts, they should focus on either one or multiple of the above mentioned dimensions and measure them over time.

Article 3: Chernev, Alexander, Ryan Hamilton and David Gal (2011) “Competing for Consumer Identity: Limits to Self-Expression and the Perils of Lifestyle Branding,” Journal of Marketing, 75, May, 66-82

Constructs:
* Self-expression of lifestyle and social identity: this is enabled by a huge degree of customization for certain products and also by social media.

Findings (keep in mind that all findings discuss short-term effects): * Consumer brand preferences are a function of the activities they were involved in prior to evaluating a given brand. This finding holds because the need for self-expression is finite and ultimately can be satiated. This means that the need for self-expressive brands decreases as the number of alternative means of self-expression increases.

* The extent to which consumers use brands to express their identities is not limited to self-expressive brands in the same category but it is also a function of the availability of alternative means of expressing identity. Satiation is caused by: * Personal brand relevance: how close is the brand related to your identity. Brands evaluated later in a set were more likely to be rated lower or equivalent in terms of personal relevance. * Perceived brand uniqueness: How brands are perceived to be different. * Consumers’ willingness to pay.

* Increasing the prominence of self-expressive brands that are already a part of a consumer’s identity is likely to weaken future brand preferences. This holds between and across product categories. This effect is more pronounced for symbolic than functional brands: * Brand associations should be distinguished: Functional and symbolic associations. * Increasing the need for self-expression (e.g. by threatening identity) has the effect of strengthening brand preferences. * Self-expressive behavioral acts such as product customization can lead to identity saturation, weakening consumers’ brand preferences.

Implications:
* Brands might possibly compete across categories and become a part of a person’s identity. * Lifestyle branding has proven to be successful for many brands. However, managers may be trading fierce within-category functional competition for fierce across-category symbolic competition when doing so. All self-expressive brands could end up competing with one another, and possibly even non-brand self-expressive items and social media. * More practical: It might be unattractive to have a shop with self-expressive products next to another shop selling such (Apple Store).

Article 4: Naresh, Sheena G. (2012) “Do Brand Personalities Make a Difference to Consumers?,” , Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 37, 31-37

Constructs:
* When associated to image, brand uniqueness or identity is the arrangement of words, ideas and associations that structure the total perception of the brand. * Brand personality: the set of human characteristics associated with the brand. It makes brands more interesting, memorable, and it makes people more aware. The Big 5: * Sincerity: Down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful (Douwe Egberts). * Excitement: Daring, spirited, imaginative, up to date (Porsche). * Competence: reliable, intelligent, successful (ABN AMRO). * Sophistication: Upper class, Charming (Mercedes).

* Ruggedness: Outdoorsy, Tough (Levis, Nike, Marlboro). * Brand personality statement: what personality managers want their consumers to perceive. * Brand personality profile: what the consumers are thinking and feeling about the brand.

Findings:
* Sentimental brand personalities are common for all fast moving consumer goods. Secondly, most FMCGs are characterized as young, successful and inspiring. Finally, success, friendliness, trendiness, uniqueness, modernization and glamour are often found.

Implications:
* Marketers should focus on strengthening their strategies by emphasizing personality traits of their brands. This can cause strategic changes in brand positioning or communications.

Lecture notes Week 2 (03-09-2012):
If your customers don’t know who you are, they won’t buy. You have to show who you are in order to do business. The circle of brand management: * Strategists propose an identity by using a certain strategy marketers and PR build on this strategy by choosing a position and messaging this position (potential) customers generate a brand image based on these messages strategists can again build a strategy to reposition the image of the consumers.

§1: Brand Identity: How strategists want the brand to be perceived: * It explains whether an ad suits the brand, whether new products should be launched inside or outside the brand boundaries, how far can we change our communication style regionally and internationally, or whether sponsorship would ‘fit’ the brand. * Definition: the unique composition of physical, social and psychological components of a brand as far as they are crucial, lasting and remarkable.

* What’s the vision & aim of a company, what makes it different, what are its values, what need is the brand fulfilling, what is its permanent nature, and what signs make it recognizable. * Aspects: CED: Central, Enduring (whether it’s consistent over time) & Distinctive. * Components: Physical (external characteristics, logo), Psychological (experiences, character, point of view), Social (spokesperson, category, relationship, users).

