Stretching a luxury brand down: An experimental study of core brand dilution effects

F. Magnoni (1) , Elyette Roux (2)

1 CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion
2 AMU IAE - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Aix-en-Provence

This paper analyzes the effects that the step-down line extension of a luxury brand has on attitudes toward the core brand. This before-and-after quasi-experimental study shows that the step-down line extension of the Armani brand negatively influences the affective component of the core brand attitude for customers and non-customers. However, the conative component of this core brand attitude decreases for the brand customers and increases for non-customers. Other factors that affect core brand dilution are similarity in quality, branding strategy, distribution channel and self-brand connections.

Mots clés: vertical line extension; luxury brands; feedback effects; brand dilution

Domaines: Gestion et management

F. Magnoni, Elyette Roux. Stretching a luxury brand down: An experimental study of core brand dilution effects. 2011, 13 p. ⟨halshs-00644899⟩