This paper aims to monitor brand image of two important fashion cities on social media (Instagram). Through a content analysis of pictures and texts authors attempt to identify the main associations that various actors have of London and Florence, both traditionally strictly related to the fashion system. As recent literature has argued for brands or products, even for places and cities (Gilboa et al. 2015), it is important to monitor the perceived city brand image resulting from the overall online experience (Choi et al. 2007), especially on social media. Indeed, it is demonstrated that word of mouth on social media is able to strongly affect users’ perceptions (Gretzel, Yuan, and Fosenmaier, 2000), thus contributing at the construction of the city brand image. This paper is one of the first one that applies content analysis on Instagram in city/place branding, where the core of communication is based on images. Therefore, differently from previous studies (Andéhn et al. 2014; De Moya and Jain, 2013), this work principally focuses on visual communication, as form of textual paralanguage communication (Luangrath, Peck, and Barger, 2016), for the construction of city image of London and Florence.

The current research aims to shed light on consumer-brand relationship, adopting the self-determination theory as theoretical lens for defining the antecedents and the consequences of the Brand Engagement in Self Concept (Sprott, Czellar, & Spangenberg, 2009). The originality of the study stems in the contest of analysis, that is the international cosplayer community, given the extreme engagement manifestation of the actors of the community in comics characters. Thus, the goal of this study is to test a model previously proposed by Razmus, Jaroszyńska, & Palęga (2017) in a community of high engagement manifestations, that is the cosplayer community (e.g. dress-up as their own favourite character). Moreover, authors would like to introduce a novel variable that is the brand-self congruity (Aaker, 1997; Sirgy, 1982), able to influence the relationship between personal aspirations (Kasser and Ryan, 1993; 1996), brand engagement in self-concept, brand advocacy (Kim et al. 2001) and brand loyalty (Oliver, 1999).

The Chinese fashion market, which has typically been dominated by luxury brands, is expanding more into mid- to low-end fashion brands including global SPA (Specialty retailer of private label apparel) brands. This change in the Chinese fashion market is due to the growth of the middle class in China. The advance of the Chinese middle class is attributed to the fact that the wages of large city workers is improving due to the development of various industries, particularly IT. Recently, the Chinese government has initiated an anti-corruption movement, which has led to the prohibition of luxury goods consumption, and so the interest of Chinese potential fashion consumers has moved to the mid-to low-end fashion products imported from developed countries. In addition, young Chinese consumers' positive attitude toward online shopping is favorable for foreign mid-to low-end brands. These changes in the tastes of Chinese fashion consumers are favorable for Korean fashion brands in particular for several reasons. First, the Korean fashion industry does not have a history of producing luxury brands, but does produce many good mid- to low-end fashion brands. In addition, Chinese tend to consider Korean fashion and food culture as more developed and preferable due to the success of the Korean wave. Lastly, it is easy for Korean practitioners to offer online shopping and customer service. The emergence of mid- to low-end fashion brands started in Korea in the late 2000s when global SPA brands entered the market. Unlike Korea's soho brands, which are based on the "No-brand" strategy, global SPA brands have actually shaken up the market by offering reasonable prices for Korean domestic brand products that are of similar quality. Since then, consumers’ willingness to pay for clothing has been reduced even further in the Korean market even though the low-growth trend in the economy has stabilized. So, it is very important to analyze and study the consumption tendency for low and mid-priced fashion brands among both Chinese and Korean consumers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Chinese and Korean consumers perceive the personality of mid- and low-priced fashion brands and how such personality affects brand loyalty, commitment, and perceived quality. Brand personality is a vital area of research since fashion products are a type of consumer good that is consumed by users close to the body and which can express the self and the personality to others. Aaker (1997) developed a brand personality measurement scale consisting of five dimensions which many researchers have used in exploring the brand personality dimension in various industries. In the study of fashion in particular, the dimension of brand personality has been explored and its effects have been analyzed. However, most of the research has focused on luxury or high priced brands. Also, the research has not compared cultures such as China and Korea in this regard. Therefore, this study explored how Chinese and Korean consumers perceive some of the mid- to low-end priced brands originating in Europe and Korea. Also, the research examined how multiple dimensions of brand personality affected perceived quality, commitment, and brand loyalty. This study assumed that perceived quality and commitment may mediate the relationship between brand personality dimensions and loyalty. In order to conduct quantitative research, this study adopted scales from the previous literature to measure the variables used in the research model. A professional online research company conducted the survey, which was designed to be administered only to potential consumers of mid-and low-priced fashion brands who had purchased one or both European and Korean brands which were suggested in the survey. Also, gender (female), residential area (Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai), and age (21-39 years old) were controlled for. In this research, the European origin brand was the global SPA (Zara, H & M, ONLY), and there were eight Korean brands, including “Style Nanda,” which is popular in China (Refer to Table 1). The data collected on the 250 Korean and 250 Chinese participants were analyzed using statistical package SPSS 20.0. The brand personality dimension was explored using factor analysis which applied Varimax rotation based on the principle component method. As a result, even though the items included were found to be somewhat different according to the country and origin of the brand, the brand personality dimensions of the European global brands turned out to be similar and reflected “TRENDY, SINCERITY, AND COMPETENCE.” Also, Chinese consumers’ perception of brand personality in Korean brands was found to be similar to their perception of European brands. However, Korean consumers’ perception of Korean brands, which are of course their own brands, was more diverse reflecting “TRENDY, SINCERITY, COMPETENCE, AND OUTGOING.” This seems to be because Korean consumers may have had more chance to experience Korean brands either online or offline through visiting stores or being exposed to a variety of marketing communications. Thus, because there are more Korean brands than European, Korean consumers may be able to have an accurate perception of the personality of Korean brands. The conceptual model of the current research includes the relationships among multiple dimensions of brand personality in perceived quality, commitment, and loyalty. Also, the mediating effect of quality and commitment between brand personality and loyalty was examined. In order to test the hypotheses, hierarchical multiple regression using SPSS was analyzed and is described in Table 2 in relation to European brands and in Table 3 in relation to Korean brands. As expected, brand personality dimensions that were found to be a significant factor in perceived quality, commitment, and loyalty were likely to vary based on Chinese or Korean perceptions. For Korean consumers’ perception of global brands, while TRENDY was likely to be the most powerful personality dimension forming brand loyalty, its impact on loyalty seemed not to be mediated by quality but rather by commitment. Also, the influences of COMPETENCE on loyalty were mediated by quality and commitment. For Chinese consumers’ perception of global brands, the impacts of SINCERITY as well as TRENDY on loyalty were found to be mediated by quality and commitment. In addition, COMPETENCE seemed to have a rather direct impact on quality, commitment, and loyalty without a mediating effect. For local brands, Korean consumers did not seem to rely on brand personality or commitment when considering brand loyalty. Since the R2 did not improve at all with adding mediating factors such as quality and commitment, there was found to be no mediating effects in the Korean cases for local brands. In particular, while TRENDY directly impacted loyalty, OUTGOING was found to be significant only in its impact on quality. On the other hand, all three dimensions of local brand personality turned out to be significant influencers on loyalty and quality for Chinese consumers. The impact of TRENDY and COMPETENCE on loyalty seems to be mediated by quality and commitment. In this study, we found that mid- to low-end fashion brands seemed to reflect valid brand personality according to the brand’s origin (global vs. local) as well as consumers’ culture (Chinese vs. Korean). Also, the effect of brand personality dimension was different. This study contributes to the study of brand personality and the Chinese fashion market by comparing a conceptual model of the consumption behavior of Chinese and Korean consumers in relation to mid and low-priced fashion brands and brand awareness formation. In particular, the research revealed differences between Chinese and Korean consumers, suggesting different approaches for Korean fashion practitioners who are planning on entering China, which has not only a similar market to that of Korea but also one that is familiar to Korean practitioners.

