The role of brand coolness in the masstige co-branding of luxury and mass brands

• Co-branding as a strategy for luxury brands to achieve masstige. • Luxury brands should ally with “mass cool” brands for masstige co-branding. • Brand coolness creates perceived fit between luxury and mass brands. • Self-brand connection moderates the brand coolness and perceived fit relationship. Masstige marketing could be attractive to luxury brands to reach a wider market, though success is difficult. This study proposes co-branding as an alternative strategy for luxury brands to achieve masstige. Luxury brands can ally with mass brands to leverage their strength in mass marketing. Because luxury and mass are conceptually opposing ideas, co-branding between the two can be difficult. However, this study identifies brand coolness as a key attribute to create perceived fit between luxury and mass brands. The results show that brand coolness of mass brand affects perceived fit, which impacts attitude toward the co-branded product and its purchase intention. Additionally, self-brand connection with the luxury brand moderates this effect, and product category involvement negatively impacts perceived fit. The results have implications for brand managers who wish to select partners for masstige co-branding. The article concludes by proposing methods to create congruence among opposing brand concepts.