ANALYSIS OF CO-BRANDING IMPACTS ON PARENT BRANDS EQUITY

Co-branding is an increasingly popular technique used . as market extension strategy for creating further competitive advantage and shareholder value. However, co-branding is just like a weapon that brings risks and opportunities for brands at the same time. Co-branding between distinct products can be regarded as both a creative and a risky practice. Even though there have been researches done to analyse the impacts of co-branding, a specific study focused on co-branding between distinct products still cannot be found. This research is therefore mainly based on a case of co-branding between the Godiva chocolate and the Slim-Fast diet food. It examined the effects on parent brands equity after co-branding, and through evaluated changes of brand association before and after product trial. Quantitative data was collected and the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS 21) was used to analyse the data. Then meaningful information from the analysed data was interpreted to achieve the objective of this research. The research found that distinct products co-branding did affect parent brand equity level, by the result that Slim-Fast’s brand equity increased after product trial. The study also found that one of two parent brands with higher original brand equity level will cause positive effect on the other products brand equity after co-branding. In this case, the Godiva chocolate had a positive impact on the Slim-Fast’s brand equity changes after association. Hence, this shows that it is not a big risk that co-branding between two distinct products will influence their original brand, especially for the one with higher original brand equity. Also, the findings provide a positive suggestion to companies that, this type of brand extension, will not cause negative effects on a brand’s original brand equity, but also will increase the weaker one’s brand equity after the alliance. Thus, co-branding between two distinct products or complementary products may become a new and interesting marketing strategy