Digitalisation, increasing global competition, new relational approaches to communication and advertising by new generations of consumers (for example, the New Millennials) together with social issues such as sustainability and authenticity in branding definition, pose important challenges for companies operating in the luxury fashion industry. In facing them, these companies seem to re-elaborate meanings attributed to luxury rethinking their strategies and their interactive approaches to market. The specialized literature, from its part, shows that luxury is no longer only ostentation but it has evolved in something else; on the one hand luxury as a state of mind and mood, and on the other still a sort of heritage and authenticity. These two extremes tend increasingly to contaminate each other and to co-exist one in the other, albeit with different reciprocal influence. The aim of this paper is determine how this co-existence can occur. It involves two opposing aspects of luxury, that of owning and that of being. There are other facets of luxury that may occur between these extremes. Research has shown, in fact, that luxury is also experience, co-creation, sharing and even self-achievement. Rendering luxury status, but at the same time making it an instrument for individual evolution may determine an integration of its various faces paving the way for a re-conceptualization of fashion luxury in communication.

This article focuses on the factors affecting Millennials purchasing online or offline choices in luxury fashion. In particular, in relation to the rising literature in Millennials relation with luxury brands, it is focusing on the missing literature on the variables that are affecting their choices in the increasing debate related to their online brand relation and purchasing orientation.

