Introduction Celebrities are actively capitalizing on their fame and credibility by launching their own brand extensions which are heavily promoted on Instagram. This situation is especially prevalent in Malaysia among many local Malay ‘celepreneurs’. While consumers’ constant involvement with a celebrity on Instagram is believed to result in the purchase of celebrity branded products, the central question of how a causal variable such as Instagram involvement has an effect on the outcome of purchase has been less explored in contemporary studies. The role of celebrity adulation and style conformity in the context of celebrity branding-cum-entrepreneurship deserves much attention given the strong influence celebrities exert on young consumers in this digital era of accessible information. Research framework Given the admiration that young consumers have towards the celebrities they follow on Instagram, celebrity worship, in both pathological and non-pathological form, is believed to be a crucial link between their involvement with the social media and their desire to imitate their favourite celebrity’s style. Eventually this paves the way for the purchase of celebrity brand products given that getting the products is an avenue for the young consumers to attain their celebrities’ style. Therefore in this study, four variables that mediate the relationship between Instagram involvement and purchase of celebrity branded products are examined: celebrity worship as manifested across three varying levels particularly entertainment-social (lowest form of worship); intense-personal (mid-level); borderline pathological (highest level); and style conformity. Method Data was collected from 226 Malaysian women of Malay ethnicity who are active Instagram users and fall under the technology-savvy Millennial segment using a self-administered questionnaire. This segment of consumers is technology savvy and has personalities and lifestyles (Gurau, 2012). They also tend to imitate their favourite celebrity in contrast to their male counterparts (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017). Measures for the mediating variables were derived from McCutcheon et al.’s (2002) Celebrity Worship Scale and Park and Yang’s (2010) items on celebrity style conformity. A five-point scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) was utilized to capture the responses to the variables measured. Analysis and results Serial multiple mediation testing was applied on the data using variance-based structural equation modelling. The multiple mediation analysis showed that of all the three levels of celebrity worship which mediate the link between Instagram involvement and style conformity, only celebrity worship (entertainment-social) was found to be a significant mediator between Instagram involvement and style conformity (Indirect effect=0.127; t-value= 3.285, 95% Boot CI: LL=0.059, UL=0.216). In addition, the presence of a serial mediation was detected for the link between Instagram involvement-celebrity worship (entertainment-social)-style conformity-purchase of celebrity brand products (Indirect effect=0.04; t-value=2.954, 95% Boot CI: LL=0.02, UL=0.08). Conclusion The serial mediation testing in this study has demonstrated that celebrity worship and style conformity serve as the missing link between the involvement-purchase relationship. Furthermore, the multiple mediation testing has shown that only celebrity worship at the basic level functions as a mediator. The findings of this study imply that the use of Instagram is indeed a compelling marketing communication tool that fosters the purchase of celebrity brand extensions. Constant involvement in Instagram by following the celebrity, liking, reposting, commenting or hashtagging on the celebrity’s account builds a keen sense of devotion for the celebrity whereby the individual will constantly watch, read and learn about the celebrity. This then heightens the user’s desire to emulate the style of the celebrity which may well lead them to purchase the celebrity’s products in an effort to imitate the celebrity’s look and demeanour. strong desire for and high willingness to spend on branded products that match their

We evaluate the loyalty of a tourist destination considering tangible and intangible factors using the city of Porto as a case study. We observed that the main dimensions that the tourists associate with the visit and consequently with the city, in order of importance, were: i) engagement with the city of Porto, ii) identification with city of Porto, iii) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the city of Porto, iv) experiences in the city of Porto, and v) having visited visiting the city of Porto. Direct interviews were administered in the main tourist’s points in the city during the month of October 2017. The survey was only applied to the respondents who pursued tourism in the city of Porto, with 958 valid questionnaires. The questionnaire included the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, the evaluation of level of importance of the eleven factors related to the trip, the level of agreement with the eight statements on the engagement with Porto developed by Sprott et al. (2009) – applied for the first time to a destination - and, in the final part, the evaluation of the intention to return to city of Porto. The eleven statements related to the importance of various factors associated to the trip and the eight statements that evaluate the engagement with the city were subjected to a principal components analysis with varimax rotation in order to identify the main dimensions. A logistic regression was used to explore the determinants of the likelihood to return to Porto considering the respondents’ sociodemographic variables and the main dimensions obtained in the factorial analysis (related to the important factors on the trip and the engagement with the city). Regarding the intention to return, which is the proxy of tourists’ loyalty to the destination, we observed that it is positively influenced by the engagement with the city, the tourist’s perception of CSR, the good experience in the city and having visited the city. These results connect the political, economic and marketing objectives in the tourism sector. The goals need to be aligned and the stakeholders(visitors, local residents and business, public bodies and government) must work together to maintain a solid and unified destination image. Considering that the city of Porto has been in the spotlight at an international level as one of the top cities’ destinations, this kind of information is fundamental for Porto to continue to be an attractive city tourism destination.

The study of online brand communities is inseparable from the concept of customer engagement. The purpose of this study is to conjoin these two emerging research streams in tourism. Past studies relevant to customer engagement in online communities consider it from only brand perspective, whereas this study considers engagement with brand and engagement with community separately. Social identity and user gratification perspective are used to develop framework in building brand relationship quality. The context of the study is to throw light on benefit of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on tourism industry in Pakistan. The CPEC is a mega-project between Pakistan and China, worth more than 54 billion US dollars. The Framework was verified using the data collected from several Facebook pages (official and unofficial). This study contributes in understanding the way to enhance brand relationship quality of tourism brand via social media based online communities. This study also validates the customer brand engagement scale consisted of seven dimensions within tourism brand proposed by Dessart, Laurence (2016). The results of this study indicated that community identification has a significant role in engaging customer with community as brand community engagement and with brand as customer brand engagement. Customer brand engagement further enhances brand relationship quality whereas brand community engagement has an insignificant effect on brand relationship quality. This study also provides insight to practical and further research implication.

