The effectiveness of athlete endorsement on brand extension

Abstract

This study discusses how athlete endorsement may facilitate a non-sports brand’s extension into a sports-related product category. We investigate the effect of athlete endorsement on consumers’ intention to purchase the new sports-related products offered by the non-sports brand in the context of the UNIQLO-Kei Nishikori endorsement partnership. We propose that a brand-congruent athlete endorser will enhance consumers’ perceived brand-extension fit, which in turn leads to a higher purchase intention. Moreover, the positive effect of endorser-brand fit on brand-extension fit should be attenuated, i.e., negatively moderated, by consumers’ brand familiarity. A total of 387 usable responses from Japanese aged above 18 were collected via the Internet. Despite insufficient evidence for the negative moderating effect of brand familiarity, SEM analyses confirmed that brand-extension fit fully mediated the effect of endorser-brand fit on consumers’ purchase intention. Our findings suggest athlete endorsement contributes to a nonsports brand’s successful extension into sports-related product category.