The market for luxury is changing with new competitors to the market, more modest growth, and new types of customers (Kim and Ko 2012, Ko, Phau and Aiello 2016) as well as the ubiquity of digital marketing channels (Okonkwo 2009). Moreover, social media has transformed the logic of fashion marketing by providing new ways of engaging, interacting, and connecting with customers (Dhaoui 2014) as well as enabling consumers to participate in branding process (Burman 2010). As a consequence, also luxury brands need to develop experience-based marketing strategies that emphasise interactivity, connectivity and creativity (Atwal and Williams 2009). What is more, despite of growing importance of social media marketing in luxury industry, extant research on the topic still remains quite limited (Ko and Megehee 2012). While the previous studies have well documented the benefits of luxury marketing on social media (Kim and Ko 2012, Kim and Ko 2010, Brogi et al. 2013, Kontu and Vecchi 2014, Godey et al. 2016), and their implications on luxury brand management (Dhaoui 2014, Larraufie and Kourdoughli 2014), and even co-creative marketing practices (Choi, Ko and Kim 2016, Tynan, McKehnie, and Chuon 2010), no studies to this date have looked at co-creation from consumer-perspective. This article provides a novel perspective on luxury branding, by following the resource-based theory of consumer (Arnould, Price and Malshe 2006) to study the brand identity as co-created in social media. To do this, visual frame analysis (Goffman 1974, Luhtakallio 2013) is applied on consumer generated images downloaded from Instagram feed of brand exhibition staged by luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Based on the analysis, a typology of co-created brand identities is proposed. The findings indicate that in the branded exhibitions, consumers co-create brand identity by utilising resources available in the experiential brandscape by taking and posting these objectifications of brand on social media (Presi et al. 2016) and in so doing create symbolic/expressive, and experiential/hedonic value (Tynan et al. 2010). Theoretically, this article provides a novel perspective on luxury brand as co-created and in so doing, demonstrates the dynamics of firm-consumer co-creation. What is more, to extend the emerging stream of visual analysis of luxury (Kim et al. 2016, Freire 2014, Megehee and Spake 2012), an application of novel is demonstrated in the article. Managerially, this explorative study provides new insights on luxury marketing in social media by suggesting that branded experiences should be designed in a manner that engages the consumer to actively use the resources available to them. The financial implications of this shift are also significant as according to McKinsey study, three out of four luxury purchases are influenced by social media (Hope 2016)

Social media play a role in the value that sneakerheads, individuals who collect, wear, and trade sneakers with extraordinary effort and resources, place on specific brands and models of sneakers. In-depth interviews with 25 sneakerheads, recruited through sneakerhead online communities and snow-ball sampling, were conducted to explore how social media contribute to emotional and monetary value creation of sneakers, as well as how social media is used across the Inventory Ownership Cycle (IOC) which includes pre-acquisition, acquisition, physical possession, and disposal of sneakers (Boyd & Mcconocha, 1996). Finding shows that during the pre-acquisition stage, emotional and monetary value is constructed when brands post images of celebrities wearing new models on various social media sites. Hype initially created by the brand is perpetuated by posts and conversations among sneakersheads. Perceived higher levels of hype lead one to believe demand surpasses supply, and therefore, monetary values of specific models increase. Through social media, consumers research and gauge the value not only of soon to be released sneakers, but also previously released sneakers only available on the resale market. During the acquisition stage, the online environment has become increasingly important. To avoid issues associated with selling high-demand/low-supply sneakers in- store, such as violent incidents and dishonest employees, many retailers have shifted sales of such product to online formats (Dunne, 2014). Social media serves as a platform for sneakerheads to learn about dates and locations of new releases and to locate resellers from whom they can purchase previously released sneakers. During the physical possession stage, sneakerheads engage with community members via social media; they show off their sneaker collections, as well as to obtain and share information regarding sneaker customization and maintenance to preserve aesthetics and value. It is through the engagement with fellow sneakerheads and the sneakers within their personal collections that emotional value can be further constructed. During the disposal stage, social media is used by resellers to determine monetary value, identify and communicate with potential buyers across the nation, and complete resale transactions. In summary, this research demonstrates how sneakerheads use social media throughout the IOC, as well as the role social media plays in the construction and identification of sneaker value.

The aim of this exploratory research is to investigate whether luxury brands social media activities (Kim & Ko, 2012) – which are online activities that could potentially engage customers in digital environment (Sashi, 2012) – are capable of transmitting the sense of heritage of such brands to the customers. Moreover, the authors will observe whether the aforementioned activities are capable of transmitting the sense of exclusivity, which will be measured through the customers’ perceptions of the brand prestige (Hwang & Hyun, 2012), to the latter. In order to explore such a phenomenon, the authors have selected structural eqation modeling (SEM) as the main methodology of the research (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The theoretical foundations of the present research are related with three streams of marketing literature, namely (1) luxury brands social media marketing activities (Kim & Ko, 2010; Kim & Ko, 2012), (2) luxury brands heritage (Ciappei, Zollo, Boccardi, & Rialti, 2016; Hudson, 2011; Rialti, Zollo, Boccardi, & Marzi, 2016) and, finally, (3) luxury brands customer-based prestige (Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014). In particular, building on the concept of social media marketing activities (Kim & Ko, 2010), we aimed at observing how the latter could influence customers’ perceptions of the brand by engaging them in online activities and conversations (Sashi, 2012; Zaglia, 2013). Specifically, we investigated if engagement in online activities or in online communities is related with a positive perception of luxury brands’ heritage and prestige. Hence, customers’ online engagement deriving from social media activities has been considered as an antecedent of customer perceived heritage and prestige (Phan, Thomas, & Heine, 2011; Hamzah, Alwi, & Othman, 2014; Riviezzo Garofano, & Napolitano, 2016). Luxury brands have been selected as the context of research since heritage and prestige have emerged as relevant strategic marketing levers for luxury brands’ brand strategist. As a proof of that, recently, luxury brands’ strategist and product managers are increasingly focusing brands’ strategies on the history of the brands in order to transmit customers a feeling of exclusivity and elitism (Hudson, 2010; Balmer, 2011). Thus, luxury brands heritage perceived by costumers emerged as a fundamental component of brand identity and, in addition, it may be considered as a form of competitive advantage increasing brand equity (Van Riel & Balmer, 1997). The main findings of the present research are related with the fact that social media marketing activities may engage customers online (Sashi, 2012). Moreover, it emerged how social media strategies are capable to engage customers and transmit them the sense of heritage and prestige. Hence, social media marketing strategies focused on developing a relationship with customers emerged as crucial in order to enhance customers’ perceptions of a brand heritage and prestige. Finally, the development of such a kind of social media marketing strategies is the principal implication for marketing managers. Due to the aforementioned results, this exploratory research contributes to online luxury brand management literature (Kim & Ko, 2010). In particular, due to our results it is possible to assess that social media activities, which are capable to engage customers online, are able to transmit the sense of heritage and of prestige. Future researches should explore better this phenomenon. In particular, on the one hand we suggest scholars to investigate through qualitative methodologies which kind of communications are capable to transmit sense of heritage and prestige. On the other hand, we suggest scholars to compare traditional form of communications with online form in order to understand which one is more capable to influence customers’ perceptions. The principal limitation of this research is related with its exploratory nature and with the traditional limitations of SEM methodology.