Introduction In the last years, luxury has experienced a multiplicity of transformations from different perspectives. The opening up of the fast-growing economies to luxury has disrupted its essence and identity by bringing in a stratification of the levels in luxury, an expansion of customers’ segments and a new mode of operationalization for luxury brands: the digitalization of luxury. However, luxury brands identity should still be characterized by their rarity, originality and exclusivity. Luxury capitals and their urban ecosystem represent a significant space where luxury brands had and still have anchored their essence, customer experience and all those values that represent their identity. Luxury industries are threatened by a progressive loss of mystique, market analysts say, as consumers search for something more than aesthetics and shallow status symbols (Boston Consulting Group, 2010). Consequently, luxury brands should rely more consistently on their heritage and history, in order to strengthen their appeal (Atsmon et al, 2012). In-store experience is increasingly important in luxury markets (Atsmon et al, 2012) and the shopping destination plays a key role. In fact, besides being an instrumental occasion for getting the needed products, the shopping experience becomes an end valued for its own sake (Rintamaki et al, 2007, p. 628). As a result of the changing context and new priorities, this research will focus on the case study of one main French luxury brand – Christian Dior – and will explore how the brand has capitalized on the local “brandscape” effect of Paris as a luxury city to reinforce the brand heritage and keep its own identity in “turbulent times”. The results of this study are preliminary ones at this stage but they already provide an overview of how the brand has capitalized on the brandscape orientation. Theoritical Development In order to understand how Christian Dior has capitalized on the local “brandscape” effect of Paris and reinforce its brand heritage, this article will first review the main concepts of brandscape and brand heritage. Brandscape City branding literature has overlooked the role of individual brands that, being somehow associated with the city, contribute to city brand building (Pasquinelli, 2014). In city branding literature, a variety of geographical units may be relevant for brands, especially at a smaller scale: the ‘region of origin’ or the ‘city of origin’ (as in this article) may turn out to be of much greater significance. However, the geographical fragmentation of global value chains caused the breakdown of the ‘origin’ into a set of geographical associations (Insch and McBride, 2004), such as the “Made in”, “Designed in”, “Assembled in” and “Headquartered in” (Papadopoulos, 2011). Consequently, origin will not simply be the geographical context where the product is manufactured. Rather, the brand origin becomes ‘the place, region or country where a brand is perceived to belong’ (Thakor and Kohli, 1996, p. 26). The origin is, thus, a matter of perception and, in addition to the physical or material attachment to the place of production, other spatialities may add value to product brands, such as the ‘usage context’ (Gerr et al, 1999), in relation to specific situations and rituals of consumption. In this perspective, rather than a simple and static place–product identification, there is a need to look at the process of constructing geographical associations, where spatial circuits of value and meaning are activated in the production, circulation, consumption and regulation of product brands (Pike, 2009, 2010, 2011). Consequently, cities may become the host of these spatial circuits and, because of their nature in a globalized economy, they play a distinctive role in the ‘local origination’ of product brands, helping local firms to construct globally competitive brands (Pike, 2011). Brand heritage A brand is often represented by s a set of functional attributes and symbolic values, branding being the process of associating the attributes with the product in order to add value to it (Hakala et al., 2011). According to Kapferer (2004), a brand’s success is based on its saliency, differentiability and intensity, and on the trust attached to the associations. In addition to these, Davis (2000) underlines the role and accumulation of experiences in brand recognition. Brand preference ultimately depends on what the brand means to the customer and on the impact of its emotional effect, in other words on its place in the heart (Ballantyne et al., 2006). Related to the same idea, brand attachment is characterized by a strong linkage or connectedness between the brand and the self (Kleine and Kleine, 1993). In this context, brand heritage is one of the associations that marketers can use to differentiate their brands from those of their competitors, ultimately helping them to create a unique image for the offering (Keller and Lehmann, 2006). For Aaker (1996), heritage is a key component of brand equity and this heritage represents an essential value for the customer and other stakeholders (Keller and Richey, 2006). The main advantages of brand heritage is as a matter of fact to add stability, familiarity, sincerity and differentiation (Merchant and Rose, 2013) in order to bring authenticity (Fionda and Moore, 2009; Kapferer and Bastien, 2008), and to reduce purchasing risk (Steewart-Allen, 2002). In difficult times, consumers become less confident in the future and wish to protect themselves from the hazards of the outside world and as a result it increases the interest in brands with a heritage: skillfully exploited, they can evoke past events (Brown et al., 2003) and reassure the consumer. The word heritage is generally associated with inheritance: something transferred from one generation to the next. As a concept, therefore, it works as a carrier of historical values from the past (Nuryanti, 1996). But the concept of heritage is different from history (Urde et al. 2007) and retro (Wiedmann et al. 2011). Heritage corresponds to different meaning. On the corporate perspective, heritage is defined as “all the traits and aspects of an organization that link its past, present, and future in a meaningful and relevant way” (Burghausen and Balmer 2014b, p. 394). This link between the different time strata, called omni-temporality, is a cornerstone of corporate heritage (Balmer 2011). Finally, Banerjee (2008, p. 314) describes the four pillars of the heritage of a brand as its history, image, expectancy and equity. History represents its rich and eventful past, the image "an after effect of the brand communication and positioning based on the perceived benefits by consumers”. Brand expectancy refers to the physical and emotional benefits that consumers receive from the brand. Finally, equity comprises two subsets: a homogeneous and heterogeneous set of competencies that facilitate progression and give advantages over the competition. With the exception of its history, the elements of the brand's heritage in Banerjee’s description (2008) are difficult to measure. Methodology In order to provide specific responses from the field, the empirical research methodology chosen follows the case analysis method (Yin, 1984). Following Yin (1984) case study approach and guidelines, a unique emblematic and successful case study is proposed to be analyzed in its unicity. Data reported will be authorized when required or based on primary evidence from public sources such as online, offline media, press, and advertisement and communication campaigns. The research data collection process has started with a pilot work in order to be oriented by experts in the field with respect to the coherence of the research covered. A focus group has been created and has provided indications to build a guideline for the empirical data collection. As a result, it has been decided to start the empirical data collection through an analysis of public sources on a 2 years timeframe. The length of the public sources analysis is related to the need to provide a consistent evaluation of the brand positioning heritage. The following empirical data will be concentrated on interviews with Christian Dior brand in a timeline of 2 months in order to have access to diverse sources of information and to integrate data necessary to build a coherent case study. The interviews are going to be carried in Paris headquarters and in the diverse flagship stores in Paris. Paris as location of data investigation and collection has been decided in relation to its central role in the research questions of the paper and in the historical development of the brand. Christian dior as a successful case of fashion city brandscape and heritage Christian Dior French New Look appeared in 1947 during the first Christian Dior couture fashion show in Paris. At the time, the Paris couture trade was in a precarious state. What it needed was excitement, and Christian Dior delivered it in a collection of luxurious clothes with soft shoulders, waspy waists and full-flowing skirts intended for what he called flower women. ‘It’s quite a revelation, dear Christian Dior’ pronounced Carmel Snow, the editor of US magazine Harper’s Bazaar. ‘Your dresses have such a New Look.’ And here it was: the New Look dresses were born. Dior brand is specifically embedded on the name of the founder, fashion designer of the brand, very inspired by the atmosphere and history of Paris : “ The air of Paris is really the air of couture” (Dior, 2011). The logo itself reminds the founder of the brand. Its simplicity and elegance reinforce the brand identification for consumers; in the logo, it is possible to find the sophistication and elegance representative of the personality of its creator. The company has made efforts to keep the same values promoted by its original founder Christian Dior. Indeed, Dior was primarily a female brand. Dior’s company is also synonymous of dreams. The designer always wanted to reach the excellence in every pieces he created and it’s on the same motto that the company has reached the success known today. Though earlier Dior focused only on women, it diversified into products for men under the brand of Dior Homme, and for children under the brand of Baby Dior as well as other products lines such as parfumes and cosmetics with the same aspect of perfectionism. Preliminary results and conclusion In order to evaluate Christian Dior relationship with the urban environment -Paris-, a first collection of on line data has shown the following. Christian Dior bought his first couture house in Paris in 1946 after working for Robert Pigue and Lucien Lelong. His first house, 30 avenue Montaigne, was the place where the Dior Label would flourish. Considered as one of the greatest couturiers of this century, Christian Dior never ceased to develop his image and fame around the "great Parisian chic", anchored in the mythical and symbolic history of the famous "light city". His latest exhibition at the “Musée des Arts Décoratifs” celebrating the 70th anniversary of Maison Dior, says a lot about this position. The brand strategy has always been in fact, to bring beauty by respecting the tradition and heritage of the company. In this environment, Dior shows the implementation of a very specific brand communication policy. As in the following examples, the ad is always really elegant and sophisticated with quite often the appearance of a famous person being the “muse” of the brand. And the story always takes place in Paris and is illustrated by short anecdotes in the heart of the capital, next to its most famous monuments such as the Eiffel Tower. The logo is also present in a simple way, reflecting the strength of the brand with a clear recognition and association with French luxury and high quality products. If these ways of communicating remain more classical, where the consumer can easily rely on the values of the brand with a “dream” touch, the real power of Dior’s brand is the way it communicates on the brand itself and its history. The continuation of our research will consist in deepening these preliminary results by analyzing supplementary data coming from public sources and interviews led with Dior's brand.

