| Marketers often use a certification brand on their products claimed as "Certified" from a credible third party to highlight the unobservable quality and important attributes of the products. Drawing on signaling theory, certification cobrand strategy is the presence of a certification brand from a third party certification agency along with the primary brand on the products. Acquiring certification is an upfront and continuing cost to marketers. The use of a certification brand is permitted only after the certification process is completed. A credible certification cobrand signals that the product has met the quality standard of the third party certification agency. Conceptualizing from the cobranding literature, a certification cobrand strategy enhances consumers' evaluations of product quality, perceptions of value and their willingness to buy. Two studies examine how the differential effects of combining a primary brand (familiar, unfamiliar), certification cobrand (present, absent) and price (high, low) interact and influence consumers' evaluations of a product. The findings offer empirical evidence that the use of a credible certification cobrand results in higher perceived quality. These product cues (primary brand, certification cobrand and price) must be positively consistent to gain the highest perceived quality from consumers. Being among the first to investigate the role of a certification brand on a product, this research provides some important implications of the findings for marketers attempting to implement a certification cobrand as a strategy, and for consumers to understand the certification cobrand as a signal of an unobservable product quality and important attributes. |