Not all celebrity endorsements have been successful on social media. However, our understanding of the effectiveness of luxury brand celebrity endorsement advertising are limited. On the basis of Self-Congruity Theory (Sirgy, 1985), Meaning-Transfer Model (McCracken, 1989), and Match-Up Hypothesis (Kamins, 1990; Kamins & Cupta, 1994), this study investigates whether three components of image congruity (i.e., brand-celebrity, brand-self, celebrity-self) would influence brand attitudes, ad attitudes, and self-brand connection, and subsequently, influence consumer engagement and purchase intentions. This study also tests the moderating role of consumer type (followers vs. unfollowers of the social media brand page) in these relationships. After conducting a series of pretests to select a focal brand and celebrities, responses from 219 US female adults were used to data analysis. The results of structural equation modeling showed that brand-celebrity congruity was positively related to ad attitudes and brand attitudes. Brand-self congruity was positively related to ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and self-brand connection. Self-celebrity congruity was positively related to ad attitudes and self-brand connection but was negatively related to brand attitudes. Ad attitudes were positively related to brand attitudes and engagement intentions but were not related to purchase intentions. Brand attitudes were positively related to engagement intentions and purchase intentions. Self-brand connection was positively related to engagement intentions, and engagement intentions were positively related to purchase intentions. Finally, the results of a multi-group analysis showed that for unfollowers (n=125), ad attitudes were positively related to engagement intentions but brand attitudes were not. On the contrary, for followers (n=94), brand attitudes were positively related to engagement intentions but ad attitudes were not. This study highlights that self-brand connection is the key to cultivating consumer engagement on social media, along with the consumer’s positive attitudes toward the celebrity endorsement ad and the brand per se. If luxury brands wish to interact with their followers and increase their engagement, they need to focus their efforts on improving brand attitudes and self-brand connection through their brand pages. Our findings suggest that celebrity endorsed advertising contributes to creating self-brand relationships (Dwivedi et al., 2016) but it should be considered as a long-term investment.

Recent research has pointed out the emergence of new online actors, especially in the domain of fashion and lifestyle—“social media influencers” or SMIs (Etter, Colleoni, Illia, Meggiorin, & D’Eugenio, forthcoming). SMIs are defined as “people who possess greater than average potential to influence others due to such attributes as frequency of communication, personal persuasiveness or size of—and centrality to—a social network.” As SMIs become professionals, with a mass audience of followers, they gain competence in generating sophisticated content such as creation of stories, videos, visuals, etc. (McQuarrie, Miller, & Phillips, 2013). As such, SMIs are tempted to leverage their online influence to partner with brands. One of the reasons brands collaborate with SMIs is that they are considered trustworthy and “one of the few forms of real, authentic communication” (Scott, 2015, p. 295). Authenticity is recognized in the marketing literature as an important attribute, as consumers increasingly desire authenticity in their products and brands (Chronis & Hampton, 2008). A notion of authenticity which has been gaining acceptance revolves around whether an individual or brand expresses their true self (Moulard, Raggio, & Folse, 2016). Holt (2002, p. 83) notes, “To be authentic, brands must be disinterested; they must be perceived as invented and disseminated by parties without an instrumental economic agenda, by people who are intrinsically motivated by their inherent value”. However, collaborating with brands may question SMIs authenticity as their inner desires to focus on products they are passionate about are challenged by commercial opportunities to showcase brands that they would not ordinary like. Their credibility might be questioned as the persuasive effect of their messages is often attributed to their perceived noncommercial nature as compared to branded advertisements. Despite growing research on influencers and acknowledged pressure of pursuing financial gains (Abidin & Ots, 2015), past research has overlooked the challenges to remain authentic when collaborating with brands. As such, our research focuses on the question: what are the strategies of SMIs to maintain authenticity while they are under commercial pressure? To answer it, we conducted a research in the context of fashion, beauty and lifestyle, as it is one of the most successful and visible domains of digital production. We analyze posts from 49 influencers participating in 9 brand campaigns that employed multiple SMIs simultaneously. These observations are complemented with 27 interviews with SMIs to understand “behind the scene” goals pursued to project this authenticity. Results suggest that SMIs implement two potentially complementary strategies expressing authenticity under commercial pressure: 1) passionate authenticity, which refers to one’s expressing of his/her inner self and being passionate even when involved in a collaboration, and 2) informational authenticity, which refers to being consistent with the facts and not lying about the partnership, the influencer or the products promoted. From a theoretical standpoint, the notion of passionate authenticity has been established in the previous literature (Moulard, et al., 2016), but we identify a new form of authenticity that we name informational authenticity. It thus extends the literature and builds on previous research to reframe the concept of authenticity (Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Morhart, Malär, Guevremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2015; Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014). From a managerial standpoint, our findings should help SMIs manage their authenticity under threat as it suggest that they can either use Passion or Information. SMIs should be cautious to report the reality of the partnership and the product in their WOMM contents. Similarly, they should keep producing noncommercial messages about brands they are really passionate about. In the same vein, managers should be attentive to let SMIs select products in order to increase enthusiasm for the brand and minimize constraints to give room for personalized communication aligned with SMI’s style and opinions.

