1. Brand gender and cross-gender extension
2007 Thought Leaders International Conference on Brand Management
Brand gender and cross-gender extension
Nathalie Veg
Doctoral Student, Essec Business School, Paris
Simon Nyeck
Professor, Essec Business School, Paris

2. Research context Managerial context Brand extensions are important :
To develop a brand
To generate profits
Especially in the luxury sector, brand extensions are important to maintain a double digit growth
There are several types of extensions:
Product extensions
Line extensions
Vertical extensions
Cross-gender extensions (male market ↔ female market)
Current trend
Especially present in the luxury sector
Expliquer le configuration du marché du luxe pour comprendre le besoin de développement

3. Research context Theoretical context Many research have analyzed :
Product extensions and line extensions
Vertical extensions (up or down)
But there is :
No research on cross-gender extensions
Although there is a current trend on brand development, especially in the luxury sector
Very few research on luxury brand extensions and no research on cross-gender extensions in the luxury sector
Although luxury brand growth is a current managerial issue, and we can observe many cross-gender extensions
Expliquer le configuration du marché du luxe pour comprendre le besoin de développement

4. 2. Research purpose The cross-gender extensions
 Cross-gender Extensions (with an application in the luxury sector)
How masculine brands enter on female market ?
How feminine brands enter on male market ?
Which processes they use?
How do they transfer their codes in order to maintain the brand desirability?

5. 3. Theoretical background
What is the brand gender ?
What is the success factor of brand extension ?

6. 3. Conceptual background The brand gender
What is a brand?
Brand identity
Stable values for a better brand management
Brand identity in the cultural anthropology
Invariant, brand meanings that are shared with consumers in a given culture
The permanence underneath disruptions, changes and innovations
Brand identity
Aesthetic invariants
Ethic invariants
Recognizable signifier of the brand
The brand representations
(product, design, physical attributes)
Intangibles signified of the brand
The brand vision of the word
(its personnality, its philosophy)

7. 3. Conceptual background The brand gender
Gender = one of the different types of brand cultural invariants
Semantic opposition « femininity vs masculinity »
Man and woman relationship
Subject (active in the relation)
Object (submissive in the relation)

8. 3. Conceptual background
3. Conceptual background Succes factor of brand extension: the consistency
The congruence between the brand and the extension
Concept and (concrete and abstract) value consistency
The more the extension and the brand shared their values, the more the extension is likely to be successful
Gender (feminine and masculine) included in brand values
But no research has analyzed this type of congruence (gender) in the cross-gender extension field
General research proposition according to the academic literature:
If the extension gender is consistent with the brand gender, then the likelihood for having a successful cross-gender extension will be great

9. 4. Research questions
Are the brand gender and extension in a new gender segment consistent/congruent?
How do the brands translate theirs values in the new segment ? how do they transfer their aesthetic (physical) characteristics of femininity or masculinity and/or their ethic (intangibles) values of these stereotypes? Which relationship can be defined between male and female?
Representative figure

10. 5. Qualitative methodology and data
Qualitative methodology to understand the meanings of the brands
Structural semiotic analysis to study the invariant meanings, the “signifier” and the “signified” of the brands (Courtès, 1991, Floch, 1990)
Brand gender (aesthetic and ethic)
Extension gender (aesthetic and ethic)
Relationship between man and woman
Comparisons of brand and extension codes and values and the consistency analysis
Corpuses of the brands communications (new segment and original gender) with images of ads, products, window stores and web sites since their creation.
Data:
4 masculine brands: Audemars Piguet, Hugo Boss, Montblanc and Rolex
4 feminine brands: Aubade, Cartier, Chanel and Lancôme
Choice criteria:
Brand with gender
Luxury brands because of the cross-gender extension trend
Brands that illustrate several product categories

11. 6. Preliminary Findings Brand Gender
CHANEL
Brand Gender
Women, Woman products
Fashion, jewels, cosmetics, codes of sensuality, beauty, long hair, sexy, many accessories…
“Audacious” “Perfectionist”, “Unique”, “Passionate and visionary”, Determined look, Independante
Feminine aesthetic
Masculine ethic

12. 6. Preliminary Findings Extension Gender CHANEL
Nacked man in a red sheet, Long hair, pulped lips
Same products for women and men
Tender and soft man
Far from traditional virility
Feminine aesthetic
Feminine ethic

13. Brand Gender and Extension Gender
6. Preliminary Findings
CHANEL
Brand Gender and Extension Gender
Feminine aesthetic
Feminine aesthetic
Masculine ethic
Feminine ethic
No relationship
Independante woman that doesn’t need man

14. 6. Preliminary Findings Brand Gender AUDEMARS PIGUET
Watches, straight forms and writing, octogonal form watches (Royal Oak)
Metal or dark colors
Mecanisms
“Audemars Piguet is The Maître Horloger since 1875”
Technical how-know, tradition, strength, sports, skills, competence…
Masculine aesthetic
Masculine ethic

15. 6. Preliminary Findings Extension Gender AUDEMARS PIGUET
Curved form watches, Italic writing of Femmes du Monde…
Octogonal form watches (LRO): the same man watche with just few modifications: diamonds
« Femmes du monde », sophisticated women, beauty, sensuality
Feminine aesthetic
Masculine aesthetic
Feminine ethic

16. Brand Gender and Extension Gender
6. Preliminary Findings
AUDEMARS PIGUET
Brand Gender and Extension Gender
Feminine aesthetic
Feminine aesthetic
Masculine aesthetic
Masculine ethic
Feminine ethic
Man subject
Woman object

17. 6. Preliminary Findings
SUMMARY

18. 7. Findings discussion
Discussion of the results

19. 7. Findings discussion Discussion of the results
Maximal Consistency, conform to the academic literature
Successful for some cross-gender extensions but not all (Aubade, Hugo Boss)
Discussion of the results

20. 7. Findings discussion Discussion of the results Aesthetic consistency
Success for LRO
But failure for Chanel cross-gender extension (male market) because of the no relationship, and the Chanel woman personality

21. 7. Findings discussion Discussion of the results No consistency
Failure of the cross-gender extensions (like predicted by the academic literature)

22. 7. Findings discussion Summary
Like predicted in the academic literature, consistency is a success factor for extensions and more precisely for cross-gender extensions
But even if consistency is a first step to maximize cross-gender extension success, others factors can interfere
Importance of consumers perceptions (desirability)
Importance of the different product categories

23. 7. Managerial implications
Three steps are necessary for managers to know if theirs brands can enter on a new market (male or female):
Analysing the brand gender (its aesthetic and its ethic)
Having in mind to maintain its values (the consistency): brands have to respect their gender when they want to enter on new gender market
Analysing the consumers desirability for the cross-gender extension:
The desirability for the different product categories in a cross-gender process can be different for a same brand