Brand Association Transfers between Corporate and Product Building Material Brands: Perceptions of Homebuilders

This article focuses on branding in the forest products industry. It examines corporate and product cobranding. Traditionally, in the forest products industry, uses of new industrial product brands have been promoted in a cobranding context with their better-known corporate brands. This research, using data collected from residential homebuilders in the northwestern United States in the spring and summer of 2007, explores the brand associations of quality, leadership, and environmental stewardship related to corporate and product brands in this cobranding context. Specifically, the research explores the transfer of the noted brand associations from the corporate brand to the product brand as well as the transfer of these brand associations from the product brand to the corporate brand. Resulting analysis of the data noted that stronger rated brands significantly improve ratings of weaker brands generally, while weaker brands do not significantly devalue stronger brands in the cobranding context.