When Food Co-Branding Backfires: The Overexpectation Effect

Area of Science:

• Consumer Behavior
• Marketing Science
• Food Industry Research

Background:

• Extensive research exists on brand name effects on brand evaluation.
• The impact of co-branding strategies, involving simultaneous exposure to multiple brands, remains under-explored, particularly in the food sector.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the overexpectation effect within food co-branding contexts.
• To determine if and how food co-branding can negatively impact brand evaluations at both the co-brand and individual partner brand levels.
• To challenge the assumption that co-branding universally enhances brand evaluations compared to single (mono) brands.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two online experiments to examine consumer responses to food co-branding.
• Utilized theoretical frameworks derived from adaptive learning models to explain observed effects.
• Analyzed brand evaluation metrics for co-branded products versus their constituent single brands.

Main Results:

• Confirmed the existence of an overexpectation effect in food co-branding.
• Observed a decrease in brand evaluation for the co-brand compared to the pre-exposure evaluations of the individual partner brands.
• Identified brand strength and brand fit as significant moderators of this overexpectation effect.

Conclusions:

• Co-branding does not always lead to superior brand evaluations and can, in fact, diminish them.
• The overexpectation effect, driven by adaptive learning, explains the negative impact of combining brands.
• Strategic considerations of brand strength and fit are crucial when implementing co-branding strategies in the food industry.