Despite the positive outcomes of brand-consumer interactions on social media documented in the literature, an important question still remains: Are active brand-consumer interactions always beneficial to luxury fashion brands? This study argues that such interactions may undermine the core perceptions of the brands by making consumers feel too close to the brands. Drawing upon construal level theory of psychological distance, the purpose of this study is to examine the negative effects of brand-consumer interactions on perceptions of luxury fashion brands (i.e., social perception, uniqueness perception, quality perception) in a social media context. Two experimental studies were conducted. The purpose of Study 1 was to test the hypothesis that luxury brands, compared to mainstream brands, will be perceived as more psychologically distant and abstract. Study 1 used a 2 (brand category: luxury vs. mainstream) x 2 (brand replicates) mixed-model design in which the brand category was a between-subject factor and the brand replicates were a within-subject factor. Fifty-nine subjects recruited from Amazon MTurk participated in the study. The results of Study 1 revealed that luxury brands are inherently psychologically distant than mainstream brands. The purpose of Study 2 was to test the impact of brand-consumer interactions (i.e., high vs. low) and the mediating role of psychological distance on the three perceptions of luxury brands (i.e., social perception, uniqueness perception, quality perception) on social media. A single factor between-subjects design was used, and a total of 74 participants were recruited from Amazon MTurk. To manipulate the level of consumer-brand interaction (high vs. low), two versions of a luxury brand’s mock Facebook pages were created. For the high interaction condition, the brand responded to consumers’ posts in a friendly way and displayed the images of user photos. For the low interaction condition, the brand did not respond to consumers’ posts and displayed no images of users. As predicted, the results showed that participants indicated lower brand perceptions when the brand’s social media page displayed a high level of interactions than a low level of interactions. Moreover, formality, a measure of psychological distance, partially mediated the relationship between brand-consumer interactions and all the three brand perceptions. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence that active consumer-brand interactions on social media do not necessarily benefit luxury fashion brands, rather they can damage consumer perceptions of the brands. This study provides important implications that luxury fashion brands should maintain a sacred distance on social media; otherwise it will undermine important perceptions of the brands such as status signaling, exclusivity, and quality.