§1.1 Heritage, consisting of history, consistency, passion and leadership. Effects are: * (1) Authentic real (2) trustworthy safe (3) intimate warm (4) expert excellence in performance and experience. * Sources are people, the firm itself, and region & nation; human capital, social capital, cultural capital & natural capital. * Country of origin is very important, and countlessly many papers have covered it.

§1.2 Personality & Values:
* For the Big Five personality indicators/dimensions, see page 9 article 4. * Prototypical cues help distinguishing things between product categories. It also helps in creating expectance. * Values are stable, desirable modes of conduct or abstract end-states that direct behavior. Milton R. defined 18 instrumental & 18 terminal values that can be used to find identity. * Core brand values: abstract associations that characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand. These serve the foundation of a brand strategy, and in particular the POPs and PODs (see page 11). For BMW this would be stylish driving, for Marlboro the cowboy life.

* Brand Mantras: the ‘heart and soul’ of a brand: a 3-to-5 word phrase that captures the essence or spirit of the brand positioning and values. Malibu: seriously easy going. Here, campaigns are more about context rather than content; the expression of the brand is more important than the brand itself. Brand mantra’s consist of: * (1) Brand function (Authenticity for NIKE), (2) Descriptive modifier (Athletic for NIKE), (3) Emotional modifier (Performance for NIKE). * Implementing a mantra requires: communication simplification inspiration.

§1.3 Vision: The brand’s dream about the future.
It is about shaping the category and improving customers’ welfare. Visions are provocative and can guide short-term behavior by communicating direction.

The Brand Identity Prism to the left discusses (1) physique (features, symbols, attributes), (2) Personality, (3) Culture (set of values), (4) Relationship (beliefs and associations), (5) Reflection (consumers’ perception) and (6) Self-image (What the consumer thinks of himself). §1.4 Brand Image: How the brand is actually perceived:

* Identification: Brand awareness & category structure.
* Qualification: Brand associations & meaning structure. §2 Brand Positioning: The part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively communicated to a target audience. It is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. The following paragraphs represent the steps that should be taken when positioning a brand. §2.1 (step A) Frame of Reference: Who is the target customer and who are the main competitors? Here, we define category membership: * Target markets can be defined by segmentation. Segmentation can be done on the basis of consumers (descriptive, behavioral, psychographic or geographic) or B2B (nature of the goods, buying conditions, demographics). Combinations are also possible. Criteria: * Identifiability, size, accessibility, responsiveness.

* Take into account that there are different types of competition, namely on product type, category or class. In addition, competition may occur at benefit level rather than attribute level (see paper 3 page 8). * When comparing at category level, 1 brand is the reference brand and several others are compared to that. If you’re the reference brand, consider improvements on prices and quality. Be aware that decreases in attributes hurt more than for non-reference brands. When you’re not a reference brand, any POD from the reference brand is a loss. Therefore, reference brand have competitive advantages.

* Prospect theory: Extra value diminishes as available gains increase. * When you’re launching a new brand, all ‘usual’ category characteristics will first have to be transferred. ‘Creating’ a category is not advised and very expensive (Subway food). Copying prototypical cues can be used by the follower brand to be accepted in the category (e.g. fast food using Red & Yellow / McDo).

§2.2 (step B) POPs & PODs are chosen after defining the frame of reference: * Points of Parity: How is the brand similar to others in the category, how can they be associated and compared. Moreover, which associations are shared? Category POPs are necessary to be a legitimate and credible product offering within a category. Competitive POPs negate PODs of competitors. * Points of Difference: How is the brand different to others in the category? It’s about brand associations that are unique to the brand and favorably evaluated by consumers. They can be functional (performance related) or abstract (imagery-related). They’re also closely related to unique selling propositions, competitive advantages and distinctive competences. They’re more difficult to obtain than POPs.

PODs and POPs can be defined using the following typology: Intrinsic product differentiation, Design/Style differentiation, Symbolic Differentiation, Channel Differentiation, Price Differentiation, Customer Service differentiation, Customer intimacy differentiation. Choosing PODS and POPs is based on: * Desirability: Relevance, distinctiveness and believability. * Deliverability: Feasibility, communicability and sustainability.

§2.3 (Step C) Establishing POPs and PODs:
This can be difficult since many POPs and PODs are negatively correlated (e.g. High quality and low price). Methods that can solve this problem are (1) separation of attributes (2) Leveraging equity of another entity (3) redefining the relationship.

