Abstract

Brands often make references to competitors in their public communications. Yet not all competitors are equal—over time, certain brands seem to have developed special relationships with other brands. This research examines whether brands can benefit from such relationships in the context of brand-to-brand messaging. Drawing on rivalry theory (Kilduff, Elfenbein and Staw 2010), the authors distinguish between rivalry, a special competitive relationship due to a shared history, and competition, a situation where actors merely have opposing goals. Two archival studies using large-scale Twitter data of multiple brands and product categories and three preregistered experiments provide evidence for the “brand rivalry effect”: targeting a rival (vs. a non-rival) competitor in brand-to-brand messaging increases consumer engagement. The effect is mediated by story embeddedness, defined as the perception that the messages are connected to, and embedded within, an ongoing story. The authors also show positive downstream effects on purchase intentions and a positive association with firm value and test two boundary conditions: brand preference (loyal vs. neutral consumers) and message valence (negative vs. positive). This research highlights the potential appeal of brand rivalry to consumers, illustrating how and under what conditions brands can use their rivalries to their advantage.

Please contact dip.mkt@unibocconi.it if you wish to attend.