Summary

Femke van Horen obtained a M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Social Psychology from the University of Amsterdam. From 2006 to 2010 she was a Ph.D. student at the Tilburg Institute of Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER) and the Marketing Department of Tilburg University. Since April 2010, she is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Social Psychology department of the University of Cologne, Germany. Her research focuses on product imitation, social cognition, and consumer behavior.

Consumer product companies and retailers often imitate the appearance (or “trade-dress”) of a leader brand to profit from the positive associations attached to the leader brand. Such a copycatting strategy is deliberate and frequently used, as evidenced by the plethora of copycats one can find in the supermarket. Despite the frequent use of such product imitation strategies, it is however less clear when they are successful and why. This dissertation sheds new light on this important question and demonstrates that the effectiveness of a copycat strategy is not only determined by package similarity, but is highly dependent on where the copycat is sold (e.g., in which store) and how it is positioned on the supermarket shelf (e.g., next to the leader brand or not). Furthermore and in contrast to the current opinion, this dissertation shows that high similarity copycats can backfire and reduce consumer’s liking of copycats, whilst subtler forms of copycatting can free-ride more effectively on the leader brand’s equity. Because this dissertation examines the mechanisms underlying copycat effectiveness beyond consumer confusion (where consumers misidentify the copycat for the original), the subsequent findings are an important supplement to the existing literature.

Biography

Femke van Horen was born on July 19, 1977 in Deurne, the Netherlands. She followed her secondary VWO education at the Peelland College in Deurne. Directly after graduating, she left the Netherlands to travel around Europe and the Middle-East. In 1997 she started studying Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and having obtained her Propedeuse, she travelled for a further year to explore South-East Asia. Upon return she graduated cum laude in Social Psychology after three years, during which time she accomplished her Mater thesis at the University of Southampton. Supported with a research grant in 2004, she went to Berlin to work as a research fellow at the Freie Universität. Having gained experience in Berlin, she went onto fulfill a position as a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, before starting to work as a Ph.D. student at the Tilburg Institute of Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER) in 2006. The research presented in this dissertation was conducted during a 3.5 year period at TIBER.

Femke currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Social Psychology department of the University of Cologne, Germany.