Focusing on the effectiveness of a glocalization advertising strategy in China, findings suggest that the ethnicity of endorser moderates the effect of bilingual brand naming (use of both foreign and Chinese brand names) on perceptions of a brand’s luxury quality. Introduction Given a long debate between standardization and localization, many corporations, as a solution, prefer to use both (Featherstone 1990, Sklair, 1995; Friedman, 1999). The right balance of standardization and localization is viewed as the key to success of brands being implemented at a global level, especially in countries the cultural values of which completely differ from those of the brand’s country of origin. The degree of standardization or localization in advertising is determined by various advertising elements. Advertising transfers cultural meaning through signs such as language, aesthetics, endorsers, and so forth, with brands hoping that target audiences positively associate the cultural meanings with the advertised brand (Leclerc, Schmitt & Dubé, 1994; Schmitt, Pan & Tavassoli, 1994; Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996). A brand name and the ethnicity of an endorser, out of the advertising signs, have been recognized as significant cues for conveying a brand image to consumers. This suggests that, in such a place as China, a foreign brand name or a foreign endorser in advertising produces more positive advertising-related responses for a product with foreign characteristics, compared with a Chinese brand name or a Chinese endorser (Zhang & Zhang, 2010). However, when taking a combination of the two strategies or considering the extent of localization in China, little is known about the effectiveness of a glocalization strategy in global advertising in China, which is one of the most attractive international markets to global brands, in particular, luxury brands. In reality, consistent with the argument that the combination of standardization and localization is effective, a number of luxury brands (e.g., Chanel ‘香奈儿’, Dior ‘迪奥’, Bottega Veneta ‘葆蝶家’, Estée Lauder ‘雅诗兰黛’, etc.) create their Chinese brand names when entering the Chinese market while retaining their foreign brand names. This is because most foreign brand names are either too complicated or lengthy, making it difficult for Chinese consumers to remember them or pronounce them (Zheng, 2013). Therefore, the current study attempts to examine the effectiveness of bilingual brand names as a means of a glocalization strategy. Specifically, this study investigates how languages of brand name (presentation of brand name: foreign brand name only vs. Chinese brand name only vs. both of the foreign and Chinese brand names) and the ethnicity of an endorser (Western vs. Chinese) affect consumer perception of the brand’s luxuriousness and consequently influence purchase intention. Method A 3 (language of brand name: foreign brand name only vs. Chinese brand name only vs. both foreign and Chinese brand names) x 2 (ethnicity of celebrity endorser: Western vs. Chinese) between-subject experimental study was conducted to test proposed hypotheses. Six versions of a manipulated print advertisement represented the experimental conditions. For the experiment, data were collected from a sample of 150 undergraduate students in Mainland China through a snowballing sampling technique. To increase internal validity, undergraduate students were used as the sample in the current study as it is suggested that university students are relatively a homogeneous group to reduce individual differences. In addition, considering that most of consumers for luxury goods in China are under 45 years old (Atsmon & Dixit, 2009), and the younger generation (25-35 years old) has been growing into the core consumers for luxury goods in China (Bain & Company, 2014), undergraduates are the potential consumers of luxury brands as they will, in the near future, accumulate consumption power. All subjects logged onto the study’s website, where they were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions. LONGINES, a Switzerland luxury watch brand, was selected as the representative of a luxury brand for subjects, as this particular brand embraces a high degree of localization, having both English and Chinese brand names and both foreign and Chinese celebrity endorsers. It also enjoys high awareness among Chinese consumers. To manipulate the language of the brand name, three variations were used: presentation of brand name in a foreign language [LONGINES], presentation of brand name in Chinese [ 浪琴], and presentation of both brand names in a print advertisement. In the history of its advertising, LONGINES has employed 15 celebrity endorsers, 4 being Chinese. To manipulate the ethnicity of the celebrity endorser, out of the 15 endorsers, Simon Baker and Kate Winslet were selected as Western endorsers while Aaron Kwok, and Lin Chi-ling were used as Chinese endorsers. To reduce confounding effects by using a real brand, brand familiarity and brand attitude were included as covariates in the study. Findings Luxurious Perception of the Brand While controlling brand familiarity (p < .05) and brand attitude (p < .001), the language of the brand name, F(2,142) = 5.254, p < .01, had a significant main effect on the perception of a brand’s luxury quality. More specifically, a follow-up post hoc test indicated that subjects who saw the ad presenting the foreign brand name in Latin showed a stronger perception of a brand’s luxury quality than did those exposed to the ads that presented the Chinese brand name or both of the foreign and Chinese brand names. However, we found no significant difference between the presentation of the Chinese brand name and the presentation of both foreign and Chinese brand names. On the other hand, the ethnicity of the endorser was not found to have a significant effect on the perception of a brand’s luxury quality (p > .05). The results further revealed a significant interaction between the language of the brand name and the ethnicity of the endorser on the perception of a brand’s luxury quality, F(2,142) = 5.647, p < .01. Specifically, Figure 1 shows that both brand names produced a weaker perception of a brand’s luxury quality than the foreign brand name only when the Western endorser is presented, however, both brand names produced an equal effect to the foreign brand name only when the Chinese endorser is presented. The language of brand name, while controlling brand familiarity (p < .05) and brand attitude (p < .001), exhibited a significant effect on purchase intention, F(2,142) = 3.472, p < .05. A follow-up post hoc test revealed that the presentation of the foreign brand name or both of the foreign and Chinese brand names in the ad generated higher purchase intention than the presentation of the Chinese brand name. However, there was no significant difference between the conditions of the foreign brand name and the both brand names. With respect to the main effect of the ethnicity of an endorser on purchase intention, the data did not exhibit a significant effect (p > .05). No significant interaction effect between the language of brand name and the ethnicity of an endorser emerged (p > .05). Mediating Role of Luxurious Perception of the Brand To confirm the moderated