The present study contributes to the international literature on brand personality and congruence. There is still a general lack of clarity regarding the measurement of the self-brand congruity construct. Moreover, in the light of international branding research cross-national validation of this measurement is needed. Previous empirical evidence also suggests a positive relationship between brand-self congruity and consumer-brand relationships (i.e. brand attachment) across nations and cultures, but the strength of these relationships requires deeper investigation. The present study therefore aims to test and validate a personality congruence scale at an international level and to measure the effect of congruence on brand attachment with specific reference to the luxury sector. A survey of nearly 1,500 international luxury customers has been conducted. Results confirm that personality congruence is based upon five dimensions (Prestige/Emotion/Trust/Anxiety/Order). In addition, the results highlight the existence and relative importance of the link between “personality congruence” and “brand attachment”. Finally, findings suggest similarities and differences across countries regarding specific dimensions of congruence scale and the personality congruence and attachment relationship. Both theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

This paper examines the effects of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announcement through social media on the consumer perception of the luxury brand consumption. A M&A is becoming more wide spread in the luxury market. Yet, the academic research examining the M&A in the luxury brand context has been sparse albeit the growing interests. Moreover, previous research has not paid attention to the effect of social media as a vehicle to communicate the M&A deal with consumers although social media is increasingly used by luxury brands in their brand communication these days. We aim to fill the gap in the luxury brand literature by examining how a horizontal M&A announcement delivered through social media would affect the brand loyalty derived from the luxury consumption values. Specifically, our research focuses on the four distinctive luxury brand values, which are symbolic, experiential, economic and quality values as well as the perceived sustainability of the M&A deal. We examine how a M&A announcement would affect these five values which in turn influence the brand loyalty, as well as examining the differential effect of social media and non-social media as a brand communication vehicle. In addition, we examine how the vertically differentiated luxury brand perceptions (i.e. different luxury tiers) between acquiring and acquired brands influence the consumption values and brand loyalty. Using a scenario-based online survey, our results reveal several interesting insights on the luxury brand M&A. First, our results show that use of social media as a communication vehicle has differential effects on how the M&A announcement influences consumption values and brand loyalty, comparing with the non-social media communication vehicle. Second, we find that a M&A announcement via social media has a positive impact on the consumer values. Third, the symbolic and experiential values have a positive influence on the brand loyalty, regardless of the luxury tier difference between brands. Fourth, our results show that the perceived sustainability has a positive impact on the brand loyalty as long as the M&A was completed between brands at different tiers. Fourth, the perceived quality has a positive impact on the brand loyalty only if the brand is acquired by a less prestigious brand. Lastly, economic value has a positive impact on the brand loyalty only if the acquiring brand is of more luxurious. In sum, our paper provides useful insights to both academics as well as practitioners in the luxury brand M&A context.

With the development of social media, nowadays, people connect to each other more frequently and timely. In this article, we want to discuss this interactive communication in Chinese social media, i.e., WeChat, Weibo and Xianhongshu, between the Chinese immigrants in France (French Chinese) and Chinese in China. The intent of this article is to explore if there is a significant difference between high-acculturated and low-acculturated French Chinese in the use of word-of-mouth (WOM) in response to the purchase of product categories high in social signaling value. The article helps firms plan their international marketing strategy in terms of how they will benefit from WOM where French Chinese consumers comprise a significant part of the target market. Additionally, this research helps firms develop effective virtual interaction tools to build a strong long-term brand relationship with ethnic groups.

With the rapid development of network economy and information technology, customers through the internet platform to participate in product development and innovation, dominant the spread of value proposition engagement spread, etc., has become an important part of the creation of customer assets, as well as a profound change in brand management. This paper constructs a model of how the brand experience affects customer assets in the virtual branding community under the perspective of value co-creation, analysis the impact of value co-creation of customer participation (sponsored value co-creation and autonomous value co-creation), the motivation of value co-creation on brand experience, and then on customer assets. This paper also explores the regulatory effect of value proposition engagement in brand experience and customer asset. This study will use the involvement theory and the theory of stimulus-response for empirical research, and through the questionnaire survey of consumers, using SPSS20.0 and AMOS20.0 statistical software on the relevance of relevant variables to grasp, and carries on the analysis using structural equation model. The research of this paper will enrich the exposition and explanation of building a brand experience better through value co-creation in virtual brand community, and provide theoretical support and practical advice for the implementation and management of customer assets.

Festival branding is undergoing a revolution based on the consolidation of new communicative behaviours in virtual brand communities (VBC), above all channelled through social media platforms (Hudson & Hudson, 2013; MacKay, Barbe, Van Winkle, & Halpenny, 2017). Although generic literature (Dessart, Veloutsou, & Morgan-Thomas, 2015) has highlighted the role of user engagement in VBC, there are no in-depth analyses of how users modulate engagement attributes and behaviours and how they are related to festival branding, as well as other possible and sometimes interrelated drivers (social capital creation, place making). Thus, this paper aims to characterise these elements in festivals’ VBC to cover these shortcomings. This proposal performs a multi-platform, multi-period, multi-user and mixed-method analysis of nearly 2,150 references in the Twitter and Facebook VBC of one of the most prominent music festivals in Europe, Sónar (Barcelona). Results show the benefits for organisers (and other relevant users) of jointly understanding these elements (and their mutual relationships) with the aim of retaining various positive economic and social impacts.

This study examined discrepancies in the brand image of a Japanese frozen food company perceived by the company’s employees and its consumers. Using a hypothesized model leading to brand loyalty, structural differences between the company’s employees’ (internal) and consumers’ (external) brand images were revealed: the two images did not structurally match.

