Consumer Perception of Internal Brand Extension: A Literature Based Work on Perceived Fit as Determining Factor for Enhancing Consumer Acceptance of Internal Brand Extension

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, FH Vienna, language: English, abstract: In order for brands to satisfy the changing needs of consumers and to gain competitive advantage the number of brand extensions carried through is increasing constantly. This literature based work aims to identify influential factors for consumer acceptance of brand extensions and will have a closer look at the role of brand knowledge in this process. The focus will be on the evaluation of importance of the perceived fit and on determining how this factor can be used by marketers. The first part of this work gives an insight into brands and brand management, as branding is the base for brand extensions. Then it concentrates on brand extension from a marketing point of view in order to create a common understanding for this strategy. Furthermore it gives details about the consumer-decision making process in order to allow the reader to understand how brands are perceived by consumers. The second part then talks about the consumer evaluation of brand extensions, by giving details about influential factors on this process and how this can be monitored by marketers. It then goes into detail about the perceived fit as influential factor. Finally the findings are discussed with regard to the research requests and conclusions are drawn.