State-of-the-Art of Empirical Studies on Brand Alliances (PDF)

Brand alliances are getting increasing attention and have achieved significant importance in the last couple of years. But as with any other strategy, it also involves certain chances and risks which have to be considered. As Lindstrom (2005), pointed out, not all cooperations are as promising as famous examples like Coca-Cola and NutraSweet or IBM and Intel and an incredible 90% of all co-branding ventures actually fail. Therefore, it is important to get a deeper understanding of the co-branding strategy.
In closing, this diploma thesis has provided an overview of empirical studies on brand alliance topics. However, it is clear that there is much more to study and consider in this area of marketing. Further investigation in the brand alliance area will help marketers and researchers better understand how competitive advantage can be achieved through the use of this strategy.
The most important areas in the research field of brand alliances are definitely brand alliance success factors and spill-over effects on individual brand partners. As major factors affecting brand alliance success were identified the individual brand attitudes, the brand fit and the product fit. As concerns spill-over effects on individual brand partners, the brand alliance attitude and attitudes towards individual brands were identified as major impact factors. But as has been already been said in the discussion part, more research is needed to increase validity of findings. Moreover, the mentioned limitations should be considered in future research.