Successful brand alliance and its negative spillover effect on a host brand: Test of cognitive responses

The current research demonstrates that a high-favorabilityhost brand can benefit from co-branding with a moderate-favorabilitypartner brand due to greater (fewer) positive (negative) cognitiveresponses. By contrast, a moderate-favorability host brand canenhance the evaluation of its co-branded product by partnering ahigh-favorability partner because the partner brand can facilitatemore positive cognitive responses while blocking cognitiveresponses. We also found that a high-favorability partner brandmay do more harm than good to a moderate-favorability hostbrand's new product because the partner brand does not block theactivation of counter-arguments after co-branding is terminated.