When Food Co-Branding Backfires: The Overexpectation Effect

While food research has paid considerable attention to the effect of brand names on brand evaluation, the role of co-branding strategies and hence simultaneous exposure to two different brand names is under-researched. Against this background, we investigated the overexpectation effect in the context of food co-branding. More specifically, we explored to what extent food co-branding can harm brand evaluations of the co-brand and the brand level of the partner. In doing so, we challenged the conventional wisdom that co-branding leads to higher brand evaluations than those of monobrands. Results from two online experiments confirmed the theoretical reasoning derived from adaptive learning models: combining two brands results in an overexpectation effect, which manifests in a decrease in levels of brand evaluation for the co-brand compared to the partnering brands before co-brand exposure. Brand strength and brand fit moderate this effect.