In branding literature, the customer based brand equity (CBBE) model developed by Kevin Lane Keller finds many applications. The CBBE model (Keller, 1993) involves six brand building blocks out of which the brand resonance block is considered to be the most valuable helping firms to reap a host of benefits like higher brand loyalty, greater price premiums and more efficient and effective marketing programs. This research focuses on the factors that influence brand resonance among past customers (alumni) with the objective of building competitive and innovative service strategies that would help in building strong educational brands. The proposed framework for brand resonance includes existing sub dimensions (behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active engagement) along with two additional dimensions (sense of belonging and gratitude) and aims to identify the key drivers of brand resonance. Since brand resonance characterizes the bond shared by past consumers (alumni) with the brand (educational institute) identifying the significant sub dimensions would provide input while devising strategies to engage with past customers (alumni). The present study provides initial empirical evidence that behavioural loyalty and sense of community create feelings of gratitude which impacts brand resonance; alumni who do not have strong feelings of gratitude limit their interaction with their alma mater on all parameters. Since higher education is an experiential service, it is imperative to understand the construct of gratitude that creates brand resonance and use it to develop relationships and competitive service strategies. The ultimate objective of all marketing activity is to build strong and well differentiated brands that would stand the test of competitive forces over time. Building emotional relationships with alumni as past customers rather than maintaining transactional relationships would be possible only if alumni feel emotions of gratitude and sense of belonging with their alma mater.

Brand equity (BE) previously focused on consumers’ perceptions under brand marketing stimuli, they often used financial performance indicators for evaluating brand value (Aaker,1996;Keller,1993). However the primary stakeholders of a service brand are employees (Brexendorf & Kernstock,2007).Thus, the enhancement of employee- based BE could be an important topic for in-depth investigation in the fields of brand and internal marketing. Morhart (2009) was the first to introduce the concepts of brand-specific transformational leadership (TFL) and brand-specific transactional leadership (TRL) based on employees’ brand-building behavior. Theory asserts that leaders should endeavor to influence employees through the internalization of brand values and a brand-based role (Morehart,2001) . In the process of brand internalization, leaders with brand experience and brand knowledge should also uphold and constantly reaffirm brand values because they're more capable than ordinary leaders to clearly convey brand values (Hoffman,1999). For this reason, brand-specific leadership based on employee brand-building behaviors is the focus of this study. This study adopts hierarchical linear modeling for individual and organizational-level analyses. This research to investigate (1)whether TFL and TRL have directly affect employee-based individual-level BE.(2)whether TFL and TRL have indirectly affect employee-based BE as an individual-level mediator.(3)how managers use brand-specific leadership to elicit employees’ perceived brand value congruence for improved employee-based BE.

Even though luxury brands embraced social media (Godey et al., 2016; Kim & Ko, 2012), research on the use of social media for luxury brand marketing is limited. Given the increasing popularity of social media, it is imperative to examine social media-based communication strategies for luxury brands to achieve desirable consumer evaluations of brands and advertising. This research explored the role of brand anthropomorphism strategies in social media in enhancing consumers’ advertising and brand evaluations. Specifically, this research investigated (1) the effects of verbal-based brand anthropomorphism in the luxury goods brand context (Study 1), (2) the effects of verbalbased brand anthropomorphism in the luxury service brand context (Study 2), and (3) the effects of verbal-based brand anthropomorphism cues (Study 3) on consumers’ luxury brand and advertising evaluations. Studies 1 and 2 both collectively examined the role of self-focused anthropomorphized brand effects in two different contexts. Consumers easily connect themselves with an anthropomorphized advertising, compared to an objectified advertising for luxury brands. Study 3 identified the fit between luxury brand type and an anthropomorphized brand cue to explore the effectiveness of brand anthropomorphism. Depending on the type of luxury brands, consumers processed anthropomorphized brand cues differently. Consumers favorably perceived the fit between luxury good brands and partner cues; on the other hand, consumers favorably perceived the fit between luxury service brands and servant cues. Results of this research contribute to the social media advertising and luxury brand marketing literature by clarifying the role of brand anthropomorphism in consumer-brand relationships as well as in brand-advertising relationships. Results also provide industry suggestions for delivering personified brand messages to have desirable consumer brand and advertising evaluations.

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.

