Co-branding strategies involve the collaboration between brands to launch a new product they co-name. This paper aims to better understand consumers’ reactions towards the co-branded product. Its main contribution is to highlight the mediating effects of perceived credibility and perceived novelty on the reactions towards the co-branded product through the level of congruence. The results show that perceived credibility of the co-branded product is better explained by relevancy than by expectancy between each of the brands and the new product category. In contrast, the expectancy of the invited brand negatively influences the perceived novelty of the co-branded product only if, at the same time, the invited brand is perceived as relevant. Finally, this research shows that the perceived credibility and novelty of the co- branded product particularly influence respectively its utilitarian and hedonic evaluation.