How and when brand coolness transforms product quality judgments into positive word of mouth and intentions to buy/use

ABSTRACT Brand coolness is a relatively understudied but important marketing phenomenon that only recently has received systematic scrutiny. We investigate a multidimensional structure of brand coolness and show how it mediates the effects of product quality on word of mouth communication and on intentions to buy/use cool brands. We also demonstrate under what conditions brand coolness influences WOM and intentions. The self-concept, rooted in materialism and expressed as the desire to impress other people and to compare oneself to others so as to emulate them, serves to regulate the effects of brand coolness in a negative way on WOM and intentions, thereby fulfilling the autonomous function of brand coolness for consumers described in the past as one important aspect of brand coolness. In order to show the incremental contribution of brand coolness in predicting WOM and decisions to buy/use cool brands, the effects of brand coolness are tested in head-to-head comparisons with the influence of self-brand connections and attitudes toward cool brands, which are classically studied brand drivers, on a representative sample of 400 adult Americans aged 20–40 years inclusive.