Using the framework of social support, we aim to examine factors influencing social Word-of-Mouth (WOM) adoption. The proposed research model will be tested among customers who are active in the existing active social media platforms and have had experience in engaging with the activities of luxury brand communications. Introduction Today the most promising communication environment for reaching and interacting with stakeholders is the social media ecosystem (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011). The social media has grown so rapidly in the past years that now impact the business processes and models (Henning-Thurau, Hofacker and Bloching, 2103). Many Brands begin to take advantage of the fluidity between social media and WOM for creating brand experiences that merge real and digital conversations, cutting through in incredibly powerful ways. However, the recent research (Godey, Manthiou, Pederzopli, Rokka, Aiello, Donvito and Sigh, 2016) suggest that luxury brands performing well in social media engagement. However, they are often lagged behind in WOM performance. Despite growing interest in examining the influence of social media marketing on consumer’s responses through brand equity creation (Godey et al., 2016; Jim and Ko, 2012), studies about social media in luxury brand communications remain to be scarce. An investigation of customer’s motivation behind participation in social media is timely and relevant which can help luxury brands unleash its potential. Moreover, development of an effective social WOM adoption model can help to provide a better picture of consumer interactions in online luxury brands communities, thus strengthen customerfirm relationship in longer term. Specifically, this research intends to answer the following two questions: 1) What are the major determinants of social WOM adoption in luxury brands communications? 2) Whether social support affects a. perceived source credibility; b. perceived information quality; c. user experience? Literature review Social media interactivity The concepts of social exchange (Blau, 1964) and the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960) have long been used by Marketing researchers to describe the motivational basis behind customer behaviours and the formation of positive relational attitudes (e.g., Wulf; Gaby; Iacobucci, Dawn, 2001; Rafiq; Fulford and Lu 2013). More recently these concepts have been used to explain why customers enjoy interacting with each other in social media (Liang, Ho, Li and Turban 2012; Godey et al., 2016). Social media interactivity is social interaction of people in social networking sites by Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, Instagram (Hajli, 2016). For instance, Facebook has more than two billion monthly active users which is a great example of a platform. In fact, people love to interact with each other. When they favourite and like each other’s posts that would reinforce the closeness. Online social support Recent research has found that social interaction can bring social value to their users and that the social media is a powerful vehicle for an individual to build close relationships with others and to enhance the individual’s well-being (Liang et al., 2012; Eastin and LaRose, 2005; Obst and Stafurik, 2010; Shaw and Grant, 2002; Xie, 2008). Social support has been found to be a major social value that social media users can obtain from an online interactions (Eastin and LaRose, 2005; Obst and Stafurik, 2010; Huang, Nambisan and Uzuner, 2010). Social support is a multidimensional construct which refers to an individual’s experience of being cared for, being responded to, and being helped by people in that individuals’ social network (Cobb, 1976). Schaefer, Liang et al.(2012) claim that , online social support consists both tangible (e.g. instrumental and appraisal support) and intangible elements (e.g. informational and emotional support). Given the specific context, this study mainly focuses on the latter. Informational support refers to providing messages, in the form of recommendations, advice, or knowledge that could be helpful for solving problems. By contrast, emotional support refers to providing messages that involve emotional concerns such as caring, understanding or empathy. These two types of messages are the major support mechanisms for social interactions (Hajli, 2016). Antecedents of social WOM adoption Information adoption can be defined as the process of engaging purposefully in consuming information (Cheng and Thadani, 2012). Informational support provided through social interaction of individuals in social media can be in the form of ratings, review, recommendations or referrals. Therefore, when consumers search for information provided by other users to make a better decision for their purchasing, they are adopting information. From a marketer’s perspective, this process also helps to build long-term advocacy. This research argues that social media provides more opportunities to the individual to adopt WOM. The existing literature has identified several antecedents of social WOM adoption and most of these studies focused on travelling websites (Filieri; Alguezaui and McLeay,2015; Hajli, 2016). Beldad, De Jong, Steehouder (2010) have categorized the major antecedents of social WOM adoption in the literature into three categories namely customer-based antecedents (e.g. user’s experience during the social interactions); website based antecedents (e.g. perceived information quality) and company based antecedents(e.g. perceived source of credibility). Source of credibility is considered as fundamental predictors of consumers’ acceptance of a message in traditional WOM adoption (McGinnies and Ward, 1980). To facilitate the evaluation of credibility of a source, more and more social platforms require contributors to create a web profile upon their registration. Customers need to provide personal information (e.g. profile picture, personal preference). Furthermore, many social media website utilise reviewer reputation systems to enable customers to assess the credibility of reviewers. Zhang and Watt (2008) argue that the higher source credibility of message perceived in online social media, the higher level of information adoption would be. Moreover, the quality of information in online reviews is perceived as a very important cue for consumers to assess the website (Filierri, et al., 2015). Krishnan; Biswas and Netemeyer (2006) point out that concrete information provided by the website such as detailed features of the product/service is likely to be perceived as more credible than those from abstract information like peripheral description of the product/service. Finally, in marketing literature user experience is strongly related with trust (Yoon, 2002). In an online context customers’ negative experience is likely to affect their trust about the company. As a consequence, they are likely to engage in negative WOM. Research shows that user experience has a strong impact on the social WOM adoption (Liang et al., 2012). Method Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) will be employed for examining the research objectives of this research. The questionnaire for this study will be created through a professional online-based survey tool. As this research focuses on the factors influencing social WOM adoption in relation with luxury brands communications, the proposed research model will be tested among customers who is active in the existing active social media platforms and has had experience in engaging with the activities of luxury brand communications such as posting review or comment other’s post). Result and conclusion This research has adopted the electronic WOM theory and the social media support theory along with a social media perspective to investigate how customer’s interaction in social media affects their behaviour in relation to luxury brands consumption. The results show that social WOM facilitates the evaluation by customers about the luxury products using social media. Moreover, WOM has emerged with broad accessibility and the capability to be evaluated and measured easily by other consumers. This study gives practical implications on how to use social media to develop online communities for luxury brands. In conclusion, when going online, luxury brand should consider the importance of converting the online brand strategy into an interactive and engaging experience for their users and online communities.

Investigation concerning the presence of customer-brand relationships in online communities is recent and scarce and might offer potential (Moraes et al., 2014; Huber et al., 2015; Vernuccio et al., 2015). The purpose of this investigation is to understand and analyse how brand love can influence brand loyalty among millennials generation, considering engagement constructs and social networks. It bridges an academia gap in the context of the consumer brand relationship literature. This research aims to answer the following questions: (1) Is brand love effective in building true brand loyalty? (2) Does interactive engagement with brands and brand love contribute to build brand loyalty? and (3) Does interactive engagement on social networks reflect millennials love of brands? To collect data we conducted two online surveys, covering two different brand categories: Fashion and Electronics/Technology. We have in total 1278 inquiries. The analyses of data and hypotheses test were made by using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and a multi-group factor analysis. The proposed structural equation model was validated and all hypothesis were accepted. So, consumers’ Brand Related Social Media Content was proved to have a direct impact on Social Interactive Brands and Brand Loyalty. Social Interactive Brands were proved to have a direct impact on Emotional Attachment and Self Expressive Brands which also proved direct impact on Brand Love. Brand Love for instance was proved has been directly connected with Brand Loyalty and Word of Mouth and Brand Loyalty also, directly impacts Word of Mouth. The model behave well in the previous research so we wanted to test it with a smaller sample and different brand categories the results would maintain. The results of the multi-group factor analysis showed that we have configural and metric invariance in both different studies, covering Fashion and Technological brands. As though for management purposes it might be of no disagreement to state that marketing alone is no longer enough to influence purchase motivation and intention for consumers. This investigation advance and valid a new theoretical framework in the consumer brand love approach