Introduction Literally explosive is the growth of social media. The estimated number of monthly active Facebook users by the fourth quarter of 2016 is around 1.86 billion, almost a quarter of the world population, meaning that one in four people on the globe uses Facebook to read news, share gossips, communicate ideas, and build relationships with others. In the United States alone, 72% of all Internet users are reported to use Facebook (Pew Research, 2015), and to many, Facebook is no longer a small part of the Internet, but rapidly becoming the Internet itself. As peer-to-peer information sharing becomes a global mainstream, concerns about the credibility of information shared online is growing fast as well. With no gatekeeper in a traditional sense, rumors and fabricated information lacking reliable evidences (e.g., fake news) may spread wide and fast, and individuals are left alone to assess and judge which among them is likely to be true (Metzger, Flanagin, & Medders, 2010). Unfortunately, we know very little about how individuals assess information fed through online social networks, and how such processing of information in the social media environment differs from those in traditional media environment. In social media like Facebook where individuals and organizations interact through direct or indirect social relationships, what people can give and take is partly determined by with whom they have relationships and their locations in the entire network (Brands, 2014). For example, if one’s network consists mostly of college students, the network may be flooded with gossips, news, and information particularly appealing to them (e.g., how to pull an A from the hideous professor). If the network is made up of people from diverse backgrounds, meanwhile, the information shared therein will be as diverse as heterogeneous are the members’ characteristics and preferences. Network topology may, therefore, be a crucial factor that shapes not only what you encounter in your own network, but also the way you assess the information found therein (Sohn, 2014). An identical message may be construed differently depending on how it has been encountered (e.g., who liked/shared in Facebook) as well as where it originates (e.g., who are the original source of the message). For instance, the news regarding the effectiveness of alternative medicine on curing cancer may be assessed differently depending on whether it is shared by lay people with similar interest or medical experts, which subsequently affects one’s decision to share it. Whereas it is already well-founded that the original source quality plays an important role in communication (Visser & Cooper, 2007), relatively little attention has been devoted to unveiling the role of intermediate social environment lying between the original source and the final recipients. This study is aimed at examining systematically the role of social relations in individuals’ assessment of and decision to share information encountered in social media. More specifically, the focus will be on testing in an experimental setting how social relationship properties, reflecting psychological distance, shape individuals’ assessment of risk/benefit associated with the information received. Psychological Distance and Decision under Risk We are routinely exposed to a myriad of information from our immediate social circles including close friends and acquaintances as well as mass media. Some of them could be about the opportunities for earning extra profits (e.g., stock or real estate investment opportunities), while others about how to maintain better health (e.g., avoiding harmful chemical-intake). Whether it is about money, health or others, the decision to take an action on the information is a function of how to assess the risks involved. According to the prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), people have an inherent tendency of being more sensitive to the loss than benefit of anything, making them prefer avoiding loss to having an equivalent amount of gain. This loss-aversive tendency also implies that people prefer the possible to sure loss, even if the former is greater than the latter. In other words, people become risk-seeking to avoid any loss with certainty. Suppose, for example, you are given a choice between losing $750 for sure and doing a gamble such that you lose $1000 with 75% chance or lose nothing with 25% chance. Despite the identical expected value ($1000 x .75 + $1000 x 0 = $750), people tend to lean over to the gamble rather than the sure loss. This may work in the opposite way for benefit – you may prefer the sure to possible gain, meaning that you become risk-aversive when benefit is at stake. An interesting question is whether such a risk-seeking or aversion tendency is malleable (Tversky & Simonson, 1993). It is widely known that a message with identical contents can be construed differently depending on whether it is stated or framed in terms of benefit or loss (Slovic, 1995). Then, we might ask whether people construe messages differently depending on where they are from – whether they are from close-knit groups, distant acquaintances or some anonymous others. Prior studies have seldom considered such social contextual influence, which is essential to understanding communication in social media (Sohn, 2014). Suppose you are considering taking an alternative medicine for treating a chronic illness of yours, which will surely get worse with no treatment (i.e., loss with certainty). The alternative medicine’s effectiveness is largely unknown and has never been under rigorous scientific tests. You post your thought about adopting it and have just got replies from two different sources in your Facebook network – a close friend and a mere acquaintance. Your friend says that using the alternative approach can be detrimental to your health (i.e., loss frame), while the acquaintance mentions that s/he trusts the medicine’s benefits (i.e., benefit frame). What would be your choice given the comments? Would your choice be reversed if your friend says its benefit, while the acquaintance warns its side effects? It is posited in construal-level theory that “people use increasingly higher levels of construal to represent an object as the psychological distance from the object increases” (Trope & Liberman, 2010, p. 441). When there are pros and cons with respect to a course of action, people perceive cons (i.e., losses) psychologically closer than pros (i.e., benefits), which provides an explanation of why loss aversion occurs. In addition, it has been found that pros become more salient than cons as temporal distance to the action increases (e.g., buying a computer a year later; Eyal, Liberman, Trope, & Walther, 2004). Taken together, it may be inferred that the cons are salient when the action of interest is thought psychologically proximal, but the pros become more salient as it gets more psychologically distant. This inference can be applied to other distance dimensions including social distance as well. Combining benefit-loss frames and social distance perceptions, we can come up with the following four different conditions as summarized in Table 1. With all other things held equal, people tend to feel loss psychologically closer than benefit. However, the salience of either benefit or loss in a person’s mind may also depend on how the information is presented -- whether a message with the information comes from a proximal or distant source. For example, if a message with emphases on an alternative medicine’s benefit came from a proximal source (BP), further decrease in psychological distance might make salient its potential side effects, and thus lessen the benefit’s influence on decision. Similar inferences can be made to the case when a message with emphases on loss came from a distant source (LD). Due to the increase in psychological distance, it might become difficult to think of the negative aspects of the target (Herzog, Hansen & Wanke, 2007). If the message emphasizing either benefit or loss is aligned respectively with a distal (BD) or proximal source (LP), in contrast, they will become more salient in the person’s mind, which would exert a disproportionate influence on decision. Given the discussion, the following hypotheses can be proposed: H1a. People perceive the benefit more salient, and thus are more likely to make a risky choice when it is supported by socially distant others than when no information of the social distance to the source is given (i.e., control condition). H1b. People perceive the benefit less salient, and thus are less likely to make a risky choice when the benefit is supported by socially close others than when no information of the social distance to the source is given (i.e., control condition). H2a. People perceive the loss more salient, and thus make a risky choice less when the loss is warned by socially close others than when when no information of the social distance to the source is given. H2b. People perceive the loss less salient when the loss is warned by socially distant others than when no information of the social distance to the source is given. Experimental Design A 2 (message frames) x 3 (social distance) between-subjects online experiment will be conducted as follows. Subjects will be given multiple hypothetical risky choice situations with respect to such issues as making an investment, adopting a new medical treatment, purchasing a product. After being exposed to the choice scenarios, they will be asked a series of questions for measuring their issue-involvement levels, attitudes to the issue presented, thoughts related to benefits and losses, and final choices, along with relevant psychological and demographic characteristics. Implications No communication ever occurs in a social vacuum. Just as our everyday behaviors are shaped and often constrained by the physical places in which they are performed (e.g., rooms, streets, buildings), we communicate in a social setting consisting of direct and/or indirect relationships among people (Gifford, 2013). The knowledge of one’s social surroundings becomes more important in social media due to the manifest location dependency—meaning one’s position in a relationship network basically defines what can be seen and done. No matter whether information originally came from a newspaper, television program, or blog, the information is eventually transmitted via one of the network members, highlighting the importance of relationship patterns and qualities in communication processes. That is, in any socially-networked environment, people rely not only on inferences about the original source quality (e.g., authority, expertise), but also on the social contexts through which the information is received and shared. Most previous research has focused mainly on the former (i.e., source quality) while overlooking both the latter (i.e., social contexts) and any possible interactions between the two (Metzger, Flanagin, & Medders, 2010). The current study is believed to bridge the gap so that communication processes in the social media environment could be understood in a more systematic fashion.

There has been an emerging interest in the effective luxury advertising, which has been conducted within and across national borders. Unlike earlier studies on luxury brands that focused on the behavior and opinions of luxury consumers (e.g., luxury motivations, value perceptions, etc.), this nascent stream of research queries an important role that advertising exerts on luxury consumers (Freire, 2014). Informed by these developments, our study examines how luxury brand marketers can design effective social media messages for their consumers. In particular, we draw on recent research in consumer psychology to shed new light on (1) how consumer feelings about the psychological distance of luxury consumption may influence their evaluation of different types of message appeals on social media and their intention to share these messages with others; and (2) we address how this process varies depending on (a) the perceived tie strength between consumers on social media, the functional attitudes of luxury brands, and across different cultural milieus.

Social media marketing offers a vast array of opportunities for fashion brands to engage with their core customers and the broader digital audience. However, they still struggle with the question of which specific strategies can be successfully applied to enhance the effectiveness social media marketing (Rampton, 2014). This study investigates how a luxury brand’ social media brand page satisfaction and brand love are positively related to desired marketing outcomes (i.e., word-of-mouth and loyalty intentions toward the luxury brand). On the basis of Customer Value Theory (Sweeny & Soutar, 2001) and Brand Love Theory (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006), this study developed and tested a dual impact model encompassing both brand page value (i.e., information, financial, brand interaction, social interaction, and entertainment value) and brand value (i.e., inner self-and social self-expressive value). Usable responses from 290 U.S. consumers following at least one luxury brand on social media were used for data analysis. The results of structural equation modeling showed that information, brand interaction, and entertainment values were positively related to brand page satisfaction while financial and social interaction values were not. In addition, inner self-and social self-expressive brand values were positively related to brand love. In addition, brand page satisfaction was positively related to WOM intentions but was not related to loyalty intentions whereas brand love was positively related to both WOM and loyalty intentions. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that brand page satisfaction fully mediated the influences of information, brand interaction, and entertainment values on WOM intentions. In addition, brand love fully mediated the influences of social self-expressive value on WOM and loyalty intentions. Our study suggests that social media brand pages providing unique value propositions can reap benefits in terms of enhanced brand page satisfaction, highlighting the crucial role of “content excellence” in social media marketing (Holt, 2016). Our findings also show that brand followers tend to love a particular luxury brand when the brand helps express their self and when the symbolic meaning of the brand is integrated into their own self-identity. Thus, one of the roles of social media marketing is in elucidating brand followers how to express their inner states guided by the desire to signal their self-identity not to others but to themselves (Berger & Heath, 2017).