mediation of the perception of a brand’s luxury quality on purchase intention, the PROCESS macro model 8 was performed. The study found significant effects of the interaction on the perception of a brand’s luxury quality: βBrand name x Endorser = .54, SE = .17, p < .01. Then, when we examined the joint effects of the interaction effect and luxurious perception of the brand on purchase intention, no significant effect was found from the interaction; βBrand name x Endorser = -.02, SE = .24, p > .05, emerged on purchase intention. However, the effect of the perception of a brand’s luxury quality was still significant; βBrand name x Endorser = .33, SE = .12, p < .01. This implies that the interaction effect of the two independent variables had an indirect effect on purchase intention through the perception of a brand’s luxury quality (CI95, 1,000 bootstrapped samples [.0492, .4229]). Specifically, the perception of a brand’s luxury quality mediated the effect of the language of brand name on purchase intention only in the condition of a Western endorser (CI95: [-.3161, -.0429]), but not in the condition of a Chinese endorser (CI95: [-.0298, .1254]). Discussion The study supports the argument that a brand name is a strong cue for consumer judgment (Thakor & Lavack, 2003; De Mooij, 2010; Elena & Segev, 2012) by suggesting that when a brand uses a foreign brand name (Roman Alphabet), consumers are more likely to view the brand as luxurious; also consumers are more likely to be willing to purchase the brand than when it uses a Chinse brand name. Interestingly, bilingual brand naming has been found to be somewhat complicated. The study suggests that using both foreign and Chinese brand names is as ineffective as using a Chinese brand name only for luxurious perception of the brand. This may be because the use of a Chinese brand name along with a foreign brand name dilutes the cultural meanings (e.g., status, social distinction, etc.) that the foreign brand name on its own transfers to consumers. With respect to purchase intention, however, the use of bilingual brand naming produces an effect equal to the use of a foreign brand name only. This finding indicates that a brand name may be more associated with the perception of brand’s luxury quality than intention to purchase the brand. This further implies that the effectiveness of a glocalization strategy of the brand name by adding a Chinese brand name to an original foreign brand name should be considered with caution. In addition, the current study extends prior research on multi-cue models of country-of-origin effects by demonstrating the moderating role of the ethnicity of an endorser in the effectiveness of the language of a brand name. When a brand uses a Western celebrity endorser, the glocalization strategy of bilingual brand naming seems to be less effective; consumers have a weaker perception of a brand’s luxury quality, compared with a foreign brand name. However, bilingual brand naming is just as effective as foreign brand naming when it uses a Chinese celebrity as the endorser. Supporting previous findings about the synergistic effect of multiple foreign cues (Huang, Fan, & Zhou, 2008), this study implies while the foreign brand name still serves as a foreign cue in bilingual brand naming, the Chinese brand name attenuates the positive effect of the foreign brand name and weakens the synergistic effect from the foreign cues of the foreign brand name and the Western endorser. On the other hand, when a Chinese celebrity endorses the brand, there may not be a synergistic effect from the multiple foreign cues of the foreign brand name and the endorser. Therefore, adding a Chinese brand name to a foreign brand name may not significantly moderate the positive effect of the foreign brand name. Finally, this paper suggests that consumer perception of a product having luxury quality seems to be a strong driver in determining the purchase of a luxury brand, especially when a western celebrity endorsers the brand. Managerially, the study provides insights into the selection of an effective brand-naming strategy and an endorser for advertising when luxury brands do business in the Chinese market. Bilingual brand naming is becoming a common practice in China. Given such a trend in China, is the glocalization strategy on brand naming being deemed effective? If viewing advertising effectiveness from the perspective of enhancing luxurious brand image, the strategy of bilingual brand naming seems to work poorly in China compared with standardized foreign brand naming. It may not be that simple, though, because multiple cues are used to infer cultural meanings of luxury brands and, furthermore, the cues would interact with one another. Considering that many luxury brands use celebrities, especially Chinese celebrities in the Chinese market, foreign or bilingual brand naming is critical to the success of luxury brands, yielding equal effectiveness in luxury perception. This implies that if a brand uses a foreign brand name only, a Western endorser would be more desirable. If the brand adopts bilingual brand naming, then utilizing a Chinese endorser would seem advisable. The study further suggests that the localized strategy in brand name–the use of a Chinese brand name only–is not a good idea for luxury brands in China.

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.

Known originally for climbing gear and outdoor clothing, Patagonia is now a leader in the area of sustainability practices. In this qualitative study, we examined the content of Patagonia’s blog “Stories We Wear” (SWW) that features customers’ stories about Patagonia apparel items worn and repaired to extend the product lifecycle. Patagonia encourages its customers to take part in a dialog of anti-consumption via the blog in which readers and authors of the posts can both engage with the brand and create their own sustainable identity. The overarching research question for the study was to determine the major reoccurring themes of the SWW blog posts. Five key themes identified in the blog posts were: (1) the emotional attachment to the apparel item; (2) outdoor adventure travel connecting to escapism; (3) the imagined future of the item; (4) valuing the item as an investment or the mark of a turning point in one’s life and identity; and (5) the act of repairing the item. The reasons SWW writers keep their Patagonia apparel items include quality and comfort, as well as the emotional attachment to both the apparel item and the brand. Carroll and Ahuvia’s (2006) concept of brand love is embedded in SWW stories. The repairs promote sustainability, a brand, and societal value. Customers did not discontinue purchase of new items; instead, they viewed purchases of Patagonia apparel as an investment. Through SWW, Patagonia encourages emotional attachment to its brand and promotes sustainability, while offering customers an opportunity to embrace a shared identity with the brand. The findings demonstrate that the SWW blog is a positive marketing strategy (Gopaldas, 2015) that promotes company, customer, and societal values of sustainability. The themes found in Patagonia’s SWW concept can be utilized by other companies seeking to enhance their sustainability practices and customer engagement with their products.