Introduction With most consumers in developed countries actively using Internet in their daily lives (International Telecommunication Union, 2017), and billions of monthly active social media users (Facebook, 2017; Instagram, 2017), businesses across the globe work to ensure their efficient representation in the online environment. For luxury brands, digitalization poses unique challenges. While some luxury brands fully embrace the digital environment, whether through designing memes for their social media campaigns (Gucci, 2018), or through selling their luxury products via online channels (Vacheron Constantin, 2018), other luxury brands avoid digitalization. Some marketers suggest that “digitalization of luxury brands” is somewhat paradoxical, since customers of luxury brands expect exclusive access, insider knowledge, and more personalized, intimate service than online environment can offer (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, 2015; Hennings, Wiedmann, and Klarmann, 2012; Popomaronis, 2017). Considering that “one size” does not fit all in marketing, could it be the case that digital presence has favorable impact on some luxury brands, but not on others? Brand personality, culture and values of luxury brands can work to create a traditional, or a more modern, brand image (Azoulay & Kapferer, 2003; Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan, & McDonald, 2005). It seems reasonable to assume that more modern luxury brands are expected to modernize, even in a digital capacity, while traditional luxury brands are expected to be resilient to change. In other words, digitalization might be perceived differently by customers of traditional luxury brands versus modern luxury brands. However, luxury brand literature is silent as to how these brands should engage audiences online. The primary goal of this paper is to determine whether digital presence leads to differential consumer outcomes depending on the luxury brand identity. Theoretical Development It is universally accepted that the online environment is one of the key factors impacting consumer outcomes in our digital age (Darley, Blankson, & Luethge, 2010). Specifically, brand website quality, interface, experience and website satisfaction all have a strong influence on the consumer decision process, and determine how consumers engage with and obtain knowledge of a brand (see Darley et al., 2010 for a review). Moreover, navigation and convenience of the brand website environment were found to be important predictors of consumers’ attitudes (Childers, Carr, Peck, & Carson, 2001). In fact, when it comes to evaluating brands and their websites, consumers are driven by three factors: website functionality (e.g., navigation), psychological factors (e.g., trust and feelings of reliability/professionalism), and content (e.g., website design) (Constantinides, 2004). At the same time, these three driving factors in website evaluation (i.e., functionality, psychological factors, and content) help build the brand identity, and create a specific brand image through brand presentation style, and the relationships created with customers (Nandan, 2005). A strong component of brand identity is brand personality. Using Aaker’s (1997) brand personality dimensions as a starting point, Heine (2009) developed a luxury brand personality scale, identifying the following traits: modernity, eccentricity, opulence, elitism, and strength. The first trait, modernity, refers to the temporal perspective of the brand, ranging from modern to traditional. ”Traditional” can mean conservative, classic, and old-fashioned, yet luxury brand positioning is often based on tradition, which results in low modernity (Esteve and Hieu-Dess, 2005; Mutscheller, 1992; Vernier and Ghewy, 2006; Vickers and Renand, 2003; Vigneron and Johnson, 2004). The concept of a “modern brand,” on the other hand, elicits associations such as contemporary, trendy, and progressive. For luxury brands, while Donna Karan New York would identify as a modern brand, Hermes provides an example of the traditional brand. Past research indicates that modern brands are more symbolic, embody conspicuousness, and do not require luxury knowledge. Furthermore, modern brands are often deemed more exciting (Aaker, 1997) and creative (Roux, Tafani, and Vigneron, 2017). In contrast, a traditional brand requires craftsmanship, represents aesthetic possession, and requires knowledge (Pitt, Berthon, Parent, and Berthon, 2001). While Kapferer (1998) considers that tradition and modernity are part of luxury brand identity, and thus strategy, only recent evidence demonstrates that luxury brand image can influence consumer evaluations and decision making (Roux et al., 2017). We suggest that luxury brand identity should impact the digitalization strategy of the luxury brands. First, even though past research suggests that e-commerce and use of social media bodes well for luxury brand strategy (Godey et al, 2016; Lee and Walkins, 2016), we argue that for modern (vs. traditional) luxury brands, digitalization and social media presence is viewed more negatively. This is due to the fact that modern brands are more symbolic, that is a sign of affluence (Pitt et al., 2001), and linked more closely to the trait of exclusivity (Roux et al., 2017). When negative attitudes of the modern luxury brand consumers arise, they will result in lower evaluations of the brand digitalization efforts (e.g., brand website). Formally, H1: Exposure (vs. no exposure) to the brand’s social media page will lead to lower (vs. higher) brand website evaluations for the consumers of a modern (vs. traditional) luxury brand. Given that consumers can express love for brands and designate status to brands, their overall relationships with a brand can influence brand website evaluations. However, consumers could attribute higher or lower value to a brand’s identity in the online environment, thereby determining the success or failure of luxury brand digital strategy (Quach and Thaichon, 2017). More specifically, consumers might perceive brand website to be an integral part of a modern brand’s image, and might not see a website as a critical component of a traditional brand’s image. In other words, a website of a modern brand might be subject of higher scrutiny than that of a traditional brand, and thus might be more dependent on the overall consumer attitudes towards the brand. Therefore, we propose that brand love can attenuate the negative influence of digitalization on website evaluations for a modern brand. As such, H2: For a modern luxury brand, high (vs. low) brand love will increase (vs. decrease) website evaluations. No such relationship exists for a traditional luxury brand. Study 1 One hundred and forty-six French participants were recruited on social media (Mage = 28; 71.9% female) to participate in a survey conducted in French about luxury brands. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (Luxury brand: modern vs. traditional) x 2 (Social media page: shown vs. not) between-subjects experimental design. After viewing the website for either the brand identified during the pretests as traditional (Hermes) or modern (Celine), participants in the “social media page: shown” condition viewed the target brand’s Instagram page. Participants in “social media page: not shown” condition immediately proceeded to the study questionnaire. Following this, all participants responded to the questionnaire measuring the dependent variable, Website evaluations, on a 3-item 7-point scale (“How would you rate this website on the following features: design, navigation, and professionalism”, 1 - very negative and 7 - very positive; α = .94; Constantinides, 2004). Next, participants responded to two covariates, including two 7-point Likert-type items to capture Luxury brand knowledge (e.g., “I know more about luxury brands than most other people”; r = .96; p < .001; Mueller, Francis, & Lockshin, 2008), and one item measuring Luxury shopping habits (“How often do you buy luxury goods?”, 1 - more than once a month and 7 - never). Social media usage, as it pertains to this study in particular, was measured as a covariate on a one-item scale (“How often do you use social media?”, 1 - several times a day, 4 - at least once per month). Lastly, demographics were captured. An ANCOVA with the Luxury brand (0 - traditional brand, 1 - modern brand) and the Social media page (0 - not shown, 1 - shown) as the independent variables, Luxury brand knowledge, Luxury shopping habits, and Social media usage as covariates, and Website evaluations as the dependent variable yielded a significant 2-way interaction (F(1, 144) = 3.91; p = .05), driven by main effects of Luxury shopping habits (F(1, 144) = 5.28; p = .02) and Social media usage (F(1, 144) = 6.75; p = .01). The means revealed directional support that the traditional brand website was evaluated more favorably (M = 5.59) than that of the modern luxury brand (M = 5.38). Planned contrasts revealed that for those who saw the social media page, the Website evaluations were higher for the traditional brand (M = 5.56, SD = 1.48) than the modern brand (M = 5.10, SD = 1.88; F(1, 144) = 1.76; p = .06). For those who did not see the social media page, Website evaluations did not differ for the modern (M = 5.68, SD = 1.52) or traditional luxury brand (M = 5.63, SD = 1.53; F(1, 144) < 1). Moreover, for the traditional brand, the social media page did not influence Website evaluations (M = 5.56, SD = 1.48 vs. M = 5.63, SD = 1.53 for shown vs. not shown; F(1, 144) < 1). On the other hand, for the modern brand, Website evaluations were lower for those who saw the social media page (M = 5.10, SD = 1.88) versus did not see the social media page (M = 5.68, SD = 1.52 F(1, 144) = 2.61; p = .02). Thus, the modern brand was more influenced by digital strategies than the traditional brand, such that for the traditional brand, viewing the social media page did not influence the website evaluations. In contrast, viewing the Instagram page of the modern luxury brand had a negative influence on luxury website evaluations. The modern brand website, specifically, was viewed as less aesthetically pleasing, and less professional, after viewing the brand’s Instagram page. We speculate that this is because the luxury brand was seen as less rare, and special, after viewing its social media page, and these negative associations affected downstream consumer judgments when evaluating the brand website. Study 2 To formally test hypothesis two, European consumers speaking English were recruited via social media to participate in a study on luxury brands. An experiment using a 2 (Luxury brand: modern vs. traditional) x (Brand love, continuous) between-subjects design was undertaken. The Luxury brand variable was manipulated by exposing participants (N=128; Mage = 21; 60% female; 63% German) to one of the two brands recognized as either more modern (Chanel) or more traditional (Hermes). The dependent variable, Website evaluations, was measured as in study 1 (α = .77). Participants also responded to two 7-point Likert items measuring Brand love (e.g., “I love the brand whose website I just visited”; r = .75; p < .001; Bagozzi, Batra, and Ahuvia, 2014), and two covariates of Luxury brand knowledge (r = .9; p < .001) and Luxury shopping habits. Lastly, demographics were captured. A regression using PROCESS Model 1 with the Luxury brand (0 – traditional brand, 1 – modern brand) and mean-centered Brand love as the independent variables, Luxury brand knowledge and Luxury shopping habits as covariates, and Website evaluations as the dependent variable yielded a significant 2-way interaction (β = .38; t = 1.82; p = .07) driven by a main effect of the Luxury brand, so that the website of the traditional brand was evaluated more favorably (M = 5.85) than that of the modern brand (M = 4.88; β = - .98; t = -3.13; p = .002). Planned contrasts revealed that when Brand love was low, Website evaluations were greater for the traditional brand (M = 5.84) than the modern brand (M = 4.28; β = -1.56; t = -3.86; p = .0002). However, there was no difference in Website evaluations when Brand love was high (M = 5.87 vs. M = 5.47 for traditional vs. modern, respectively; β = -.40; t = -.82; p > .4). Moreover, for the traditional brand, Brand love did not influence Website evaluations (M = 5.85 vs. M = 5.87 for low vs. high brand love; β = .01; t = .08; p >.9). On the other hand, for the modern brand, Brand love had a positive impact on Website evaluations, such that evaluations were higher when Brand love was higher (M = 5.47) versus lower (M = 4.28; β = .39; t = 2.40; p = .018). Thus, luxury brand websites emanating from traditional brands are more widely accepted than those from modern brands. Additionally, these results support hypothesis two that brand love attenuates lower website evaluations for the modern luxury brand while not influential of evaluation of the luxury brand website for traditional brands. Important for the modern luxury brand, brand love should be high for brands pursuing digital strategies. Conclusion In sum, the findings from the two experiments indicate that digital techniques employed by traditional luxury brands are more widely accepted than those of modern brands. Specifically, the findings reveal that while social media pages can detract from the evaluations of the modern luxury site, they do not influence the evaluations of the traditional luxury site (study 1). Given that one of the benefits of luxury brands’ sharing of content in a digital environment involves facilitating brand love, it is imperative for modern luxury brands to garner high brand love. After all, brand love increases site evaluations for modern luxury brands (study 2). Using appropriate brand identity interface to communicate brand identity to the brand contacts is important in building brand equity (Madhavaram et al., 2005), especially in the domain of luxury brands, where brand equities amount to billions of dollars (Quach and Thaicon, 2017). Therefore, understanding how best to use digital interfaces is paramount to luxury brand strategy.