Chinese economic develops fast and have became the second economic entity all around the world. The development of economic pushes the popularize of mobile clients. Accordingly, whenever and wherever the consumers are, they can acquire and share information about productions directly, e-word-of-mouth (eWOM) becomes one of the important part of online marketing. Customers prefer to trust opinion leaders and real users’ feedback rather than the advertisements which are made by companies. The choice preference of information source accelerate the development of social media. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, have grown rapidly and have advocated for the burgeoning new industry. (Robert V. et al., 2010) Marketers and sociologists have recognized the importance of the phenomenon of word of mouth, for more than half a century, proposing, for example, that WOM affects the majority of all purchase decisions (Brooks 1957; Dichter 1966).They find that the “friend who recommends a tried and trusted product” rather than the “salesman who tries to get rid of merchandise” (Dichter 1966, p. 165). Marketing scholars has evolved from a transaction orientation to one based on relationships (Vargo and Lusch 2004) Consumers are regarded as active coproducers of value and meaning, whose WOM use of marketing communications can be idiosyncratic, creative, and even resistant (Brown, Kozinets, and Sherry 2003; Kozinets 2001; Muñiz and Schau 2005; Thompson and Sinha 2008) Therefore, when the behavior is on/off, impact measured as probability of purchase can differ substantially from impact measured as attitude change (Robert East 2015). This study will select significant respondents from Chinese social media users as sample. The WOM communication is send information to marketers from the market-based message interaction community ,gathering consumers with same interests. In this study, not only structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used to test research model. But also using the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and SPSS, the first method attempts to find a new configuration to verify the finding and the SPSS can be used to make reliability analysis and validity analysis. WOM of the research model will also be tested by fsQCA and SPSS to obtain the conclusion about what extent do two communication ways influence consumers’ purchase preference. We want to explore different results between opinion leaders and the real users in different communication ways. Based on the results we will give some implication to both marketing scholars and practitioners.

Social media are increasingly becoming a strategic vehicle of modern companies’ way of communicating and interacting with consumers. Actually, social media marketing (SMM) has recently emerged as an effective two-way communication channel able to provide the sharing and exchange of information, ideas, and user-generated content in virtual environments. This is especially true for fashion brands, which are progressively creating interactive platforms such as online brand communities in order to enhance their consumer-based brand equity (CBE), interpreted as the consumers’ assessment of a company brand image, identity, and value. Scholars have widely analyzed the relationship between a company’s SMM and brand equity, thus finding a direct positive impact of the five main constructs depicting perceived SMM activities, namely entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth, on CBE. Despite this relevant scholarly interest, the consumer behavioral responses linking a company perceived SMM activities and CBE have been largely neglected. Actually, consumers’ benefits from virtual environments and online brand experience may represent significant elements marketing strategists should focus on in order to enhance a company’s brand equity. Building on the uses and gratifications theory and experiential marketing, we develop a conceptual model that unpacks such linkages, by relating SMM activities, perceived benefits of using social media, online brand experience, and CBE. Specifically, we interpret SMM activities as significant brand-related stimuli able to influence consumers’ cognitive, social interactive, personal interactive, and hedonic benefits, which in turn influence consumers’ sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual online experience. Moreover, we investigate the experiential responses of consumers that mostly affect a company’s brand equity, which finally impacts on consumers’ purchase intention of the fashion brand. The model is validated using structural equation modeling (SEM) on a sample of real users of online brand communities operating in the fashion industry. Our sample is composed of Millennials, which currently represent the most influential grown-digital generation of consumers. Overall, our findings shed light on consumers’ online behavioral and experiential responses to a company’s perceived SMM activities, thus proposing strategic implications for the management of brand online communities and suggesting interesting possibilities of future research on social media and fashion consumers.

