Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2015
  • Chapter
  • Strong Brands, Strong Relationships

Framing the Game: How Brands' Relationships with Their Competitors Affect Consumer Preference

By: Neeru Paharia, Jill Avery and Anat Keinan
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore how brands' relationships with their competitors affect consumers' preferences. Through a series of experiments, we show that the competitive context in which a brand operates can affect consumers' purchase interest and purchase frequency. We show that brand positioning statements that communicate that brands are in direct competition with each other elicit size effects: consumers like small brands more when they compete with big brands and like big brands less when they compete with small brands. We further explore the relationships between brand size and competition and show that while large brands are punished for being a competitive aggressor, small brands are rewarded when they compete aggressively. Our findings illuminate how small brands can benefit from the presence of a large competitor and provide a process understanding of how consumers assess and relate to brands not in isolation, but as part of a competitive system.

Keywords

Brand Management; CRM; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

Citation

Paharia, Neeru, Jill Avery, and Anat Keinan. "Framing the Game: How Brands' Relationships with Their Competitors Affect Consumer Preference." Chap. 2 in Strong Brands, Strong Relationships, edited by Susan Fournier, Michael Breazeale, and Jill Avery. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Jill J. Avery

Marketing
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • May 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

    By: Joseph B. Fuller and Jill Avery
    • May–June 2023
    • Harvard Business Review

    A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand: How to Communicate Your Value

    By: Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald
    • March–April 2023
    • Harvard Business Review

    Case Study: Should a Dollar Store Raise Prices to Keep Up with Inflation?

    By: Jill Avery and Marco Bertini
More from the Authors
  • Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand By: Joseph B. Fuller and Jill Avery
  • A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand: How to Communicate Your Value By: Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald
  • Case Study: Should a Dollar Store Raise Prices to Keep Up with Inflation? By: Jill Avery and Marco Bertini
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College