How do consumers perceive new product variants that are positioned on atypical attributes? The authors investigate the joint effects of three factors: brand familiarity, retail shelf display, and consumer goal orientation. The study focuses on snack foods positioned on the atypical attribute of low fat. There are three main findings.First, although high (vs. low) brand familiarity causes relatively unfavorable perceptions on the positioning attribute, it also creates sufficiently favorable perceptions on another determinant attribute, product taste, resulting in a net positive effect for brand equity on purchase likelihood. Second, goal-based versus taxonomic shelf display (i.e., placement with health foods vs. regular snack foods) results in relatively negative perceptions on the positioning attribute, yet more favorable buying intentions. Finally, more (vs. less) health-oriented consumers rate such product variants less favorably on fat content but more favorably on product taste; the former segment is also more likely to buy such product variants.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aaker, David and Kevin Lane Keller. 1990. "Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions."Journal of Marketing54 (Winter): 27-41.
2.
Alba, Joseph W. and J. Wesley Hutchinson. 1987. "Dimensions of Consumer Expertise."Journal of Consumer Research13 (March): 411-454.
3.
Areni, Charles S. , Dale F. Duhan, and Pamela Kiecker. 1999. "Point-of-Purchase Displays, Product Organization, and Brand Purchase Likelihoods."Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science27 (4): 428-441.
4.
Barsalou, Lawrence W.1983. "Ad Hoc Categories."Memory and Cognition11 (May): 211-227.
5.
---. 1991. "Deriving Categories to Achieve Goals." In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, Vol. 27. Ed. G. H. Bower. New York: Academic Books, 1-64.
6.
Broniarczyk, Susan M. and Joseph W. Alba. 1994. "The Importance of the Brand in Brand Extension."Journal of Marketing Research31 (May): 214-228.
7.
Buchanan, Lauranne , Carolyn J. Simmons, and Barbara A. Bickart. 1999. "Brand Equity Dilution: Retailer Display and Context Brand Effects."Journal of Marketing Research36 (August): 345-355.
8.
Campbell, Margaret C. and Ronald C. Goodstein. 2001. "The Moderating Effect of Perceived Risk on Consumers' Evaluations of Product Incongruity: Preference for the Norm."Journal of Consumer Research28:439-449.
9.
Carpenter, Gregory S. and Kent Nakamoto. 1989. "Consumer Preference Formation and Pioneering Advantage."Journal of Marketing Research26:285-298.
10.
Dacin, Peter A. and Daniel C. Smith. 1994. "The Effect of Brand Portfolio Characteristics on Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions."Journal of Marketing Research31 (May): 229-242.
11.
Desai, Kalpesh Kaushik and Wayne D. Hoyer. 2000. "Descriptive Characteristics of Memory Based Consideration Sets: Influence of Usage Occasion Frequency and Usage Location Familiarity."Journal of Consumer Research27 (December): 309-323.
12.
--- and Kevin Lane Keller. 2002. "The Effects of Ingredient Branding Strategies on Host Brand Extendibility."Journal of Marketing66 (January): 73-93.
13.
Desrochers, Debra Marie. 1999. "Product Attribute Importance Weights and Retail Placement." Unpublished dissertation, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
French, Simone A. , Mary Story, Peter Hannan, Kyle K. Breitlow, Robert W. Jeffery, Judith S. Baxter, and M. Patricia Snyder. 1999. "Cognitive and Demographic Correlates of Low-Fat Vending Snack Choices Among Adolescents and Adults."Journal of the American Dietetic Association99 (April): 471-475.
16.
Glanz, Karen , Michael Basil, Edward Maibach, Jeanne Goldberg, and Dan Snyder. 1998. "Why Americans Eat What They Do: Taste, Nutrition, Cost, Convenience, and Weight Control Concerns as Influences on Food Consumption."Journal of the American Dietetic Association98 (October): 1118-1126.
17.
Goodstein, Ronald C.1993. "Category-Based Applications and Extensions in Advertising: Motivating More Extensive Ad Processing."Journal of Consumer Research20 (June): 87-99.
18.
Haley, Russell I.1968. "Benefit Segmentation: A Decision-Oriented Research Tool."Journal of Marketing32 (3): 30-35.
19.
Herr, Paul M.1989. "Priming Price: Prior Knowledge and Context Effects."Journal of Consumer Research16 (June): 67-75.
20.
---, Steven J. Sherman, and Russell H. Fazio. 1983. "On the Consequences of Priming: Assimilation and Contrast Effects."Journal of Experimental Social Psychology19 (July): 323-340.
21.
Holden, Stephen J. S. and Richard J. Lutz. 1992. "Ask Not What the Brands Can Evoke; Ask What Can Evoke the Brand." In Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 19. Eds. John F. Sherry and Brian Sternthal. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 101-107.
22.