This paper builds on issues that surround the interface between entrepreneurial and digital marketing. In particular, it proposes a conceptual framework that relates digital market knowledge, market representation and decision making in the context of entrepreneurial SMEs. Thus, the paper contributes to the understanding of how entrepreneurs deal with digital market knowledge, and how such knowledge contributes to changes in representing markets and decision making. A growing awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation to marketing, and of marketing to successful entrepreneurship, has led to attempts to combine the two disciplines as “entrepreneurial marketing”. Scholars debate on the role of marketing in the entrepreneurial process (Schindehutte et al., 2009), and consider the marketing content of the entrepreneurial role (Guercini, 2012). It is argued that entrepreneurial marketing emphasizes the adaptation of marketing to forms that are appropriate to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), even if entrepreneurial relates more in general to the marketing-entrepreneurship interface and the idea that marketing and entrepreneurship are fundamentally intertwined and necessary to the other. Marketing and the entrepreneurship take place in a context in which information technologies, data communication and data processing technologies are tools to manipulate, organize, transmit, and store information in digital form. More specifically, one of the major changes undergone by traditional marketing is determined by the emergence of digital marketing, which provides several tools and metrics, such as web analytics, for decision makers. However, it is yet not sufficiently clear how entrepreneurs deal with this type of knowledge emerging in a digital context, and how they use it in their decision making. The paper proposes a cross-case analysis based on in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs from SMEs in the fashion industry, a relevant empirical context that has experienced, before others, the implementation of digital marketing strategies. The analysis suggests the existence of different entrepreneurial profiles based on the approach adopted in dealing with digital market knowledge, as well as the existence of different types of relationships between entrepreneurs and digital market knowledge and alternative consequences in terms of decision-making processes.

