Estensione della marca e fedeltà dei consumatori: l'impatto della consonanza percettiva

The article analyzes the effects that the extension of a brand with high awareness and image produces on brand attitudinal loyalty in existing and new category. Studies on brand extension have deeply investigated the effect of perceptual fit on consumer evaluations of brand extensions. Literature analysis shows that perceptual fit can be evaluated on the basis of the coherence between categories (category-to-category fit) and the coherence between brand and extension (brand-to-extension fit). When both category-to-category fit and brand-to-extension fit are high, brand extension produces positive effects on brand loyalty. This effect is negative when both category-to category fit and brand-to-extension fit are low. The results of the empirical study show that when there is only one kind of fit brand-to-extension fit seems more critical than category-to-category fit in order to achieve brand loyalty, both in the existing and in the new category.