"Seeing" versus "understanding" a brand name : how perceptual and conceptual similarity influences brand evaluation of copycats

品牌間品牌名稱相似度(形似和意近)對消費者品牌評價的影響

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

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Author(s)

  • Yao QIN

Related Research Unit(s)

Detail(s)

Awarding Institution
Supervisors/Advisors
Award date15 Jul 2014

Abstract

To ride on the strong brand equity of leading brands, copycats often choose brand names that mimic perceptual, conceptual, or both elements of leading brand names. This phenomenon becomes complex and intriguing in logographic language systems (e.g., Chinese), in which perceptual and conceptual elements of a brand name can easily interact. Yet little is known about how perceptual and conceptual similarities of a copycat interact to affect consumers' evaluations. Five experiments demonstrate that perceptual similarity alone leads to negative evaluations of copycat brand names; this negative effect, however, can be mitigated when conceptual similarity is added. The underlying mechanism for this effect can be traced to consumers' persuasion knowledge. Perceptual (vs. conceptual) similarity activates consumers' persuasion knowledge about the insincere motives of the copycat brand, which in turn shapes their brand evaluations. However, this effect can become less prominent when conceptual similarity is added because it suppresses use of persuasion knowledge. Further, happy mood can also neutralize the negative effect of perceptual similarity on copycat brand name evaluation. These findings shed light on how different types of copycat strategies interact to affect copycat brand name evaluations and offer important implications for marketing practice.

    Research areas

  • Brand name products