This study aims to investigate the role of luxury brand attachment on consumer brand relationship by examining the relationship with trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty. This also examines the interrelationships among trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty from luxury branding context which provides a good number of theoretical and practical implications. Introduction The global luxury market exceeded $1 trillion in the year 2015 with a 5% annual growth (Bain & Co., 2015). However, industry experts predict that the luxury industry will face challenges in upcoming year primarily due to the economic instability and turmoil in the global foreign exchange market (Robert, 2015). Therefore, the luxury brand executives should carefully target their future consumer segment to sustain the current growth (Luxury Society, 2015). Earlier studies demonstrate that consumers seek various types of emotional benefits from luxury brands such as status seeking (Nelissen & Meijers, 2011), hedonic pleasure (Tsai, 2005), feeling good (Aaker, 1999), pleasurable experience (Atwal & Williams, 2009), mental peace (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003), and impressing others (Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Siebels, 2009). Moreover, these emotional benefits create a comprehensive and memorable experience in terms of ownership and consumption of luxury brands (Choo et al., 2012). Therefore, luxury brand marketers should emphasize more on emotional attachment for building a long term and sustainable customer relationship (Orth et al., 2010). Research Gap Existing literature on consumer-brand relationship mostly considers cross-cultural issues (Chang & Chieng, 2006), reviving brand loyalty (Fournier, 1997), consumer attitude (Aggarwal, 2004), satisfaction (Sung & Choi, 2006), self-brand connection (Cheng et al., 2012), trust-based commitment (Hess & Story, 1995) and such other dimensions on brand evaluation (e.g. Swaminathan et al., 2007). Few studies have considered luxury products (Hodge et al., 2015) and the role of emotional aspects (Hwang & Kandampully, 2012) in the consumer-brand relationship. Still, there is a lack of empirical support for understanding the role of luxury brand attachment into the construct. This research will attempt to fulfil these research gaps. Conceptual Model and Hypotheses Psychological theories explain attachment as the tie between a person and an object or any other components (Bowlby, 1979; Hazan & Shaver, 1994). Brand attachment is defined as a long-term and commitment oriented tie between the consumer and the brand (Esch et al., 2006). The conceptualization of luxury brand demonstrates that the inherent traits of luxury brands are distinctiveness, high transaction value, superior quality, inimitability, and craftsmanship; and luxury brand consumption is mostly emotion laden (Nueno & Quelch, 1998). Based on the existing attachment concepts and theories, we define luxury brand attachment as the emotional bond that connects a consumer with a specific brand and develops deep feelings toward the brand. Several past studies have found that brand attachment reinforces brand trust and there is a positive relationship between brand attachment and trust (e.g. Belaid & Behi, 2011). In addition, Esch et al. (2006) argue that brand satisfaction and brand attachment are interrelated and satisfaction results long-term consumer-brand relationships (Gladstein, 1984). Moreover, strong commitment from the consumers has been identified as a critical factor of long lasting brand relationship (Li et al., 2014; Sung and Choi, 2010). Further, Thomson et al. (2005) find that brand attachment creates behavioural loyalty for which consumers are also willing to pay higher prices. Expecting similar relationship from luxury branding context, we propose that H1: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumers trust in that brand. H2: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumer satisfaction for that brand. H3: The higher the luxury brand attachment, the greater the consumer commitment to that brand. H4: Higher luxury brand attachment leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand. Scholars explain that satisfaction is an essential element of brand loyalty and both the constructs are positively related (e.g. Agustin and Singh, 2005). Past researches find that highly satisfied consumers demonstrate repeat purchases (e.g. Bennett et al, 2005). Past studies also show that trust toward the brand results brand loyalty and strengthen the relationship (Bansal et al., 2014; Belaid & Behi, 2011). Fournier (1997) identify brand trust as the key determinant of brand loyalty. Thus, we propose that H5: Higher satisfaction to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand. H6: Higher trust to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand. Ganesan (1994) argue that a satisfied customer develop trust toward a specific brand. In support of this, Belaid & Behi (2011) state that if a brand becomes successful in fulfilling the promise with consistence performance, the consumer will have satisfaction and positive feeling about the brand. In addition, the authors find a positive relationship between brand commitment and behavioural loyalty. Expecting similar relationship from luxury branding context, we propose that H7: The higher the trust in luxury brand, the more customer satisfaction in that brand. H8: Higher commitment to the luxury brand leads to higher behavioural loyalty to that brand. Summary of the hypothesised relationships are illustrated in Figure 1. Methodology The simple random sampling will ensure proper representation of the target population and eliminate the sampling bias (Cook & Campbell, 1979; Zikmund, 2002). The sample population will be 300 young Australian consumers aged between 20-30 years. Previous studies have found that there is a growth in luxury brand purchase by individuals in younger age groups e.g. 20 – 30 (Hung et al., 2011). Therefore, this is representative of the possible drift in the ages of consumers in the market for luxury brand purchase (Han et al., 2010). A consumer panel from Qualtrics database will be used and the sample frame consists of consumers who have higher brand likeability (Martin & Stewart, 2001). Established scales will be used to measure the constructs. All items will be measured on a seven-point Likert scale with 1 representing “strongly disagree” and 7 representing “strongly agree”. Research Significance This would be the very first study to investigate the role of luxury brand attachment in consumer brand relationship. This research will provide meaningful insights for the brand managers, brand strategists and advertising managers. This research will assist luxury brand managers in allocation of resources for the action plans that will ensure a stronger tie with the consumers in a cost efficient way. For brand managers luxury brand attachment may help them with segmentation process and well as providing direction on improving attachment to the consumers to influence trust, commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty.