Despite important theoretical implications seldom research exist regarding the impact of luxury parent brand status signaling on the evaluation of horizontal line extension through the moderating role of extension authenticity, quality and fit. The luxury literature review revealed that despite important theoretical implications seldom research exist regarding the impact of luxury parent brand status signaling on the evaluation of horizontal line extension through the moderating role of extension authenticity, quality and fit. Research has examined how consumers use luxury goods to signal their status or relative position in social hierarchies (Berger & Ward 2010; Dubois et al., 2012; Geiger-Oneto et al., 2013; Kastanakis, & Balabanis, 2014) but until the current study the luxury literature could not support the extent to which status signaling impact line extension’s evaluation through the moderating role of extension authenticity (Spiggle, Nguyen, & Caravella, 2012; Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Morhart et al., 2015; Guèvremont & Grohmann, 2016). Previous studies have found that authenticity can be to emotional attachment (Morhart et al., 2015), help pursue personal goals (Beverland & Farrelli, 2010), or relevant to brand identity, status and equity (Guevremont & Grohmann, 2016). Surprisingly, none of these studies has empirically tested this important relationship. This study’s contribution to the literature is important as it empirically confirms that in launching a new line extension, a luxury parent brand’s status signaling will directly impact the extension’s evaluation. In the process, the perceived authenticity of the extension proves to affect the evaluation significantly if the perceived quality and fit of the extension are taken into consideration in the measurement framework.

