The impact of brand acquisition on the focal brand equity: Based on consumers' viewpoint

Based on the findings of trigger events research, prospect theory and emotional attachment theory, this article identifies three attributes of consumers' perception of brand acquisition (i.e. the type of acquisition, perceived fit and separation emotion) and applies an experiment to examine their effects on the brand acquisition. The result suggests that all of the three attributes impact the brand equity significantly and the brand equity declined when the participants perceived the brand acquisition. Specifically, the focal brand equity is significantly different in two common types of brand acquisition, and it's impacted by perceived fit positively while it's impacted by separation emotion negatively. Managers are advised to consider the impact of the brand acquisition per se on the consumers' perception to avoid the loss of brand equity in the beginning of the brand acquisition and lay the root for the long-term benefit.