Is similarity a constraint for service-to-service brand extensions? |
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| Institution: | 1. Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2 D02 F6N2, Ireland;2. University of South‐Eastern Norway, USN School of Business, Drammen, Norway;3. Department of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School, Nydalsveien 37, 0484 Oslo, Norway;1. Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, FGV/EBAPE, Jornalista Orlando Dantas, 30, Rio De Janeiro, RJ 22231-010, Brazil;2. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, C302 Benson Hall, Athens, GA 30602, United States;1. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Beauchef 851, Santiago, Chile;2. Columbia Business School, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States;3. Retail Management Institute at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053, United States;1. Department of Economics and Management, University of Parma, Italy;2. Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, the Netherlands;1. Saunders College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, United States;2. Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, United States;3. Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands;4. Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran;1. UBC Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Canada;2. Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China;3. Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Canada;1. University of Cologne, Department of Marketing and Brand Management, Albertus-Magnus-Platz 1, D-50923 Cologne, Germany;2. Seeburg Castle University, Seeburgstraße 8, 5201 Seekirchen am Wallersee, Salzburg, Austria;3. University of Bremen, markstones Institute of Marketing, Branding & Technology, Max-von-Laue-Straße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Are service brands constrained in launching new service offerings? Both research evidence and managerial wisdom suggest brands should extend to similar categories. However, in five studies using real-life brands - four experiments and one large-sample survey - we provide evidence that similarity is less of a constraint for service brands extending to other service categories (service-to-service extensions), compared to cases involving parent brands or extension categories of a product nature. Importantly, we demonstrate that such an effect occurs because service brands possess associations relevant across the spectrum of service categories. Our results suggest that service brand managers have the opportunity to stretch their brands to dissimilar service offerings; yet, they need to ensure the marketing execution does not make the brands’ service associations inaccessible to consumers. The findings suggest that even product brands can build service associations by adding service components to their offering, thus becoming “servitized” and better able to extend to dissimilar service categories. Overall, our work contributes to the academic debate documenting that the principles governing the management of product vs. service brands are not identical. |
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| Keywords: | Brand extensions Service associations Service brands Product brands Service quality Fit |
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