Balancing Continuity and Change in Product Sequelization: An Application to Upstream and Downstream Movie Sequels

Interviene: Suman Basuroy, University of Oklahoma

Organizzato da: Dipartimento di Marketing

Abstract: Product sequels perform as a linear extension of an original concept (e.g., brand associations, storylines, etc.) and pose significant challenges to product-line managers in the design of their form and functions.  We propose a generalization-habituation framework of sequel responses that implicates differentiation later in the series to combat consumer habituation, while advocating duplicating (or minimal differentiation) the sequel features early in the series to maximize generalization of responses (e.g., good feelings) from the original concept to the sequel.  We use movie sequels as the context to test the implications of our framework. In Study 1’s test of 89 movie franchises spanning fifty years and including up to five films, we find that (1) upstream (first) sequels outperform not only the downstream sequels, but also the parent films, and (2) widening the sequel-to-sequel time gap further erodes the relative performance of downstream sequels.  In Study 2’s test of a random sample of 172 parent/sequel titles released between 1986 and 2004, we find that genre/cast differentiation of sequel features positively affects the relative sales and return on investments of downstream sequels more so than upstream sequels.  Similarly, downstream sequels benefit more from quality signals (such as more studio advertising and better audience reviews) than upstream sequels.  We discuss how these results could point to a “duplicate first, differentiate later” strategy for product-line managers.