§2.4 Use and usage situation:
What is the brand promise and consumer benefit? And what is the occasion when the product will be consumed? The best moment to confront customers with product (advertisements) is when they really need it (e.g. In India, detergent ads are place on top of buses, since everyone does their laundry on the balcony where they see these tops).

§2.5 Statement and tags
Are the current looks and ingredients compatible with its positioning? There are multiple elements that will evaluate and choose a brand positioning: 1. The Target audience
2. The compelling benefit
3. The reason why customers should believe the PODs
4. Product Name
5. Product Category

Week 3: Special Branding Strategies

Article 1: Keller, Kevin Lane and Philip Kotler (2012) “Branding in B2B firms” in: Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, edited by Gary l. Lilien and Rajdeep Grewal, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.

Constructs:
* B2B branding: might not be needed because buyers are experienced and fully informed, it’s more about the buying experience, it involves unnecessary costs, effects are only short-term, calculating ROI is difficult, brand building is complex and because it doesn’t significantly influence the buyers’ final decision.

Findings:
* The Brand Management Scorecard:
a. Managers understand what the brand means to customers. b. The brand is properly positioned. c. Customers receive superior delivery of the benefits they value most. d. The brand takes advantage of the full repertoire of branding and marketing activities available to build brand equity. e. Marketing and communications efforts are seamlessly integrated. The brand communicates with one voice. f. The brand’s pricing strategy is based on customer perceptions of value. g. The brand uses appropriate imagery to support its personality. h. The brand is innovative and relevant.

i. For a multiproduct, multi-brand firm, the brand hierarchy and brand portfolio are strategically sound. j. The firm has in place a system to monitor brand equity and performance. * Steps to build and manage a strong brand:

a. Ensure the organization understands and supports branding and the role of brand management. Moreover, internal branding is important (next two steps): b. Horizontal and vertical alignment: branding efforts should be understood by all. c. Brand mantras: (see p10 §1.2) will consistently reinforce and support the brand. a. A General Electric application: for this firm, more then a brand mantra was integrated successfully through 11 different businesses. d. Adopt a corporate brand strategy if possibly and create a well-defined brand hierarchy: (Carefully) decide on brand architecture (distinctive brand elements applied to the different products sold by the firm). Corporate branding is preferred. e. Corporate credibility: competence in delivery and satisfaction for the client. It depends on expertise, trustworthiness and likability.

f. Brand hierarchy: Significantly different sub-businesses require sub-brands. g. Frame Value Perceptions: Strive for differentiation and value rather than commoditization. Framing is about how clients currently think and choose among products and services, and then determining how this ideally should be. h. Link non-product-related imagery associations: Apple is perceived as an innovative brand, where Microsoft is more of an aggressive firm. Consider how dimensions of corporate credibility affect decisions of the B2B customer. i. Uncover relevant emotional associations for the brand: Security, social approval and self-respect definitely play a role.

In addition, how do risk and feelings influence a customers decision making? j. Emotions and decision-making: Ultimately, individuals rather than organizations make purchasing decisions. These people are influenced by emotions & ratio. k. Segment Customers carefully and develop tailored branding and marketing programs. Should there be a uniform image within and across firms? l. Segmentation within organizations: the ‘buying center’ brings together initiators, users, influencers, deciders, approvers, buyers and gatekeepers. People fulfill multiple of these tasks, but all should be approached with identical messages. m. Segmentation across organizations: careful customer analysis is required for successful segmentation.

Implications: Not mentioned.

Article 2: Desai, Kalpesh Kaushik and Kevin Lane Keller (2002) “The Effects of Ingredient branding Strategies on Host Brand Extendibility,” Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, (January), 73- 93.

Constructs:
* Line extensions: minor product changes in the host brand, possibly already introduced by others in the category. When these changes are branded, they’re further defined as: * Slot-filler brand expansions: the level of one existing product attribute changes. * New attribute expansion: an entirely new attribute or characteristic is added to the product. * Self-branded ingredient: the host brand includes and creates a new self-brand. * Co-branded ingredient branding: using associated brands as ingredients (Dell & Intel) that are supplied by another firm.

