Opening the Umbrella: The Effects of Rebranding Multiple Category-Specific Private-Label Brands to One Umbrella Brand

The authors study the consequences of rebranding multiple category-specific private-label (PL) brands by “opening the umbrella” and unifying them under a common brand name. Retailers expect positive consequences that may manifest themselves in two ways: (1) an increased intrinsic brand strength and (2) an improved marketing-mix effectiveness. The authors analyze three substantially different retailers that rebranded one of their PL tiers. Consistent with the national-brand literature on umbrella rebranding, all three retailers realized an increase in the rebranded PL tier’s intrinsic brand strength, along with a reduced price elasticity. However, and in contrast to the national-brand literature, the effectiveness of both price-promoting and assortment size dropped for all three retailers after they unified their category-specific PLs under a common umbrella name.

• 저널Journal of Marketing Research · 57(4) · 677–694
• 토픽Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing · Marketing
• DOI10.1177/0022243720922853
• 저자Kristopher Keller, Inge Geyskens, Marnik G. Dekimpe