The aim of the paper is to present an analytical approach that combines netnography with text-mining to build consumer brand knowledge in terms of brand associations deriving from social media contents. More specifically, it is based on the multi-vocal nature (Gensler et al., 2013) of the brand related to the participatory, collaborative and socially-linked behaviors by consumers that serve as creators of brand stories thus determining brand associations. It identifies and explores user-generated contents (UGC) as expression of brand associations emerging from different categories of actors in social media (consumers, influencers and other online prescribers), and measures their alignment with the company-defined brand associations. The rise of social media and the associated possibilities of large-scale consumer-to-consumer interaction and easy user generation of content shed light on the importance of the consumer-generated brand stories through social media, which have a high impact due to their characteristics of being digital, visible, ubiquitous, available in real-time, and dynamic (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Methodologically, the paper proposes a two-pronged methodological approach integrating qualitative market research techniques with the quantitative ones, respectively netnography, used to explore consumer interactions in virtual communities through computer-mediated discourses, and text mining, used to extrapolate information from relatively large amounts of electronically stored textual data by means of computer applications. More specifically, the paper proposes an analysis of the 10 top luxury fashion brands in terms of brand associations emerging from UGC in social media through the voices of consumers, bloggers and other online prescribers, in line with the multi-vocal nature of the brand. Such associations are then compared to those generated by the company, in order to identify a possible alignment. The paper provides an analytical tool that allow managers to actively understand how different “online market brand players” interact with their brands, and eventually redefine their branding strategies together with their brand communication.

Celebrity endorsement has been traditionally considered as a strategic promotional tool by marketers. Actually, advertising scholars generally found a positive influence of celebrity endorsement on brand equity and, consequently, on consumer purchase intention. On the one hand, literature interprets celebrity source and endorsement factors as related to celebrity-brand fit, perceived celebrity motive, and celebrity expertise. On the other hand, consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) has been usually referred to brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand associations. Despite such a growing interest, there is limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms linking celebrity endorsement to CBBE. Building on consumer psychology and brand signaling theories, this study develops a conceptual model which hypothesizes consumer-based brand authenticity (CBBA) and brand credibility as mediating variables of the aforementioned relationship. First, CBBA is interpreted as a multidimensional construct composed of a brand’s quality commitment, sincerity, and heritage. Second, credibility refers to a brand’s ability – e.g. expertise – and willingness – e.g. trustworthiness – to reliably keeping its promises to consumers. Moreover, this study hypothesizes that the influence of CBBA and brand credibility on CBBE vary according to consumers’ advertising evaluation. Hence, communication effectiveness is considered as a moderating variable of these relationships. The conceptual model is empirically tested using bootstrapped moderated mediation analysis on a sample of Millennial consumers. In fact, Millennials very well describe postmodern consumption and communication, which increasingly emphasize the need of “real” and authentic communication by credible endorsers and endorsed brands. By stressing the significant role of brand authenticity and credibility in the context of celebrity endorsement, this study provides both theoretical and practical implications to marketing communication literature.

The paper proposes an analytical approach that explores brands in virtual environments by combining indicators of consumer brand alignment with measurements of social engagement. The results illustrated can be useful to devise adjustments to brand communication. The analysis is applied to brands belonging to the fashion industry.

New communication challenges for companies that use social media are: 1) the knowledge and control of the degree of alignment between communicated and perceived brand personality in order to measure the effectiveness of competitive positioning, and 2) the measurement of engagement among consumers who share comments about brands in online communities. Our research proposes research tools that can help fashion companies meet these challenges. In particular, we present an innovative methodological approach that combines netnography and text-mining to extract and analyze data from online communities of fashion brands.

Conviviality is an interdisciplinary concept and a key phenomenon in the entrepreneurial communities. Entrepreneurial communities are social units that share values, experiences, emotions, rituals and traditions. They give rise to personal contact networks that are sets of formal or informal individual relationships. Conviviality means sharing, openness and participation; in this sense, it can be a tool to foster, animate and amalgamate a community. Thus, it can increase social relations that stably bind individuals and thus, becomes a source of business relations. Drawing from literature analysis and a case of a fashion entrepreneurial community, we propose to investigate how conviviality create an integration between social and business networks.

Our work analyses the theme of authenticity as a process of self-appropriation pursued by companies during their existence. The goal is to investigate this process by identifying the trade-off companies have faced. By doing this, we propose to recognize the sources of brand authenticity. The research methodology is based on the case analysis of Tuscan wine companies that are emblematic for the topic investigated.