Brand Extension The study of consumer perception of the parent brand and its extended brand personality A case study: Santa Maria AB

Abstract

In an ever more rising competitive environment, brand marketers are looking for ways to expand their portfolios and at the same time decrease the costs of the new products introduced as well as diminish the risk of new product failure. One of the most popular ways to achieve this is to put a new product created in another category under the name of an existing brand and this is called brand extension. However, this approach is full of ups and downs that affect the consumer’s behavior. On this basis, this study intends to find out how do consumers perceive the parent brand and the extended brand’s personalities.

The thesis is based on using related literature and a quantitative survey in order to answer the following four main research questions:

* What are the parent brand’s and the extended brand’s personalities that the company wants to be perceived?

* How do the consumers perceive the parent brand’s and the extended brand’s personalities?

* Are there any correlations between the perception of the parent brand personalities and the extended brand personalities?

* Are there any relationships between the parent and its extended brand’s personalities regarding the consumer’s perception?

The thesis concludes with results and findings of the analysis performed which the authors hope will help the case company as well as other interested persons in improving their market strategies.