What kind of reasons or bases could lead to strong and positive brand attitudes? This study aims to identify the factors that have strong relationships with positive brand attitudes and to test whether the findings can be generalized and applied across cultural contexts. Historically, attitude research has assumed that attitudes are based on cognition (i.e. beliefs) and affect (Bodur, Brinberg, & Coupey, 2000; Crano & Prislin, 2006). This study suggests a new schema comprised of ‘self-based’ and ‘public-based’ evaluations as the foundation of brand attitudes. ‘Self-based’ evaluations refer to brand evaluations based on consumers’ personal judgments and feelings. These evaluations mainly derive from consumers’ experiences with products. In contrast, ‘public-based’ evaluations are influenced by others’ opinions and brands’ public reputations. Consumers are frequently exposed to word-of-mouth messages about brands and related products, and they can assess them even when they have not personally used the product. Based on previous brand management literature, two hypotheses below were developed. Hypothesis 1: Self-based evaluations predict positive brand attitudes, but public-based evaluations do not predict positive brand attitudes. Hypothesis 2: Self-based evaluations predict the purchase intentions of consumers with independent self-construal, but public-based evaluations predict the purchase intentions of consumers with interdependent self-construal. The data were collected in a Western and an East Asian country and analysed for authenticity as well as by country, which should be important to global brand building. The results supported the hypotheses and this study made three important discoveries. First, it demonstrated that self-based evaluation was a broadly important factor to building positive brand attitudes. Second, public-based evaluation was marginally effective for branding and is important only in the East Asian context. Third, it was found that authenticity had ‘double-edged’ effects on branding. Finally, the contributions and implications of this study were discussed.

As a contemporary, postmodern marketing strategy, digital storytelling is the virtual means by which a story can be organized. Less traditional than a conventional beginning, middle, and end narrative, the genre suggests that individuals connect the dots of a story by comparing their reading with others. This research examines Christian Dior’s Secret Garden IV campaign film as it is broadcasted on YouTube for six weeks and diffused through Instagram. Through a grounded theory approach we measure and analyze audience engagement and key themes expressed through user-generated content on YouTube and Instagram. Manual coding and three computer-aided text analysis programs are used to analyze the data and triangulate results. This research contributes to the literature on consumer engagement in digital storytelling, online brand communities, and celebrity endorsement. Introduction Digital technologies have improved the aesthetics of content creation, enabling brands to develop deeper levels of engagement with consumers through social channels (Merrilees, 2016). Every day hundreds of millions of hours of video are consumed on YouTube and the number of high performing channels has been increasing by 50% per year (YouTube, 2017). Instagram’s monthly active users have grown from 300 million in December 2014 to 600 million in December 2016 (Statista, 2017). Within the social media sphere, commercial and individual users connect through multiple platforms and devices to share ideas and information without the constraint of time and space (Gruzd & Wellman, 2014). The digitization of visual culture provides users with so much content that it may even result in information overload (Babin et al., 2017). This research focuses on the fashion sector and social media platforms that cater specifically to visual imagery and video content. The logic is twofold: the fashion industry is inherently visual and research on a study of eighty-three fashion brands indicates a shift from traditional advertising to video products, especially on social media (L2 Inc., 2016). We examine elements of French luxury goods company, Christian Dior’s Secret Garden omni-channel marketing campaign. As a collection of short films shown on YouTube and in other media, the campaign had four annual installments beginning in 2012. The Secret Garden series explores the brand’s past and present within the context of the 21st century Palace of Versailles. Our focus is on Secret Garden IV, launched in May 2015, featuring singer/songwriter Rihanna as the protagonist. Dior’s portrayal of Versailles throughout the Secret Garden series reflects undertones of its monarchial heritage and its high fashion prestige. In Secret Garden IV, there is a juxtaposition to this theme when Rihanna’s subculture persona and celebrity status (Fleetwood, 2012) presents a misalignment between luxury ideals and Rihanna’s position in popular culture. Table 1 provides an overview of the history of the campaign. This research measures and analyzes audience engagement and key themes expressed through users’ comments on YouTube and Instagram for the pre-launch and launch of the Secret Garden IV campaign. Through a grounded theory approach we identify, analyze, and validate keywords and group them into themes utilizing both manual coding and computer-aided text analysis (Lai & To, 2015). We utilize three software programs (Tableau, NVivo 11, and Leximancer) to triangulate results. The scholarly literature on fashion luxury goods is scant and this methodological approach is sound (Neuendorf, 2017). Five recent scholarly articles on luxury fashion goods and social media were identified. One relates to storytelling and is visually-focused (Megehee & Spake, 2012); three develop models (Kim & Ko, 2010; Kim & Ko, 2012; Brogi et al., 2013); and one uses the case study approach (Phan et al., 2011). This research fills both a theoretical and a methodological gap. We examine a digital storytelling campaign across social media platforms with the prospect of new theoretical insights. According to Snelson (2016) there is scant social media research on YouTube and Instagram and social media research using a grounded theory approach is also limited. Theoretical background Digital Storytelling Digital storytelling uses technology as an extension of oral and written stories “…to solidify our cultures and share knowledge for the future” (Irwin, 2014, p. 40), placing engagement with digital media as an extension of the self. People naturally think in narratives and stories, rather than arguments and paradigms (Megehee & Spake, 2012) and may use digital storytelling to order otherwise disconnected experiences into interrelated, meaningful episodes (Vannini, 2012). By connecting the dots of a story on social media users have the opportunity to formulate meanings of their own and build interpretations by comparing their “reading” with that of others. Social media has empowered the consumer by enabling communication that is multi-way, multi-directional, and led by the consumer (Tuten & Solomon, 2015). The fashion film on the internet has been viewed as “a genre that is not is not simply a tool to stimulate consumption, but is something that is set to change our notion of fashion as a moment in time” (Khan, 2012, p. 236). In her review, “100 Years of the Fashion Film,” Marketa Uhlirova posits that contemporary technologies aimed at a film’s “potential to promote fashion” turned into “the medium’s ability to recast consumption as seductive visual entertainment,” devaluing a fashion film’s potential for not only entertainment and visual pleasure, but also for experimentation and innovation (Uhlirova, 2013, p. 140; p. 153). Online Brand Communities As a hub of value creation in the consumer marketplace, brand communities are an enthusiastic, passionate group of customers who express similar commitment towards a brand or product and may not be geographically bound (Muniz Jr. & O’Guinn, 2001; McAlexander et al., 2002). In brand communities created by marketers, organizations may stimulate engagement, brand loyalty and the expression of positive emotions and trust (Bagozzi & Dholakia, 