This research examines how advertising message effectiveness differs depending on media types that provide fashion information among teenagers. Employing cloth consumption value and ‘fitness’ of fashion style, young people’s attitudes toward advertising and brand of fashion product were analyzed. Theoretical contribution and practical implication for fashion industry are discussed. Introduction Teenagers are an important consumer group in the clothing market, and the market size is expanding. They are more likely to absorb new information and respond to social influences, compared to other age groups. Thus, it is expected that teenagers are greatly influenced by the fashion information gained when making a purchase decision. In adolescence, the peer group is especially influential, as well as the media. Therefore, it is possible that their use of information source will differ from other groups. The most popular medium for Korean teenagers in recent years is social media. A Social Network Service (SNS) is a web-based service that allows individuals to build social relationships, providing a place for users to exchange information and opinions by providing a platform for communication (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). As development of mobile Internet technology, smart phone or tablet PC is commonly used in Korea and SNS becomes vital way for communication for young people. Most of teenagers are using SNS daily and exchanging their opinion each other. Recently, it attracts increasing attention for marketers to deliver advertising messages as a new marketing tool. Fashion companies widely employ SNS in their marketing activities to enhance brand images, retain customers (Cho & Park, 2012). SNS serves as a platform for “many-to-many” interactive communication, unlike traditional mass media for ‘one-to-many’ communication. Unlike traditional media, SNS has a wider influence on participants. Therefore, exactly the same message could be differently functioned by the advertising delivering system. This study seeks to look at how message effectiveness differs depending on the type of media that provides fashion information. As mentioned earlier, social media has distinct characteristics from the traditional mass media. Thus, even when it is the same advertising information, its impact on the consumer can vary when transmitted through the mass media and through social media. In addition, social media is a collection of various social platforms that share specific properties rather than a single media. Thus, depending on the type of social media, the same ad information can also be expected to elicit differing responses from consumers. In this study, female youth were studied as subjects of research. The survey method was utilized. This will allow us to explore the impact of various media on female youth's response on fashion advertisement. Understanding the sources of information important in youth will help develop effective clothing products marketing. The use of clothing sources varies depending on the group. Therefore, each vendor is expected to establish effective marketing methods through research on the use of the clothing information sources of the target audience. Theoretical Background Type of Media In this study, type of advertising media was mainly categorized as follows: Social Network Service (SNS) and mass media. More specifically, SNS was reassigned into three by characteristics of service such as network-type, share-type, and blog-type (Chung & Lee, 2015). Overall, four types of media were analyzed in this study and each service was represented by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and magazine ad in the order named. Social Desirability and SNS Along the development of Internet based technology (IT), ways of advertising placement became diverse and moved focus on IT based service including SNS. Especially for young people, fashion industries are willing to catch their eyes on SNS. By the nature, young SNS users are eager to search, blog, and share what they have earned on SNS for various reasons. Sharing fashion information is very important for young female. Their expressions on SNS mean what they are; what I eat, wear and so on. A fellow feeling, so called ‘we-ness’, is extremely essential for Korean young people. Looking alike does not only share collectivistic spirits, but also makes feel not fall behind the trendy style. Using SNS is one of the best ways of confirming their fellow feeling and at the same time it reduces peer pressure. From the domain of fashion marketing, research on communication had been mostly focused on mass media, and research on SNS communication, sharing of consumption information among consumers had been insufficient (Jun & Park, 2013). Fashion companies are recently trying to utilize SNS as a new alternative to have efficient effects with little costs. The SNS communication effect plays a large role in the consumption of consumers and analyzes the influence of SNS on the responses of the customers. SNS has the characteristic in which recommendations of friends or reliable acquaintances based on trust are important (Jung & Cho, 2016). Fashion Information Source and Clothing Consumption Value Consumers’ choice of clothing is based on the information gained. Information provided by the media or other people's clothing is the main source of decision making. In this case, the media and the surrounding people will become sources of desirable fashion style. Earlier, Cox(1967) classified the type of information sources as marketer-driven sources, consumer-driven sources, and neutral sources. Several scholars classified information sources as personal and non-personal sources, and direct observations and experiences (Andreasen 1968, Sproles 1979). Park and Yoo(2000) classified consumers according to fashion lifestyles and analyzed the sources of information that each group utilized. Each group tended to use different types of fashion information sources. Fashion-following group and personality-oriented group utilized more media and personal information, such as print media and television, compared to pragmatism group and conformity group. Personality-oriented group tends to use more direct observation than other groups. Conformity group showed the least use of mass media, purchase experience, observation, and interpersonal information source. This result shows that the types and degree of information used varies depending on the consumer’s fashion lifestyle. Research has found that clothing consumption value is one of the major variables which affect consumer’s use of information source. Among several classifications of consumption values, Sheth’s model is the most utilized model in Korea fashion academia (Han and Kim, 2002). Sheth et al. (1991) classified consumption values into functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic values, and conditional value. Han and Kim (2002) classified consumer groups into 4 groups utilizing Sheth’s classification: the Conspicuous, the Epistemic, the Social/Conformitive, and the Indifferent. There were significant different among the four groups in information search process. The Conspicuous and the Epistemic more tend to search carefully the clothes inside the store or in the show window than other groups. The two group members answered that they make a decision based on my own tastes than the other groups. Research Questions and Hypotheses Based on the earlier discussion, we propose following research question and hypotheses. Research Question 1: Would advertising message’s effect on young people’s attitudes toward advertising and brand of fashion product be different, depending on their consumption value of clothing? Hypothesis 1-1: Consumers in different consumption values groups will show different response to the same advertising message delivered through different channels. Specifically, social conformity group are more likely to show positive attitude toward advertising and brand presented on network-type SNS than advertising and brand presented on other platforms. Hypothesis 1-2: The Expressive is more likely to show positive attitude toward advertising and brand presented on magazine than other groups are. Research Question 2: Would advertising message’s effect on young people’s attitudes toward advertising and brand of fashion product be different, depending on their age group? Hypotheses 2-1: Young women will have better responses to SNS-based ads than magazine ads to older women. Research Question 3: Would advertising message’s effect on young people’s attitudes toward advertising and brand of fashion product be different, depending on their perception of ‘fitness’ of their desired fashion style? Hypotheses 3-1: When they perceive the presented style on the ad does not fit to their desired fashion style, network-type SNS is more likely to get positive attitude from the social conformity group than from the other groups. Methodology This present study aims to investigate the effects of advertising message by operating delivering system on consumers’ attitude toward fashion advertising and purchase intentions. This research employed a 4 (consumption value of clothing: expressive, practical, unique, social/conformity) X 4 (Advertising media type: network-type SNS, share-type SNS, blog-type SNS, and magazine) X 2 (fashion style fitness: fit/not fit) between subjects factorial design. The survey was conducted on 200 more young females, aged 16 to 24. Main Discussion Points This study aims to investigate how a fashion product ad works depending on the type of media on which the fashion advertising presents. To do this, authors will compare the advertising effectiveness among magazine ad, Facebook (Network type SNS), Instagram (Share type SNS), and Twitter(blog type SNS). First of all, we are going to examine how each advertising medium works depending on consumer’s consumption values, their age, and the perception of fitness of their desired fashion style. Based on the results, the theoretical contribution and practical implication will be discussed. This discussion will provide us deeper understanding on how fashion industry utilizes advertising media when female youth is a major target group

