Leveraging top dog channels for underdog brand building strategy: understanding how coupon campaigns drive top dog channel satisfaction and underdog brand loyalty

Purpose
While top dog tech channels (i.e. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta) are platforms which have developed their ecosystems encouraging the emergence of underdog brands; scholars and practitioners have not reached a consensus on how the underdog brand equity could be a result of channel selection and distribution strategy built on coupon campaign on a top dog channel. Developed upon underdog brand biography, online brand equity, and traditional brand equity as the theoretical foundation, this study examined how coupon campaign strategy on top dog channels amplifies top dog channels with underdog brand loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach
A total of 324 valid responses were collected from a pool of experienced underdog brands’ coupon redeemers following coupon campaigns on top dog channels to empirically test a theoretical model applying the covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) technique.

Findings
This study uncovered the strategic integration of channel selections and proposes the importance of understanding the linkages between top-dog channel satisfaction and underdog brand loyalty. The results further show that the responsive service nature, online experience, and propensity to trust are positively associated with top dog’s channel satisfaction and underdog brand loyalty.

Originality/value
By studying coupon shoppers/redeemers, this research is among the few attempts made to empirically investigate the role of coupon campaign strategy in building top-dog channel satisfaction and underdog brand loyalty.