2006; Jung et al., 2014). Customer engagement behaviour pertains to a variety of online and offline behaviours (e.g. word of mouth, blogging, customer reviews) that are not transactional, but can be measured (Verhoef et al., 2010). Although positive word of mouth and brand advocacy are not guaranteed, an organization’s most engaged social customers have the potential to communicate messages that are perceived as more credible than those generated by the organization (Kozinets et al., 2010). A high level of engagement may be described as delight or joy. Engagement requires strong emotional and relational bonds (commitment and trust), and may transform customers into loyal “fans” or co-creators of value (Hawkins & Davis, 2012). A study of customer engagement behaviour in a social media environment is complex because engagement behaviour in different channels may vary considerably, with a different effect on value creation or purchase intent. For example, if a customer tweets on a mobile device his/her engagement and purchase intent may differ from engagement and purchase intent as a result of interaction with a video or blog (Libai et al., 2010). Celebrity Endorsement A celebrity endorsement is defined as “an agreement between an individual who enjoys public recognition (a celebrity) and an entity (e.g., a brand) to use the celebrity for the purpose of promoting the entity” (Bergkvist & Zhou, 2016). Celebrity endorsements previously were associated primarily with consumer goods and services advertised through traditional media, such as print and television. More recently, these endorsements encompass any mode of communication as well as business-to-business goods and services. This update is significant considering the addition of advertising on the Internet, in social media, “stealth marketing” on TV talk shows (Kaikati & Kaikati, 2004) and red carpet appearances (Carroll, 2009). Theories related to celebrity persuasion that have application to the fashion industry have examined the way consumers process information from marketing communications and relate it to their self-concept (Carroll, 2009). To the consumer, the celebrity represents a meaning, based on the recognition s/he has received in the symbolic environment and his/her persona. This meaning is transferred to the product when the celebrity is seen in the marketing communication. In the final stage, the meaning moves from the product to the consumer, who transfers the meaning into his/her notion of the self-concept (Carroll, 2009). This transference effect benefits the brand (Tuten & Solomon, 2015) and the consumer who may use products to reveal their self-concept to others (Babin, et al., 2017), especially in high involvement consumption situations (Ahuvia, 2005). Method Sample Instagram and YouTube data were collected using Netlytic (Gruzd, 2016) for the period May 14 – June 24, 2015 for the purpose of capturing data before and after the official release of the film (May 18, 2015). A total of 8,986 records (uncleansed) are in the Instagram (#SecretGarden4 and @Dior) database and 426 records (uncleansed) in the YouTube database. Multiple URLs were used for YouTube because there were four previews, and short and long versions of the film. Procedures The data was cleansed (236 YouTube posts; 6,763 Instagram posts). To measure sentiment and engagement, a text analysis was performed using an adaptation of Dann’s Twitter (2010) classification. Through a grounded theory approach (Lai & To, 2015) key words, concepts and themes were identified and triangulated using Tableau, NVivo 11, and Leximancer software programs. Concluding Remarks As a multi-year campaign, Dior’s Secret Garden was meticulously crafted to project an understanding of Dior’s brand image and to create an air of anticipation for consumers. Within the context of digital storytelling we delve deeply into how the last installment of this campaign resonated with consumers who watched the film on social media and responded to Dior’s Instagram initiatives. Through our mixed methods research approach, we develop theoretical and methodological contributions that benefit academics and fashion marketers.

Have you ever seen images of an elegant woman dressed in period clothes, threatening to stab another woman through the neck; a model facing a leopard behind a mannequin hand; or a lady using a hook to fish a purse out of a pool, while a seemingly dead man is floating in the water? The descriptions of these scenes might sound dark and absurd, and provoke disgust or displeasure; but the fact is, these images have been used in real advertisements for prestigious fashion brands such as Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, and were featured heavily in various fashion magazines. Recently, advertisers have sought to differentiate their products by using grotesque imagery in their ads as a strategy to get consumers’ attention and stimulate their curiosity. Although growing attention is being paid to ads that are not conventionally ‘pretty’, very little research has tried to empirically document the effect of grotesque imagery on the persuasiveness of luxury brand advertising, or unveil the psychological mechanism underlying the effect. The purpose of this research is to investigate how grotesque imagery used for luxury products appeal to consumers, and why the ads affect the consumers’ behavior. We empirically demonstrated that the grotesque imagery used to promote luxury products enhances consumers’ purchase intention because it facilitates consumers to better experience the brand by transporting them to the narratives that are portrayed in the ads. This process occurs because a correspondence between grotesque imagery and luxury branding generates the fit effect, which leads to fluent processing and feel right experience, and in turn induces engagement to the ad. Grotesque Advertisement Grotesque was the word indicating the style of ancient decoration that depicted fantastic combinations of human and animal forms, interwoven with strange fruits and flowers. The Cambridge Dictionary of English now defines grotesque as a general adjective that describes anything “very strange and unpleasant, especially in a ridiculous or slightly frightening way.” Evolutionary psychology provides us a hint for the reason why emotionally provocative and fear-evoking grotesque imagery captures consumers’ attention. The faster attention to negative stimuli than to positive stimuli is an automatic tendency developed as means of evolutionary adaptedness for survival because negative stimuli signal danger and cause alert to prompt defensive reaction (Ohman, Flykt and Esteves, 2001; Schoemaker 1996; Tan 2008). Another explanation for grotesque imagery’s attention grabbing power arises from our complex emotional system—i.e. human enjoys fearful horror or heartbreakingly sad films, because such negative emotions often stem from a challenging situation filled with risks, threats, and tension and generate an active interest in it (Bartsch, Apple and Stroach 2010; Oliver 1993; Tan 2008). Frightening, disgusting, or tragic emotions are mixed with a relief that comes after a perception of reality. Because human has an ability to distinguish their real life and the situation in the film or drama, we feel interests while being frightened or disgusted or heart-broken with pleasurable enjoyment (Tan 2008). Prior research by Phillips and McQuarrie (2010) brought to light the concept of grotesque in the context of fashion marketing. They described grotesque imagery using words with common etymological meanings—bizarre, surreal, deviant, absurd, discrepant, peculiar, and odd—and suggested that it could lead viewers to engage in the ad through transportation or immersion to the story world of the ad. Through the narrative transportation, grotesque imagery persuades consumers to better experience the brand featured in the ad. Based on their conceptualization of grotesque and its persuasive power, we empirically test whether grotesque imagery used in an ad might work as a strong trigger of fantasy, stimulating viewers to be transported into the narrative depicted in the ad image. Transportation Transportation is defined as ‘a convergent process where all mental systems