The Influence of Color on Brand Extension: Mediation Role of Processing Style

Abstract

Color carries distinct psychological meanings and thus it may induce a different cognitive processing style. Adopting this conceptual framework, the current research investigated the influence of color on brand extension evaluation. For color manipulation, participants were given the picture of a brand extension product (e.g., notebook) on a blue versus red background on a sheet of paper. Then participants evaluated the brand extension product. The finding revealed that participants in the blue-background condition evaluated the extension product more favorably than those in the red-background condition. This research further demonstrated that processing style mediated the effect of color on the evaluation of the brand extension product by using a visual matching task. In addition, this research showed the moderating effect of brand slogan on brand extension evaluation. Participants in the blue-background condition evaluated the extension product (i.e., digital camera) more favorably when they were exposed to the abstract brand slogan, whereas participants in the red-background condition evaluated the extension product more favorably when they were exposed to the concrete brand slogan.