Brand transfer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brand transfer , also known as brand expansion , is the transfer of a brand to new products or products that were not originally labeled, as well as the transfer of a brand to new geographic markets.

Brand transfer is one of the two basic strategies for introducing new products and services (Fuchs 2004, p. 3f). In contrast to the new brand strategy, in which a new brand is devised for the product or service to be introduced, a brand transfer involves transferring an already established brand name to the new product or service. If two or more brands are used to introduce new products or services, one often speaks of a brand alliance .

In brand management practice, a distinction is usually made between two classic types of brand transfer:

  • Brand expansion
  • Product line expansion

In addition, a brand can also be spatially, i. H. be extended to new geographic markets (see Ansoff matrix ).

Brand expansion

With brand extension (English: Brand Extension or Category Extension ), the existing brand is transferred to a product in a new product category. Depending on the ownership structure of brands, this can be done internally (in your own company) or externally (through licensing of third-party brands). The brand awareness and the image of the original product are used here. Compared to the new brand strategy, there is a great cost and time advantage.

A concept discussed in the research into the success factors of brand extensions is: The more similar an extension product is to the parent product (so-called “fit”), the higher the acceptance of the consumer. In this context, Berend (2002) uses microeconomic models to examine the dimensions and distances that are relevant for brand extensions. The work of Hätty (1989) is also fundamental.

One example is the Dunhill brand (tobacco, cigarettes, pipes), which has licensed the Alfred Dunhill brand to include men's clothing, writing implements and watches. Thanks to the successful brand transfer, Dunhill now generates 90 percent of total sales with transfer products.

The typical brand expansion process has only a positive influence on the core brand and the new product. The extension product participates in the image of the core brand that has already been built up and gives back positive impulses itself.

Unsuccessful brand extensions only infringe the core brand if there is too great a similarity to the new product.

Product line expansion

In the case of a product line extension , the existing brand is transferred to a new product within the same product category, and product differentiation is created under the umbrella of the existing brand. This usually happens in markets that correspond to the original brand or are closely related to it.

Typical differentiations are, for example:

  • new flavors
  • new colors or shapes
  • new ingredients
  • new pack sizes

For example, Coca-Cola decided to expand its product line to include light products ( Coca-Cola Light ). The importance of brand transfer for the non-alcoholic beverage industry has been discussed in detail (Berend 2002).

Most breweries proceed in a similar manner in order to market an alcohol-free version of their beer brand or television companies that broadcast new channels onto their screens (example: RTL II ).

In contrast to the brand expansion, there is almost never an external transfer strategy with the product line expansion, as the focus here is on market coverage and the product line expansion is mostly based on the specific needs of individual customer segments. The aim here is to leave as few gaps as possible for competing brands.

However, product line extensions can cannibalize the old product. It is therefore necessary to determine the target group precisely when planning and to analyze and anticipate migration movements in order to be able to react quickly and prepared.

Some companies are prepared to accept the overlap of their own products, as they prefer to cannibalize other brands with their own brands than to put them in serious danger with competing products.

Expansion to new geographic markets

In this case, one speaks of a brand transfer if the consumers - although the offer was not previously available on this market - already have knowledge of the brand or the offer. For example, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was already known to a certain extent when it was launched on the German market and already had a certain image, so that a brand transfer can be assumed here. However, if there is no brand awareness in the new geographic market, a new brand strategy can be assumed (Völckner 2003).

Psychological aspects of brand transfers

With regard to consumers, Hätty (1989) explains learning theory approaches to explain the psychological aspects of brand transfers. It is based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response-Concept (SOR), whereby the brand transfer itself represents the stimulus and the reaction is the purchase of the transfer product. In the organism, processes of perception, attitude formation and learning processes take place, which ultimately lead to a knowledge or attitude transfer from the brand used to the new product. Hätty points out that attitudes (towards a brand) are acquired through learning processes, in this specific case the common appearance of a brand name with certain properties of a product.

In terms of learning theory , brand transfer is based on the principle of stimulus generalization . This describes that the same stimulus does not always follow completely the same, but only similar reactions (reaction generalization). Conversely, a certain reaction is not only triggered by a single stimulus, but also by similar stimuli (stimulus generalization). For brand transfer, this means that products with the same label (similar stimuli) lead to generalization processes in the consumer, and this can lead to a transfer of attitudes.

Another behavioral scientific approach to explaining brand transfer is scheme theory , which is based on findings from cognitive psychology and assumes that consumers organize brand-related knowledge in brand schemes. Brand schemes are complex units of knowledge that contain typical properties and fixed, standardized ideas that connect consumers with the brand. The purpose of branding schemes is to use thought templates to simplify learning processes. The brand transfer can be explained according to this approach as follows: If stimuli in a newly introduced product or service under an existing brand match the concept of an already existing scheme, then this new product (service) is assigned to the scheme and accordingly "scheme-adequate" processed. If the transfer product is perceived as consistent with the brand scheme (fit), settings and images are transferred. If the transfer product is perceived as inconsistent with the brand scheme, either a change in the attitude towards the master brand (change in the original scheme) or the creation of an independent sub-scheme are conceivable. In these two cases there is no complete transfer of image or attitude (cf. Baumüller 2008).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kateryna Scherer: Markendehnung: Starbucks, Harley-Davidson, Nivea , PR Wiki of the course online journalism of the University of Darmstadt , of April 2011

literature