In the light of skyrocketing costs for the introduction of new products, brand extensions – the deployment of an existing brand to launch a new product that is not part of the original product family or category – have been a strategic means of increasing popularity (e.g. Rangaswamy, Burke, & Oliva, 1993). Indeed, because of the enormous costs and risks inherent in establishing a new brand, brand managers very often rely on an existing brand image and attempt to transfer the existing beliefs to new products. Even though brand extensions are an attractive way to introduce new products, not every brand extension is successful. Given that about 50–60% of all brand extensions eventually fail (Vašek, 2002), the determinants of successful brand extensions are a critical economic consideration. In addition, the underlying psychological mechanisms that contribute to a successful or an unsuccessful brand extension constitute a highly interesting domain (Bless & Greifeneder, 2009).