The Differentiated Environment: Person–Thing Orientation and Feedback Effects

Abstract

Managers often face the challenge of protecting the parent brand’s equity when launching brand extensions into low-fit categories. This article recommends that managers minimize any negative impact of low-fit extensions by using a unique segmentation strategy as well as framing the extension fit in terms of brand personality. Specifically, this research introduces person–thing orientation as a framework in the brand extension context to segment consumers effectively based on their environmental orientation. Person-oriented individuals selectively examine the environment and direct their attention toward people and social relationships. Thing-oriented individuals primarily focus on objects and their functionality. We demonstrate that thing-oriented consumers are less likely to exhibit negative feedback effects. Person-oriented consumers respond positively when low-fit extensions align with the parent brand's personality. Importantly, we demonstrate that person–thing orientation can be leveraged managerially through observable proxies (e.g., college major, media context). These findings offer actionable insights for tailoring brand extension strategies to target the right audience, frame extensions effectively, and minimize parent-brand dilution.