Horacek, Tanya M. and Nancy M. Betts. 1998. "Students Cluster Into Four Groups According to the Factors Influencing Their Dietary Intake."Journal of the American Dietetic Association98 (December): 1464-1467.
23.
Hoyer, Wayne D.1984. "An Examination of Consumer Decision Making for a Common Repeat Purchase Product."Journal of Consumer Research11 (December): 822-829.
24.
Huffman, Cynthia and Michael J. Houston. 1993. "Goal-Oriented Experiences and the Development of Knowledge."Journal of Consumer Research20 (September): 190-207.
25.
---, S. Ratneshwar, and David G. Mick. 2000. "Consumer Goal Structures and Goal Determination Processes: An Integrative Framework." In The Why of Consumption: Contemporary Perspectives on Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires. Eds. S. Ratneshwar, D. G. Mick, and C. Huffman. London and New York: Routledge, 9-35.
26.
Keller, Kevin Lane . 1998. Strategic Brand Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
27.
Loken, Barbara and James Ward. 1990. "Alternative Approaches to Understanding the Determinants of Typicality."Journal of Consumer Research17 (September): 111-126.
28.
Martin, Leonard , John J. Seta, and Rick A. Crelia. 1990. "Assimilation and Contrast as a Function of People's Willingness and Ability to Expend Effort in Forming an Impression."Journal of Personality and Social Psychology59 (July): 27-37.
29.
Meyers-Levy, Joan and Brian Sternthal. 1993. "A Two-Factor Explanation of Assimilation and Contrast Effects."Journal of Marketing Research30 (August): 359-368.
30.
Murphy, Gregory L. and Douglas L. Medin. 1985. "The Role of Theories in Conceptual Coherence."Psychological Review92 (July): 289-316.
31.
Nedungadi, Prakash . 1990. "Recall and Consumer Consideration Sets: Influencing Choice Without Altering Brand Evaluations."Journal of Consumer Research17 (December): 263-276.
32.
Park, C. Whan , Sandra Milberg, and Robert Lawson. 1991. "Extension Boundaries of Two Types of Brand Names: Role of Product Feature Similarity and Brand Concept Consistency."Journal of Consumer Research18 (September): 185-193.
33.
---, Sung Youl Jun, and Allan D. Shocker. 1996. "Composite Branding Alliances: An Investigation of Extension and Feedback Effects."Journal of Marketing Research33 (November): 453-466.
34.
Pechmann, Cornelia and S. Ratneshwar. 1991. "The Use of Comparative Advertising for Brand Positioning: Association Versus Differentiation."Journal of Consumer Research18 (September): 145-160.
35.
Ratneshwar, S. and Allan D. Shocker. 1991. "Substitution in Use and the Role of Usage Context in Product Category Structures."Journal of Marketing Research28 (August): 281-295.
36.
---, Cornelia Pechmann, and Allan D. Shocker. 1996. "Goal- Derived Categories and the Antecedents of Across-Category Consideration."Journal of Consumer Research23 (December): 240-250.
37.
---, Luk Warlop, David G. Mick, and Gail Seeger. 1997. "Benefit Salience and Consumers' Selective Attention to Product Features."International Journal of Research in Marketing14 (July): 245-260.
38.
---, Lawrence W. Barsalou, Cornelia Pechmann, and Melissa Moore. 2001. "Goal-Derived Categories: The Role of Personal and Situational Goals in Category Representations."Journal of Consumer Psychology10 (3): 147-158.
39.
Reddy, Srinivas K. , Susan L. Holak, and Subodh Bhat. 1994. "To Extend or Not to Extend: Success Determinants of Line Extensions."Journal of Marketing Research31 (May): 243-262.
40.
Rosch, Eleanor and Carolyn B. Mervis. 1975. "Family Resemblances: Studies on the Internal Structure of Categories."Cognitive Psychology7:573-603.
41.
Schwarz, Norbert and Herbert Bless. 1992. "Constructing Reality and Its Alternatives: An Inclusion/Exclusion Model of Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Social Judgment." In The Construction of Social Judgments. Eds. L. L. Martin and A. Tesser. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 217-245.
42.
Sujan, Mita and James R. Bettman. 1989. "The Effects of Brand Positioning Strategies on Consumers' Brand and Category Perceptions: Some Insights From Schema Research."Journal of Marketing Research25 (November): 454-467.
43.
Wanke, Michaela, Gabi Lehmann, and Herbert Bless. 1997. "The In and Out of Canned Soup: Brand Management by Influencing the Categorization of Brand Exemplars-An Inclusion/Exclusion Approach." Society for Consumer Psychology (Winter): 85-86.
44.
---, Herbert Bless, and Norbert Schwarz. 1998. "Context Effects in Product Line Extensions: Context Is Not Destiny."Journal of Consumer Psychology7 (4): 299-322.
45.
Wansink, Brian . 1994. "Advertising's Impact on Category Substitution."Journal of Marketing Research31:505-515.
