| The current research explores how consumer creative thinking, as induced by the high level of creativeness of the marketing communication elements (such as artistic visual in advertisements and creative brand image), influences their attitudes toward brand extensions. From a dynamic creative cognition perspective, I propose that a creative thinking mode is characterized by categorization flexibility, which will in turn have a great impact on consumers' evaluation of brand extension products. Findings from five experiments suggest that, when induced to think creatively, individuals make more favorable evaluation of brand extensions and are more likely to accept new and innovative products even when the product is normally regarded as largely atypical of the parent brand (Study 1). This effect is particularly stronger when participants' involvement with the consumption task is high (Study 2). Findings also suggest that westerners and easterners differ in their categorization processes and, therefore, their brand extension evaluations vary depending on the particular semantic relations (taxonomic vs. thematic) between the extension product and the parent brand (Study 3). Interestingly, it is also found that participants demonstrate higher levels of creativity when their less dominant categorization process is activated (Study 4). As a result, westerners show more positive attitude toward an innovative extension product presented with a context-focused ad appeal (that activate their less dominant thematic process), whereas easterners show more positive attitude when the product is presented with an attribute-focused ad appeal (that activates their less dominant taxonomic process) (Study 5). |
