Brand Extension Strategy: Communication Technologies, Performance Metrics

Originality. Nowadays there is a trend of online brands extension that go into different categories. This trend spreads not only in the IT market, but also beyond. Purpose. Based on studies of consumer attitude towards online brand extension, make recommendations for future extensions of the studied online brands and online brands in general. Tasks: 1. Analyze the notion of brand extension and its impact on the brand; 2. Systematize data on brand extensions of Google, Yandex and other online brands in different categories of goods and services; 3. Analyze online brands positioning; 4. Determine how users perceive online brands extension into online and offline markets; 5. Compare the data obtained from respondents from different countries; 6. Make recommendations for online brands (studied and in general) for their future extensions. Research Methods: Case study, desk analysis, online survey of foreign and Russian audiences, method of processing empirical data based on SPSS. Novelty. Nowadays online brands are actively expanding. Their extensions go not only into the online market, but also into offline one. At the same moment, there is a small number of studies dedicated to category of online brands, as well as there are no complex studies based on modern branding concepts. This study consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusion, a literature review and 17 annexes. The volume is 90 pages. The main conclusions: • Online brand extension into the online market will be perceived more positively than the extension into offline market. • Online brand extension into the offline market will be perceived positively in case it will be relied with IT.