“Today I was persuaded to spend more than $200 on a lotion in Barneys. The price difference (between online and store) is $75. However, the store salesman told me that it is only few dollars way! I felt humiliated by the upscale society.” Lawrence, a 22 years old male Chinese who is an international undergraduate student studying marketing in a public U.S. university, posted the above status on his WeChat moments. With its fast growing economy and huge population, China has become one of the most lucrative markets for luxury brands (Zhan and He 2012). In fact, China has surpassed Japan and become the No.1 luxury products’ spender in the world, accounting more than one-quarter of the global luxury brand expenditure (Yousuf 2012). According to Bian & Company’s study (2016), $ 17.6 billion were spent on Chinese luxury market in 2015. In the past, the core Chinese luxury consumers are female middle-class and up-class consumers (Zhan and He 2012). In recent years, the faces of Chinese luxury consumers have gradually changed: more and more Chinese luxury goods buyers are males, and they actually spend more money on average than women do (Chen, 2016). In addition, the Chinese culture is different from the Western culture (Li, Li and Kambelle 2012). Accordingly, Chinese luxury consumption follows its own patterns and trends, which may not always resemble those of the Western world (Li, Li and Kambelle 2012). Previous studies have revealed unique characteristics of Chinese luxury consumers, in terms of motivations, for example, Mianzi (prestigious face) (Li and Su 2007; Wang and Ahuvia 1998), subcultures (Wang, Sun and Song 2011), public meaning (Wang, Sun and Song 2011), gift giving (Li and Su 2007), and reference groups (Li and Su 2007). All of those studies emphasized the cultural and social dimensions of luxury brands’ consumption. Given these distinctive characteristics of the Chinese market, Western luxury brands have made use of all possible communication methods to connect with Chinese consumers. One of the seemingly promising channels is the Internet. The Internet breaks down geographical and temporal boundaries (Kozinets 1999), and enables Western luxury brands to connect with overseas markets. Among all the digital advertising tools, social media have become increasingly important in the Chinese market (Kim and Ko 2012). In 2015 alone, there were 574 million active mobile social media users in China (Kemp 2015). Due to the large number of social media users, Western luxury brands, like Burberry (Phan, Thomas, and Heine 2011), have started practicing social media advertising (Okonkwo 2009). Accordingly, several challenges emerge. With the rising popularity of social media, Chinese consumers increasingly demand Western luxury brands’ social presence online. Looking at the bright side, social media allows Western luxury brands to show a desirable brand image (Okonkwo 2009; Tynan, McKechnie, and Chhoun 2010) and maintain customer relationship (Kim and Ko 2012). However, concerns about negative consumer comments and their potential impact on brand images (Britten 2013; Macnamara and Zerfass 2012; Singer 2014) loom large. Thus, it remains a question whether and to what extent Western luxury brands embrace the interactive media. Moreover, it is unclear how Chinese consumers perceive their social media advertising effort. In particular, how Chinese young males, the new market segment, interpret luxury brands’ social media advertising presence is an untapped research field. Thus, the purpose of this study is to fill the research gap by exploring how Chinese young male consumers understand and interpret luxury brands’ social media advertising. Given the exploratory nature of the study, a qualitative research approach is adopted (Creswell 2013).

Despite its innovative and avant-garde reputation, the luxury industry initially began showing a very low commitment to new online marketing tools and it held a conservative approach to selling when compared to other sectors. Nowadays, the context has dramatically changed and luxury brands are approaching with an increasing interest social networks as well as the online selling. This research aims to clarify the current strategic approaches of the players in the different luxury markets towards the social commerce phenomenon, from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The purpose is to test a framework that can be used to classify luxury companies’ strategies regarding social media adoptions based on actual theories on social media. Four strategies related to the social media adoption by luxury brands have been identified: the Social brand ambassadors strategy class (low promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use social media for entertainment and user engagement; the Social showcases strategy (high promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use their social accounts as online catalogues; the Social infotainers strategy (low promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that scored high in social commerce, mainly because of the provision of informative content and brand–consumer interactions, but they were linked to more entertainment-oriented actions rather than product-related ones. Finally, the Social sellers strategy (high promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that have integrated social commerce into their online strategies and have subsequently exploited the potential of social media to drive online and offline sales. The database is built using original data from a content analysis of 100 luxury brands’ postings on five different social media platforms – namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. The total final sample included 12,132 Facebook posts, 21,216 tweets on Twitter, 1,105 YouTube videos, 10,138 Instagram pictures/videos, and 117,359 Pinterest pictures. The main findings are the following: luxury brands adopt at this stage the Social brand ambassadors and Social showcases approaches; brands belonging to the perfumery, cosmetics, jewelry and watches markets show a more developed attitude towards the social commerce; in other luxury markets, such as wine and spirits, brands still adopt a Social Brand Ambassador strategy, while managers should increase the promotional content in order develop the social commerce. The Fashion & Accessories brands show a positive relationship between the percentage of promotional content and social commerce score. This means that social commerce adoptions depend on the single brand’s strategic choices, ranging from low adoption to best practices. In general, social commerce is still not widespread; many luxury fashion brands, while presenting new collections during fashion weeks, focused on fashion shows, backstage events, and celebrities, rather than really promoting the new product lines with materials, availability, and purchasing indications. This social media approach is mainly focused on increasing brand awareness rather than increasing social commerce. If managers aim at increasing social commerce they should add direct call to action and link the contents to e-commerce market place. Automotive brands are concentrated in the Social showcases area; This sector encounters natural limitations in the introduction of social commerce due to the difficulty of selling products through the digital channel; many brands have, however, devised strategies to approach their users during the purchasing process prior to the actual transaction to take advantage of the increasing ROPO phenomenon. Conversely, the Perfumes & Cosmetics sector shows a highly fragmented approach to social commerce. The content analysis based on single post contents has shown that actually the contents are based on pictures of the products, or the brand, information on events, and a large and increasing presence of video posts based storytelling about the history of the product and the brand heritage; the most social commerce oriented posts are picture or video focused on the product. The commercial contents that aim at developing the see now, buy now approach are mainly based on video shows.

