The humor appeal is extensively used in advertising, but its impact is not clearly understood in the context of luxury brand advertising. This research therefore examines the role humor appeal in luxury advertising plays in customers’ evaluation of the brand, advertisement, and purchase behaviors toward the firm. Specifically, this study proposes that the use of a humor appeal in luxury advertising has a favorable influence on perceived luxuriousness of the brand, attitude toward the advertisement, and purchase intention through coolness perception of the luxury brand. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating roles of brand positioning appeal (top-dog vs. underdog) and desire for distinction. This study is one of the few to examine the influence of humor appeal in luxury brand advertising, providing evidence for the applicability of humor appeal in luxury advertising. The study findings will help luxury brand managers make informed decisions about when and how to use humor in advertising to achieve desirable advertising outcomes.

The importance of marketing on mobile platforms as well as mobile commerce is increasing dramatically in fashion industry. The purpose of this study was to categorize mobile fashion marketing strategies and to examine application usage motivations that influence brand attitude, purchase decisions, and post-purchase evaluation. Qualitative research methods, in particular focus-groups and in-depth interviews, were conducted to examine the typology of mobile marketing and fashion application usage motivations. Then, a modified survey was used to quantitatively examine what content consumers expect from fashion applications. Results of the qualitative study indicated that consumers perceive sensory (visual, tactile, auditory), relationship, information and practical marketing strategies through motives. Survey result from 229 consumers revealed four fashion application usage motives: sensory, relationship, information and practical. Based on these motives consumers were segmented into three groups: the experience/relationship-conscious, the product informationconscious, and the lifestyle information-conscious. The product information-conscious group showed higher level of monthly income and clothing expenses but lower level of mobile device usages. Lifestyle information-conscious group and experience/ relationship-conscious group had higher level of attitude, and post-purchase evaluation. It was experience-relationship conscious consumers who spent more time in mobile use. This study shows a better understanding of mobile marketing environment of fashion applications.