The impact of different rebranding strategies on consumer loyalty

: the mediating role of perceived quality

Abstract

In today’s marketplace, consumers are getting increasingly demanding, and brands must stay up with current trends to differentiate themselves from competitors selling the same product or service. One method is to use rebranding, which can result in a completely new identity or a minor improvement. This thesis examines the influence of different rebranding strategies on consumer loyalty, with perceived quality acting as mediator. A mixed experimental design is used with 151 participants to evaluate three rebranding tactics (visual, intermediate, and full), with three brands randomly assigned to them (CocaCola, Fanta, and Red Bull). The findings revealed that going from a visual rebranding to a full rebranding has a positive influence on consumer loyalty via perceived quality, however, the same effect is not observed when switching from a visual rebranding to an intermediate rebranding. These results demonstrate that changes resulting from a full rebranding, including aesthetic changes as well as new repositioning, have a direct impact on perceived quality, which influences the consumer’s ability to remain loyal to the brand or not. This research contributes to the gap that currently exists in the literature regarding the topic, as well as providing new information to brands and businesses to avoid pitfalls when selecting what type of improvements to apply to boost consumer loyalty or to keep it intact.

Date of Award	17 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Simão (Supervisor)