How do Consumers React to co-branding? A study about brand attachment and brand personality

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Marketing Research and CRMIn recent years, companies have bet heavily on co-branding strategies to keep pace with the everchanging marketplaces and the growing demands of consumers. This study focuses on the brand Apple and examines how brand attachment and perceived brand personality impact consumers’ evaluation of a co-branded product, with the goal to expand the understanding provided by previous research on consumers’ reactions to co-branding ventures. One of the following two fictitious co-branded products was randomly presented to respondents to test the proposed conceptual model: Apple-Decathlon partnership or Apple-Swarovski partnership. Results demonstrated that Apple users (VS non-users) tend to perceive the co-brand personality positively as a reflection of their level of connection to the initial brand. Those pre-conceived perceptions and opinions transfer to the co-brand and the co-branded product. Additionally, perceived brand personality proved to be much more relevant to consumers’ view of the co-branded product than the level of attachment to the initial brand. It revealed dissimilarities between brand users and non-users, as well as among the two products presented, which displayed two distinct alliances. This research has important implications for both researchers and company managers, on how consumers’ evaluation of a co-branded product is linked to brand personality and attachment