This study explores the effect of ad variation effectiveness as a function of cultural differences, drawing from visual attention and encoding variability theory. Findings on HK and UK participants suggest that varying ad features may be most effective by changing those features that correspond to the intended consumer’s cognitive styles. Introduction Previous research suggests that showing varied ads can enhance brand recall, and result in more positive attitudes towards the brand (Unnava & Burnkrant, 1991). Following the encoding variability theory (Lee & Lee, 2016; Yaveroglu & Donthu, 2008), variations in encoded information improve recall because these variations provide additional memory representations for the target information, hence leading to more retrieval cues for the information to be recalled (Anderson & Bower, 1973). Transposed to an advertising context, each element of an ad (e.g., graphics, layout, backgrounds, products, brand logo, etc.) can serve as a retrieval cue for information recall. For instance, if a target product is embedded in two different backgrounds (e.g., a beer in a social event vs beach background), these two different contexts can serve as two different retrieval cues for the target product, compared to only one possible retrieval cue provided in same ad repetition. Since encoding variability theory relies on contextual changes and multiple memory paths to explain the ad variation effect, it may be affected by cultural difference (specifically, selective attention), which can act as a moderator of ad variation effectiveness. Western and East-Asian people have been found to have different visual attentional biases (e.g., Nisbett & Masuda, 2003), with Westerners being more attentive on focal objects (analytic perception) and Easterners focusing more on the whole picture (holistic perception). As such, the selective attention they paid towards the ad may enable them more susceptible to specific changes of an ad, thus increasing the available memory pathway towards brand information, i.e., brand recall. Brand attitudes are suggested to be formed through learning (e.g., Van Osselaer & Alba, 2000), i.e., consumers learn and process the information conveyed in an ad, which eventually affects their attitude towards a brand. This study therefore also tested the role of visual attention in moderating the effect of ad variation on brand attitude, since Eastern and Western customers learn differently due to their visual attentional styles. To examine the possible moderation of ad-variation effectiveness by visual attention in a cross-cultural context, this study exposed HK (Eastern) and UK (Western) participants with two different varied-ad executions, foreground-varied ads (ads that vary in focal object) and background-varied ads (ads that change in background features). Identical-ad execution was also included as a baseline. We hypothesized that, due to the difference in attentional bias in Eastern participants (holistic) and Western participants (analytic), different types of ad variations might results in different extents of effectiveness of the ad variation. Method A 2 (Culture: UK vs. HK) x3 (Ad type: identical vs. background-varied vs. foregroundvaried) between-subject factorial design experiment was used in this study. We used a fictitious Beer brand - Helga Brugge - for this study. In the identical-ad condition, the same target ad was repeated three times. We designed a target beer and two beer pints as foreground features and background features included a camping scene (in identical-ad condition), and a football stadium, camping scene and a social event scene (in background-varied condition). In foreground-varied condition, while keeping the background image constant (camping background), the foreground features differed, i.e., a bottle beer, a canned beer, and a bottle beer with two beer pins. See Figure 1 for the target ad stimuli. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three ad type conditions and watched the 20 advertisement slides (3 target ads with 17 filler ads), each of which was presented singularly for 3 seconds. Filler ads were chosen from real ads that were not used anymore at the time of the study. They included various product categories other than beer such as toy, beverage, and cosmetics. After being exposed to the advertisement, participants were asked to answer a series of questions measuring a number of variables in the following order: ad recall and brand recall (Lee & Lee, 2016), brand attitude (MacKenzie, Lutz & Belch, 1986) and demographic information. Data was collecting online using Qualtrics. Both Chinese and English versions of instructions were back translated (Miracle and Bang, 2002). Results After excluding incomplete datasets and participants whose nationality was not British or Hong Kong, the final sample comprised 117 UK (78 female) and 108 HK (63 female) participants. Cross-cultural Cognitive Differences in Perception To confirm the underlying assumption that HK participants tend to have holistic visual perception and UK participants tend to have analytical visual perception, participants’ responses were coded to identify the type of foreground information (e.g., beers, pints, foams) and background information (e.g., sunset, camping). The coding processes were independently performed by two coders; Cohen’s κ analyses showed a moderate agreement (Sim & Wright, 2005) between the two coders' judgments on both foreground information (κ = .781, p < .001, 95% CI, .716 to .846) and background information (κ = .775, p < .001, 95% CI, .706 to .843). Two 2(Culture: UK vs. HK) x 3(Ad type: identical, background-varied and foregroundvaried) analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted. Results support our assumption: UK participants elicited more comments on foreground information (M= 1.56, SD= 1.20) than HK participants did (M= 1.05, SD= 1.03; F(1, 219)= 11.80, p= .001, =.051), and HK participants elicited more comments on background information (M= 1.69, SD= 1.19) than UK participants did (M= 1.09, SD= 1.03; F(1, 219)=16.22, p<.001, =.069). There was no statistically significant main effect on ad type or any statistically significant interaction effect. Brand Recall For UK participants, we hypothesized that their selective attention towards focal objects would enable them more susceptible to changes in the foreground-varied ad conditions, but not in the background-varied ad conditions. Chi-squared analyses revealed that UK participants’ brand recall scores in foreground-varied condition (M=89.2%) was significantly higher than those in both background-varied (M=53.7%): X^2 (1, N=78) = 11.80, p<.001, ϕ =.39, and identical conditions (M=43.6%): X^2 (1, N=76) = 17.5, p<.001, ϕ =.48. There was no difference in brand recall between identical and background-varied conditions. Conversely, we hypothesized that both background- and foreground-varied ads would be equally effective for HK participants due to their holistic attention towards both foreground and background objects. Multiple chi-squared tests revealed that, HK participants’ brand recall scores in both foreground-varied condition (M=59.5.%) and background-varied condition (M=58.3%) were significantly higher than that in the identical condition (M=34.3.%; foreground-varied vs. identical,X^2 (1, N=72) = 4.57, p=.032, ϕ =.25; background-varied vs. identical, X^2 (1, N=71) = 4.13, p= .042, ϕ =.24). The difference between the two varied ad conditions was not significant. Brand Attitudes We hypothesized that HK and UK participants’ brand attitudes also differ to different extents in the three conditions, following a similar pattern found in measuring brand recall. Consistent with this, independent-sample t-tests on UK participants revealed that the mean scores for brand attitude in both foreground-varied ads condition (M= 4.64) was higher than that in both identical ads condition (M= 3.71; t=-4.09, p<.001, d=0.94) and background-varied ads condition (M=3.98; t=3.49, p=.001, d=0.80). No significant difference was found between the identical-ad condition and background-varied condition. For HK participants, results of t-tests revealed that the mean scores for brand attitude in both foreground-varied condition (M= 4.18) and background-varied condition (M=4.33) were both significantly higher than that in identical ads condition (M= 3.53; foreground vs identical: t=-3.19, p=.002, d=0.51; background vs identical: t=4.87, p<.001, d=0.80). No significant difference was found between the two varied ads conditions. Discussion This research provides supporting evidence that visual attentional biases initiated by cultural differences can moderate the effectiveness of ad variation. Specifically, for UK participants, ad variation appeared to be effective only in foreground-varied ads. Conversely, both foreground-varied and background-varied ads were effective for HK participants. These findings have both theoretical and managerial implications. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first cross-cultural research in the domain of ad variation. It addresses a gap in the ad variation literature, by identifying the moderating effect that cultural differences can have on the ad variation effect. This opens up new research directions including considering other forms of cultural variations (e.g., language) and cognitive differences (e.g., reasoning styles) to better understand individual differences in the domain of ad-variation. This study also offers insights for international marketers looking at tailoring their advertising strategies for different target audiences to maximize ad- and cost-effectiveness. Besides varying features that correspond to the intended consumer’s cognitive styles, marketers could also consider priming consumers’ cognitive styles when determining advertising strategies, as previous research has shown that consumers’ cognitive styles are relatively malleabile (Lin & Han, 2009). For example, when executing foreground-varied ads, inserting them into an article that could induce an analytic cognition (e.g., bibliography programs about a successful life story of a person) would be an effective strategy. This study has two main limitations. First, it only included data from nationals of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Non-cognitive cultural differences such as language and geographical mobility can affect cognitive styles (e.g., Rhode & Voyer, 2015). Future research should replicate and expand findings by looking at more countries (e.g., US, South Korea), with increased level of control on relevant non-cognitive crosscultural factors. Second, this study only looked at one hedonic product category: beer. Future research can replicate and expand findings, by looking at different product categories (e.g., utilitarian products, such as toothbrushes).

