Although vast research has been done to better understand brand knowledge, few studies explore the conscious and the unconscious mental processes that increase brand equity when a brand is linked with value adding entities like persons, events or symbols. In our paper we introduce an integrated approach that includes both the explicit and implicit facets of customers’ brand knowledge and the leveraging effects when a brand is framed by another entity. In order to analyze brand knowledge enhancement effects in sufficient detail, we fall back on the multifaceted model of brand leverage by combining a brand with an external label. Our study results show that the combination of measuring implicit and explicit facets of brand knowledge is a better indicator to predict brand knowledge enhancement, and also that the analysis of subconscious processes help to better position the linked object in customers’ perception in order to foster the brand leveraging success.Although vast research has been done to better understand brand knowledge, few studies explore the conscious and the unconscious mental processes that increase brand equity when a brand is linked with value adding entities like persons, events or symbols. In our paper we introduce an integrated approach that includes both the explicit and implicit facets of customers’ brand knowledge and the leveraging effects when a brand is framed by another entity. In order to analyze brand knowledge enhancement effects in sufficient detail, we fall back on the multifaceted model of brand leverage by combining a brand with an external label. Our study results show that the combination of measuring implicit and explicit facets of brand knowledge is a better indicator to predict brand knowledge enhancement, and also that the analysis of subconscious processes help to better position the linked object in customers’ perception in order to foster the brand leveraging success.

During the last decades more and more consumers worldwide, started integrating environmental considerations into daily purchases what leads the so-called ‘green consumer’ to ask for healthier, safer, and better quality food. Nonetheless, a deeper understanding of value dimensions consumers across nations perceive in the context of organic food products is still required to develop successful management strategies which might transfer positive consumer perceptions to satisfaction and resulting buying behavior. Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on a) the antecedents leading to the consumption of organic food products and b) the identification of differences regarding the relative importance of the value-based drivers across US and German consumers

The ongoing growth in US and European markets along with the increasing demand for luxury goods in emerging economies leads to a substantial growth in the global appetite for luxury. A necessary precondition to improve marketing strategies for luxury brands is a better understanding of the different reasons why consumers across nations buy luxury products: Do similar luxury attitudes exist across countries, or are there significant differences in luxury attitudes internationally? Drawing from prior findings in cross-national studies and based on a three-dimensional framework of consumer attitudes toward luxury, the present study analyzes this research question by using a cross-national data set. Based on the empirical study, referring to the main research question and initial hypotheses, the assessment of the measurement models and the structural relations give evidence for the existence of similar luxury attitudes across countries that can be distinguished along the three dimensions of knowledge-related, affect-related and behavior-related luxury themes. Nevertheless, there are cross-national differences in the evaluation of statements that are associated with these luxury themes and in the structural relationship between these components.