디지털 매체의 사용이 확산되면서 이러한 매체의 최대 사용자인 청소년들이 유해매체물에 노 출되는 빈도도 급증하고 있다. 이러한 맥락에서 본 연구는 현행 청소년 유해매체물 규제 제도에 대해 유해매체물 심의 기준을 중심으로 비판적으로 검토하였다. 현행 청소년유해매체물 심의 기 준에 의하면, 음란한 자태를 지나치게 묘사한 것, 성행위에 대해 그 방법 등을 지나치게 묘사한 것, 청소년 대상으로 성행위를 조장하는 등 성 윤리를 왜곡시키는 내용 등을 담은 매체들은 청소 년에게 유해한 매체물로 규제하고 있다. 그러나, 규제되지 않은 매체물도 많으며 또는 이와 유사 한 매체물들은 디지털 매체를 통해 여전히 활발하게 전파되고 있다. 나아가 때로는 동법에서 보 호하는 청소년이 이러한 매체물들을 직접 생산⋅전파하는 역할을 하는 경우가 빈번한 현상을 볼 때, 보다 실질적인 규제 방안이 필요하다고 할 것이다. 그 방안으로서, 청소년 유해성의 개념을 명확히 설정할 필요가 있으며, 청소년의 인권을 존중하는 범위 내에서 청소년의 보호가 어떠한 의미인지에 대해 현 시대에 적합하게 정립할 필요가 있다고 하였다. 또한 법적인 규제와 자율 규제를 조화롭게 운영하여 보다 실효성있는 규제 체계를 정립할 필요성을 제안하였다. 그리고 이 모든 것은 보다 명확한 심의 기준을 바탕으로 달성될 수 있다는 점을 강조하였다.

본고는 1972년 미국 닉슨 대통령의 중국방문을 다룬 존 아담스(John Adams)의 오페라 《닉슨 인 차이나》(Nixon in China)를 미디어적 관점에서 분석한 연구이다. 《닉슨 인 차이나》는 동시 대 사건을 다룬 뉴스를 오페라 무대 위에서 재현했다는 점 때문에 세간의 주목을 끌었다. 그러나 미디어와의 이러한 표면적 연관성은 오히려 작품이 가진 보다 본질적이고 심층적인 미디어와의 연 관성에 대해서는 간과하도록 만들었다. 본 연구는 이러한 점에 착안하여 《닉슨 인 차이나》를 미 디어이론의 틀에서 접근한 새로운 해석을 시도하였다. 즉 본 작품의 내용과 형식에서 모두 미디어 적 속성이 반영되고 있으며 이를 통해 미디어가 현실에 영향력을 끼치는 모습을 작품 속에서 드러 내고 있음을 밝히고자 하였다. 미디어와의 다층적인 연관성이 《닉슨 인 차이나》의 리브레토, 음악, 연출에서 어떻게 나타나는 지 분석하여 현대사회 속 미디어의 모습을 반영하는 오페라로서의 본 작품을 고찰하였다. 분석의 내용은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 이 작품의 내용은 닉슨의 중국방문이 아니라, ‘미디어에 비친’ 닉슨의 중국방문이라는 점을 핵심으로 한다. 등장인물들은 TV를 시종일관 인식하고 있으며 이에 따라 대조적인 모습을 보여주어 현대인의 삶과 미디어의 연관성을 포착한다. 둘째, 내용을 담는 작품의 형식을 보면, 뉴스나 쇼 등 구체적인 텔레비전 프로그램의 모방이 나타날 뿐 아니라 패스티시와 플로우 등 텔레비전이 취하는 전형적 구성형식을 취하고 있음을 알 수 있다. 이러한 특성은 《닉슨 인 차이나》에서의 파편적 극 구성과 음악구성, 긴장과 이완의 호흡을 고려하여 시종일관 관객의 시선을 놓치지 않도록 하는 배열 등에서 나타난다. 셋째, 내용과 형식을 통해 드러나는 작품의 주제는 미디어적 현실에 대한 비판적 반성으로 볼 수 있다. 이에 사로잡힌 현대인의 모습을 《닉슨 인 차이나》에서는 정신분열증과 노 스탤지어를 통해서 포착한다. 통전적인 인식을 방해하는 미디어의 영향력은 분열된 자기의식, 기표 의 언어유희인 정신분열증을 통해 나타난다. 노스탤지어는 현실도피를 위한 상품화된 가상인데 《닉슨 인 차이나》에서는 노스탤지어 속에서도 이미 자리 잡고 있는 미디어의 모습을 통해 그 무 한 소급적 위력을 드러낸다. 미디어의 막강한 영향력은 하이퍼리얼리티의 생산에서 절정을 이룬다. 이는 현실보다 더 현실 같은 가상과 원본 없는 이미지의 유통을 의미하며 《닉슨 인 차이나》에서 는 극중극 장면에서 첨예하게 나타난다. ‘낯설게하기’는 이러한 주제를 구현하기 위한 효과적 극적 장치로 사용되어 미디어의 영향력에 대한 객관적 거리를 확보하게 한다. 이러한 분석을 근거로, 《닉슨 인 차이나》는 현대사회 속 미디어의 모습을 매개(mediate)하는 역할을 하는 오페라로서 독해가능하며 바로 이 점이 《닉슨 인 차이나》가 지닌 동시대적 오페라로 서의 진정한 지위와 가치를 보장해 주는 것이라고 할 수 있다.

This study investigated the effect of Charcoal:Dextran Stripped fetal bovine serum (CDS FBS) and heat-inactivated FBS (HI FBS) in embryo culture medium on their ability to support in vitro development of bovine embryos. The developmental ability and quality of bovine embryos were determined by assessing their cell number, lipid content, mitochondrial activity, gene expression, and cryo-tolerance. The percentages of embryos that underwent cleavage and formed a blastocyst were significantly (P<0.05) higher in medium containing CDS FBS than in medium containing HI FBS (42.84 ± 0.78% vs. 36.85 ± 0.89%, respectively). Furthermore, the beneficial effects of CDS FBS on embryos were associated with a significantly reduced intracellular lipid content, as identified by Nile red staining, which increased their cryo-tolerance. The post-thaw survival rate of blastocysts was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the CDS FBS than in the HI FBS group (85.33 ± 4.84% vs. 68.67 ± 1.20%). Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the mRNA levels of acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 3, acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase long-chain, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase, and insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor were significantly increased upon culture with CDS FBS. Moreover, the mRNA levels of sirtuin 1, superoxide dismutase 2, and anti-apoptotic associated gene B-cell lymphoma 2 in frozen-thawed blastocysts were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the CDS FBS group than in the HI FBS group, however, the mRNA level of the pro-apoptotic gene BCL2-associated X protein was significantly reduced. Taken together, these data suggest that supplementation of medium with CDS FBS improves in vitro bovine embryo developmental competence and cryo-tolerance.