Essays on cross gender brand extensions

Abstract

Extant literature in marketing has found that several brands have gender perceptions associated with them (Avery 2012; Grohmann 2009). Consumers tend to place brands such as Gillette, Marlboro, and Hot Wheels in masculine category and Rexona, Chanel, and Barbie in feminine category (Ulrich 2013). At the same time, a recent practice shows certain brands, typically associated with any one particular gender, extending into the opposite gender category using the same brand name. Dove, which has traditionally been perceived as a feminine brand, extending to the men s segment with Dove for Men is a classic example. This practice, called cross-gender brand extensions, clearly represents a departure from traditional branding practices of companies using two different brands to target the two different gender segments. The increasingly popular managerial practice of cross gender brand extensions is the focus of this study. We organise this thesis in the form of three essays. newlineIn essay 1, we study the impact of a cross-gender brand extension practice on the consumer-brand relationship between the parent brand and its consumers. Essay 2 focuses on consumer evaluations and purchase intentions towards a cross-gender brand extension and its parent brand. In essay 3, we investigate the moderating role of consumption visibility in the consumer evaluations of cross-gender brand extensions. The study advances the current understanding of cross-gender brand extensions, founded on the areas of consumer-brand relationships, dissociative reference groups, and consumption visibility. A brand s established gender identity meanings may be diluted by its appropriation by the opposite gender group. For those brands whose gender associations are actively used by consumers for their gender projects, a cross-gender brand extension could be a risky strategy. newline newline