THE EFFECTS OF ORDER AND DIRECTION ON MULTIPLE BRAND EXTENSIONS

Successful brand management involves leveraging the brand's equity to profitable ends. Brand extension provides a means of capitalizing on brand equity. We examine the importance of the order and direction of brand extension. Two experiments provide evidence for effects of order and direction of extension on the perceived coherence of the brand and purchase likelihood of the extension. Results: undertaking extensions in a particular order allows distant extensions to be perceived as coherent; following a consistent direction in extension allows for greater coherence and purchase likelihood for the target extension.