Brand valueReceived (in revised form): 14th November, 2005ADAM ARVIDSSONteaches sociology of media and communication at the University of Copenhagen. Since attaining his PhD at theEuropean University Institute in Florence, he has worked extensively on the theory and history of marketing andadvertising. His new book, ‘Brands. Meaning and Value in Media Culture’, which develops the argument put forthin this paper, has just been published by Routledge. Adam is also involved as a senior social scientist in theActicsTM Ethnics Management System.。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
Alokparna Basu Monga & Deborah Roedder JohnWhat Makes Brands Elastic?TheInfluence of Brand Concept andStyles ofThinking on BrandExtension EvaluationWhy are some brands more elastic than others? Prior research shows that consumers are more accepting ofextensions into distant product categories for brands with prestige concepts (Rolex) than for brands with functionalconcepts (Timex). In this article, the authors examine consumers’ style of thinking-analytic versus holisticthinking-to better understand the elasticity of prestige versus functional brands. For functional brands, the authorsfind that holistic thinkers provide more favorable responses to distant extensions than analytic thinkers; however,for prestige brands, holistic and analytic thinkers respond equally favorably. Thus, analytic thinkers are identified asthe roadblocks for functional brands launching distant brand extensions. To meet this challenge, the authors offerseveral strategies, including (1) using a subbrand (Excer wallets by Toyota) instead of a direct brand (Toyota wallets)to reduce analytic thinking; (2) using elaborational communications, which address potentially problematic featuresof the extension, to reduce analytic thinking; and (3) matching extension information with the consumer’s style ofthinking, which increases the persuasiveness of ad messages.
