Leveraged marketing communications: a framework for explaining the effects of secondary brand associations

This paper focuses on the concept of Leveraged Marketing Communications (LMC) and provides the first comprehensive definition of the concept. LMC are defined here as brand building strategies that pair a brand with another object for the purpose of enabling the brand to benefit from the associations the target audience has with the object. We develop an integrative conceptual framework for understanding the factors that influence the brand effects of LMC that is informed by prior research findings on five different LMC strategies (celebrity endorsement, sponsorship, product placements, cause-related marketing, and cobranding) and their effects on the brand. The framework also draws on prior models of cobranding and Keller’s (1993) customer-based brand equity concept and it addresses weaknesses in previous LMC frameworks. The integrated framework contributes to the literature by allowing for an understanding of both when, and how, associations transfer from the branded object to the brand in the context of LMC. Specifically, the framework proposes that learning of brand awareness and transfer of associations from the LMC object to the brand take place via four different routes and that a broad range of brand-, object-, and campaign-related variables moderate these brand awareness and transfer effects. Managerial recommendations and an agenda for future research are offered.