Consumer Attitude towards Brand Extensions : An Integrative Model from the Indian Perspective

Towards the late 1990s, world over, marketing professionals were witnessing some uncanny trends: their influence within the organizations had been decreasing; common marketing strategies earned decreasing returns; and companies were finding it increasingly difficult to retain talent in marketing jobs. India started witnessing drastic changes in lifestyles of large sections of the population. The Indian market today is teeming with different products that it has become necessary to customize products by the companies according to consumer demands. As introducing new brands has become a risky venture, brand extensions have become increasingly popular. The paper attempts to bring out a model of the factors influencing the formation of brand extension attitudes based on the dominant cognitive hypothesis. The key elements of the model are: 1) Characteristics of the parent brand; 2) Experience with the parent brand; 3) Characteristics of extension category; 4) Relationship between parent brand and its extension; and 5) Perception of fit. The variables that moderate and control the above-mentioned processes are identified and classified into three groups: 1) Individual factors; 2) External factors; and 3) Extension making strategy. This paper tries to bring out the loopholes of the past research, thus resulting in an integrative model which shall prove useful for future research