Does Diageo make your Guinness taste better?

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to analyse the effect of abandoning a venerable brand name (Guinness) and all of the reputation value that it embodied in favour of a new, untested name (Diageo). The paper seeks to examine the extent to which this affects consumers' perceptions of the product and the corporation.

Design/methodology/approach

Six hypotheses were tested in the study by surveying corporate and product brand images among a group of consumers (n=411) using the Davies et al. Corporate Character Scale.

Findings

The survey establishes that a change of corporate name does affect the perceptions of the corporation but not the products. It also confirms that image spillovers occur between the corporate and the product levels. Corporate image is derived from product image, and vice versa, when the two share the same name.

Research limitations/implications

Although the case study approach allows the gaining of a deep insight into a phenomenon, it is at the expense of generalisability.

Practical implications

The study implies that consumers fail to distinguish between product and corporate brand when the two share the same name. Managers may neutralise corporate images by attributing a different brand name to the corporation.

Originality/value

The paper seeks to fill the conceptual vacuum in which decisions to adopt a new corporate name and rearrange the brand architecture seem to be made.

Citation

Muzellec, L. and Lambkin, M. (2007), "Does Diageo make your Guinness taste better?", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 321-333. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420710779618