and capacities become focused on events occurring in the narrative’ (Green and Block 2000, p. 701); it represents the extent of absorption into the narrative flow of the story as it unfolds. Transportation occurs whenever the consumer experiences a feeling of entering a world brought to mind by the story, because of their empathy for the story characters and imagination of the story narratives (Van Laer et al. 2014). Previous research suggests that transportation induces favorable attitudes toward the related product (Escalas 2004), and enhances the persuasiveness of advertising messages through the connection between the self and the ad content (Escalas 2004). Fit Between Grotesque Imagery and Luxury Branding The effect of fit, which means a relevant and logical connection between ad contents, has been widely studied in advertising and marketing literature. Fit messages are readily accessible, and processed through simple cognitive information processes. Macinnis and Park (1991) argue that the fit effect is caused by consumers’ perception of the stimuli in ads as a whole, rather than distinct individual elements. The processing of fit (vs nonfat) messages is easier, so more fluent (Lee and Aaker 2004; Labroo and Lee 2006), and fluent processing of fit messages offer a feel right experience (Camacho, Higgins, and Luger 2003; Lee, Keller, and Sternthal 2009). This subjective experience of feeling right increases engagement (Lee, Keller, and Sternthal 2009), willingness to pay, favorability of brand attitudes, and brand choice (Lee and Higgins 2009). In this research, we posit that persuasive effect of grotesque ads is more likely to occur when grotesque imagery is used for advertising luxury brands. Previous research explained the motivations to purchase luxury brands as scarcity, uniqueness, distance, high price (Dion and Arnould 2011; Dubois and Duquensne, 1993), and signaling of social status (Belk 1988; Zhou and Belk 2004; Han, Nunes, and Drèze 2010), which intersect with the characteristics of grotesque. People purchase luxury goods because they are relatively exclusive and limited, providing the consumer with more emotional distance from mass produced products (Hansen and Wänke 2011). In addition, positioning a brand using mythical and abstract concepts is known to be more effective in building strong prestigious brands (Arsel and Craig 2011). Because grotesque is perceived to be distant from reality, incongruent, and discrepant, these characteristics of luxury branding could overlap with that of grotesque. Furthermore, support for our prediction of a fit between grotesque imagery and luxury branding can be found in some other common features of both. Dion and Arnould (2011) argue that luxury brands possess hedonic appeals based on multisensorial pleasure, artistic aura, and charismatic stories which transport consumers into the magical world of the luxury brand. In support, Kim, Lloyd and Cervellon (2015) found that luxury brand advertising stimulates fantasy, and this is one of the dominant themes through which consumers were engaged with the brand. They showed that being part of the narratives in the ads, participants experienced escaping from their everyday lives, traveling around the fantasy world, and feeling that their myth, fantasies or dreams become real. As luxury brand advertising has a power to transport consumers into fantasy, grotesque imagery also carries consumers away into magical world through narrative transportation (Phillips and McQuarrie 2010). Hypotheses In light of the prior research, we posit that when grotesque imagery is used in ads for luxury brands, the fit generates feel right experience and easy and fluent processing of messages, because grotesque imagery and luxury brand advertising commonly have a power to transport viewers to fantasy world distant from reality. In addition, previous research has suggested positive downstream effects for transportation to enhanced brand experience. As the level of experience is enhanced, familiarity and satisfaction with the brand are heightened as well (Ha and Perks 2005). A deeper level of brand experience generates brand trust and accelerates loyalty to brands (Lglesias, Singh, and Batista-Goguet 2011). Thus, we propose the following hypotheses: H1: Luxury brand advertising with grotesque imagery will facilitate transportation, which will in turn enrich brand experience and increase purchase intention of the featured product. H2: There will be a perceived fit between grotesque imagery and luxury branding. H3: The fit between grotesque imagery and luxury branding will enrich brand experience which in turn enhance purchase intention. Study 1 The goal of Study 1 was to show that a grotesque ad is perceived to be better-matched with brands described as prestigious. Stimuli. We designed two versions of a print advertisement for a fictitious fashion brand to manipulate grotesque (vs. non-grotesque) ad style. We created the ad by modifying the content from an existing Jimmy Choo advertisement. The print ad featured a man, a girl, a car, and a handbag placed in the middle of a desert. In the grotesque imagery condition, the girl is placed in the truck of a car, appearing dead since the man sitting next to her is holding a shovel that he seemingly used to dig a hole in the ground to bury her. In the non-grotesque imagery condition, we replaced the shovel to a cane. In the prestige condition, we introduced the brand as one with a prestigious image similar to those of Louis Vuitton and Hermes. In the non-prestige condition, the brand was described as having a brand image similar to Zara and H&M. Procedure. 171 undergraduates (average age = 22.8 years; 171 females) participated in the study for a course credit. Participants were informed that they would be asked to complete an ad evaluation study, and were randomly assigned to be presented with one of the four print ads featuring a handbag. Participants were asked to indicate how likely they would be to purchase the handbag product (1 = very unlikely; 7 = very likely), and how well-matched the ad is to the product and the brand image on two items (‘the ad goes nicely together with the handbag’ ‘the ad looks well-matched with the image of the brand’; 1 = not at all ~ 7 = very much). Then, they completed two item transportation measures (‘While I was looking at the ad, I could easily picture the events in it taking place,’ ‘I had a vivid image of the man sitting next to the woman’; 1 = strongly disagree ~ 5 = strongly agree) adapted from Green and Brock (2000). Next, participants responded to twelve items of brand experience measure from Jos ̆ko Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello (2009) (e.g. ‘This brand results in bodily experiences’, ‘This brand stimulates my curiosity and problem solving’; 1 = strongly disagree ~ 7 = strongly agree). They also rated how grotesque the ad was on seven items (‘bizarre,’ ‘surreal,’ ‘deviant,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘peculiar,’ ‘odd’, ‘discrepant’; 1 = not at all ~ 7 = very much). To rule out an affective account for participants’ evaluation, we assessed participants’ mood (1 = negative mood, bad mood, sad, irritated ~ 7 = positive mood, good mood, happy, relaxed) and their arousal (1 = not at all aroused ~ 7 = very aroused). Results: Perceived fit. The two perceived fit items were averaged to form a fit index. A two (ad style: grotesque vs. non-grotesque) by two (brand reputation: prestige vs. non-prestige) between-subjects ANOVA revealed a significant ad style by brand reputation interaction effect (F(1, 167) = 5.69, p = .018). Planned contrasts indicated that, in the grotesque imagery condition, participants rated the ad as more well-matched when the product was described as a prestigious brand (M = 4.14) than when it was a non-prestigious brand (M = 3.53; F(1, 167) = 4.15, p = .043). In contrast, in the non-grotesque imagery condition, participants rated the ad as less well-matched when it was described as a prestigious brand (M = 3.60) rather than non-prestigious brand (M = 4.00), but the effect was not significant (F(1, 167) = 1.79, p = .183). Because the perceived fit results confirmed that participants rated the ad as more well-matched when the product