Findings:
* For Slot-filler expansions, a cobranded ingredient facilitates initial expansion acceptance, but a self-branded ingredient leads to more favorable subsequent category extension evaluations. Subjects appeared not to credit the host brand for the cobrand association in evaluating subsequent extensions, and if anything, they held it against the host brand. * For new attribute expansions, a co-branded ingredient leads to more favorable evaluations of both the initial expansion and the subsequent category extension. Because a self-branded ingredient did not help ‘broaden’ the equity of the host brand, and because the host brand may have lacked credibility, an extension involving a self-branded ingredient was less favorably evaluated. * Should ingredients be branded? Yes, it improves the competitiveness of the host brand and it’s a signal of quality when combining high quality brands.

Implications:
* Besides helping improve the competitiveness of the host brand, the new attribute can, in some cases, expand the usage of the host brand. * Co-branding might enhance short-term equity of a host and its value, even under low fit. However, in the long-term co-branding will require more fit to the category. After all, they’re borrowing and not generating equity themselves. * Evaluations of slot-filler extensions suffer after the cobrand that was originally used in the expansion is dropped from the extension.

Article 3: Gussoni, Manuela and Andrea Mangani (2012) “Corporate branding strategies in mergers and acquisitions,” Journal of Brand Management, I 350-213IX, 1-16

Constructs:
* Corporate name is a strategic marketing asset and carries the corporation’s reputation. * Mergers & Acquisitions: can be classified as:
* Conservative: the new entity adopts the acquirer’s or the target’s corporate name. * Innovative: the new entity uses a mixed or new name. * Horizontal: if the combining entities are active in the same industry and produce similar goods & services. * Vertical: if the combining entities are active in the same industry but at separate production stages (buying buyers or suppliers). * Divisional acquisition: acquiring /merging only some divisions of companies. * Diversification: if the combining entities are active in separate industries * Financial investments: if a financial investor, typically a private equity investment firm, acquires a manufacturing or service company.

Findings:
* Divisional acquisition, vertical integrations, diversifications and the sectors involved do not affect the probability of the strategy being innovative. * Inventing a new name for a target is unusual.

* Innovative brand strategies are more probably in the case of mergers (as opposed to acquisitions), horizontal M&As and financial investments. More specifically, a mixed name is the preferred option since value and reputation of both names will be involved. * When doing a financial investment, the acquirer doesn’t transfer it’s name, but chooses between keeping the acquired name or changing it in case of bad reputation. * Horizontal M&As tend to extend the name of the acquirer to the target.

Implications:
* Management and chanting of brands and corporate names may have a profound impact within organizations. Therefore we recommend carefully interpreting our and other studies regarding naming strategies. * Marketing during a M&A process is often underestimated.

Article 4: Ilicic, Jasmina and Cynthia M. Webster (2012) “Celebrity co-branding partners as irrelevant brand information in advertisements,” Journal of Business Research

Constructs:

* Celebrities are identified as co-branding partners, where two brands (one being the celebrity) are paired with one another in a marketing context such as an advertisement. * Their should be a match between the celebrity and brand image to achieve positive effects on consumer attitudes. * A celebrity not only provides consumers with relevant brand information when they convey characteristics pertinent to the brand but also when they mention information relevant to the endorsed brand. * Irrelevant information provided by a celebrity endorser also aids in making a judgment about whether the brand is able to deliver the benefit according to the consumer. This holds regardless of whether relevant brand information is also present. * Dilution effect in marketing: Dilution of consumers’ beliefs might occur when a celebrity provides both irrelevant and relevant brand information. This effect is present regardless of whether consumers perceive the celebrity to match or mismatch the brand.

Findings:

* When a celebrity co-branding partner does not provide information about the partner brand nor brand benefits but plays a peripheral role, consumer judgments in the ability of the partner brand to deliver benefits, their purchase intent and their match-up perceptions become less positive. * Consumer brand benefit beliefs and purchase intentions show evidence of a dilution effect only when consumers perceive a mismatch between the celebrity and brand and when presented with irrelevant information supplied by a celebrity in addition to relevant brand information. When purely relevant information is presented, dilution does not occur. * Dilution occurs on perceived brand benefits, purchase intentions and match-up perception between the celebrity and the brand.

Implications:

* Ensure that a celebrity co-partner does not provide irrelevant brand information within advertisements to avoid brand benefit belief, purchase intent and match-up dilution. * Advertisements should feature an irrelevant and incongruent celebrity in combination with relevant brand information.