This research was conducted to develop a brand personality model that could be used to measure and compare the brand personality of a same brand across cultures. The results suggest that for West (the U.S.) and East (Japan), the bicultural BPD have five distinct dimensions of Sincerity, Sophistication, Ruggedness, Excitement, and Peacefulness, represented by the 15 attributes (wholesome, warm, kind, upper-class, elegant, romantic, masculine, tough, rugged, trendy, exciting, imaginative, shy, naïve, and childlike). The results show that many global brands have different brand personality perceptions across cultures. Only four (Levi’s, Nintendo DS, Shell, and Visa) out of 21 global brands had the same brand personality perceptions in two cultures. These results may be inconsistent with the definition of global brands—brands whose positioning, advertising strategy, personality, look, and feel are same or at least similar from one country to another. However, the results confirm the findings of Aaker et al. (2001) that brands have culturally specific meaning. The results also confirm the “the lure of global branding”—the goal of developing one strong global brand is often unrealistic (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 1999). Still, in the business world, many companies are trying to globalize their own brands in order to enjoy the high economies of scale. Hence, it is important for the business managers to be able to measure the results of their global branding efforts. This research provides a tool, the bicultural brand personality model, the managers could use to measure their global brands in Western and Eastern cultures, and understand the similarity and differences across two cultures.

This study aims to show that cultural differences in self-concepts define the effect of brand evaluations on purchase intention. Self-brand connection (SBC), which refers to “the extent to which individuals have incorporated brands into their self-concepts (Escalas & Bettman, 2003)”, has been identified as an important factor that leads brand loyalty and repurchase (Batra et al., 2012; Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006; Loureiro et al., 2012; Park et al., 2010; Zarantonello et al., 2016). However, Sugitani (2018) demonstrated that SBC was a significant predictor of repurchase intention only among people with independent self-construal (Westerners), while brand evaluations based on public reputation (i.e. public-based evaluation; PBE) significantly predicted repurchase intention among people with interdependent self-construal (East Asians). This study raises questions about other factors relevant to the self that might moderate the effect of brand evaluations. Therefore, in addition to self-construal, this study focused on individual selfesteem as another moderating factor, and investigated its effects on the relations between brand evaluations and purchase intentions. Cross-national online surveys were conducted in the U.S., Italy (independent selfconstrual culture) and Japan (interdependent self-construal culture). The results of data analyses using multi-group structural equation modelling and ANOVAs provided the important discoveries. First, the finding of previous literature was reproduced that SBC was a significant predictor of repurchase intentions among people with independent selfconstrual. However, self-esteem significantly moderated the result. Specifically, SBC was a significant antecedent of repurchase intention when consumers with interdependent self-construal possess high self-esteem. Second, self-esteem also moderated the effect of PBE on repurchase intention among Italian consumers. Italians with low self-esteem were averse to choosing high PBE brands, while those with high self-esteem were not. The U.S. and Japanese consumers consistently avoided and preferred high PBE brands respectively; self-esteem did not affect the result. This study contributes to global brand management by showing that cultural differences in two important self-concepts, self-construal and self-esteem, have an interactive moderating effect on brand evaluations and purchases.