Brand Partner Quality. In the marital domain, the perceived caliber of the role enactments of the partner
has been linked to overall relationship satisfaction and strength (Burr 1973) . The notion of brand partner quality is suggested here as an analogue, one reflecting the consumer’s evaluation of the brand’s performance in its partnership role. The strong-brand stories suggest five central components of brand partner quality: (1) a felt positive orientation of the brand toward the consumer (e.g., making consumer feel wanted, respected, listened to, and cared for) ; (2) judgments of the brand’s overall depend-ability, reliability, and predictability in executing its parnership role; (3) judgments of the brand’s adherence to the various ‘‘rules’’ composing the implicit relationship contract (Sabatelli and Pearce 1986; Wiseman 1986) ; (4) trust or faith that the brand will deliver what is desired versus that which is feared; and (5) comfort in the brand’s accountability for its actions. Partner quality protects the relationship through the full range of relationship-servingre lationship through the full range of relationship-serving