Potential points of brand leverage: consumers’ emergent attributes

This paper presents a conceptualization of brand extension attributes that emerge when consumers evaluate brand extensions. These emergent attributes are unique in the extension product category and thus represent potential points of leverage for the brand. An empirical study was conducted to show the utility of these attributes in influencing consumers’ responses. Consumers were allowed to write their thoughts as they evaluated fictitious extensions of four actual brands. The results indicate that when emergent attributes are formed, they appear to influence consumers’ attitudes toward brand extensions. Unlike previous findings that have suggested that good fit is necessary to ensure extension success, the results indicate that the influence of emergent attributes on consumer attitudes increases as the brand’s fit with the extension decreases.