was described as a prestigious brand, we created an imagery fit variable coding the well-matched conditions (grotesque imagery for prestige brand and non-grotesque imagery for non-prestige brand) to be 1, and the less well-matched conditions (grotesque imagery for non-prestige brand and non-grotesque imagery for prestige brand) to be 0. As predicted, an ANOVA revealed that the well-matched conditions showed higher perceived fit (F(1, 169) = 5.79, p = .017), such that those in the matched condition (M = 4.07) rated higher on perceived fit than those in the mismatched condition (M = 3.57). Transportation. Participants’ ratings on the two transportation items were averaged to form transportation scores. A two way ANOVA revealed a significant ad style (grotesque vs. control) by brand reputation (prestige vs. non-prestige) interaction effect on transportation (F(1, 167) = 4.35, p = .039). Planned contrasts indicated that, in the grotesque condition, participants reported higher transportation scores when the product was described as a prestigious brand (M = 3.22) than a non-prestigious brand (M = 2.78; F(1, 167) = 4.28, p = .040). In contrast, in the non-grotesque condition, participants reported lower transportation scores when it was described as a prestigious brand (M = 2.62) rather than a non-prestigious brand (M = 2.81), but the effect was not significant (F(1, 167) = .78, p = .378). Mediation Effect of Transportation on Brand Experience. Participants’ ratings on the brand experience scale were averaged to form brand experience scores. A series of regressions showed that the ad style by brand reputation interaction activated transportation (β = .632, p = .034), which then yielded greater brand experience (β = .360, p <.001). The bootstrap procedure for a conditional mediation model (PROCESS Model 7; Hayes 2013) using 5,000 samples revealed a significant conditional indirect effect of grotesque imagery on brand experience through activation of transportation when the product was described as a prestigious brand (95% CI [.067, .390]). This conditional indirect effect was not significant when the product was described as a non-prestigious brand (95% CI [–.189, .138]). Multiple Mediation Effect. Our prediction was that grotesque imagery used in luxury brand advertising would lead to higher perceived fit, which facilitates narrative transportation and in turn enhances brand experience leading to greater purchase intention. Multiple mediation analyses using PROCESS Model 6 (Hayes 2013) with 5,000 resamples confirmed that the perceived fit → transportation → brand experience path mediated the effect of imagery fit on purchase intention. The imagery fit variable was created as a binary variable (1 = grotesque imagery for prestige brand or non-grotesque imagery for non-prestige brand; 0 = otherwise). First, the path from imagery fit to perceived fit was significant and positive ( = .504, p = .017), as was the path from perceived fit to transportation ( = .149, p = .007), the path from transportation to brand experience ( = .326, p < .001), and the path from brand experience to purchase intention ( = .344, p = .014). The 95% CI of the bootstrap procedure ([.001, .030]) confirmed that the indirect effect of imagery fit on purchase intention through the three mediators—perceived fit, transportation and brand experience—was significant. Study 2 The objective of Study 2 was to test the robustness of the mediating role of transportation for the effect of grotesque imagery fit with luxury brand. In addition, we checked whether the grotesque manipulation affected the extent to which participants perceived the brand as luxurious. Stimuli. Two versions of print advertisement were created to manipulate grotesque (vs. non-grotesque) ad style by modifying an existing Dolce & Gabbana ad campaign. The print ad featured two women, a man, and handbags placed on the floor of a classically decorated room. In the grotesque imagery condition, one of the girls wearing a ball gown is holding a knife and seemingly about to stab another girl. In the non-grotesque imagery condition, we replaced the knife with a bottle of perfume. All participants were provided with the print ad that contained a cover story about the ad evaluation task, describing the brand as either a prestigious brand that is similar to Louis Vuitton and Hermes or a brand with an image that is similar to Zara and H&M. Procedure. 165 undergraduate students (average age = 23.8; 66 females) were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. Participants were first asked to indicate how likely they would be to purchase the featured handbags (1 = very unlikely; 7 = very likely). Then, they responded to two transportation items (‘I wanted to learn how the story in the ad ended’, ‘The story in the ad affected me emotionally’, ‘I found myself thinking of ways the story in the ad could have turned out differently’; 1 = not at all ~ 5 = very much). Next, participants responded to the same twelve-item brand experience scale, seven item grotesque measure, four mood items, and an arousal item used in Study 1. In study 2, they were also asked to rate their impression of the product as luxurious, prestigious, and high class (1 = not at all; 7 = very much). Results. The grotesque manipulation did not affect the extent to which participants perceived the brand as luxurious, and when the product was described as a prestigious brand, participants in the grotesque condition reported higher transportation scores than those in the non-grotesque condition. Multiple mediation analyses reconfirmed that the transportation → brand experience path mediated the effect of imagery fit on purchase intention. General Discussion Through two studies, we demonstrated that grotesque ads can be effective in persuading consumers to purchase luxury fashion items. We found that grotesque ads trigger transportation when the brand is described as prestigious, enriching brand experience, and in turn heightening consumers’ purchase intention.

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).

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.

The conceptualisation of brand charisma is multi-disciplinary, using luxury branding context. This research adds value by making significant contributions by extending and building theory; holds managerial implications for policymakers and brand managers in shaping and communicating brand charisma; additionally to develop a research framework and scale to measure brand charisma. Introduction Charisma in grounded in anthropology and sociology; which has been divided into three key definitions. At the root of the sociological construct it is associated with a leader who generates extremes of loyalty and motivation among followers (Smothers 1993).The primary reason charisma is used, historically speaking, is to gain control over a group of people, and create a strong following (Weber 1946; Dow 1968; Smothers 1993). Research has demonstrated that charismatic leaders are more likely to effect and motivate individuals (followers) beyond expectations and command extremes of attachments (Bass 1985, 1988; Conger 1988; House et al 1988). This implies that charisma can inspire devotion to a leader that surpasses mere loyalty (Spencer 1973; Dow 1968); an irrational bond and inspiration between leader and follower (Marcus, 1961). As competition continues to grow within the luxury sector brand resonance is increasingly important as some of the effects include: higher loyalty to the brand, increased number of followers, ease to move consumers, development and diffusion of new products and greater consumer accommodation for the brand. In recent years, as brands try to become more ‘accessible’ to consumers and provide them with more brand experiences online we see the brand become diluted and evidence of brand fatigue set in (Business Insider 2015). Brand experience has been conceptualised as ‘sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioural responses evoked by brand related stimuli’ (Brakus et al 2009); which are often subjective and internal responses (Brakus et al 2009). Most experiences occur directly when consumers shop, buy, and consume products. Experiences can also occur indirectly—for example, when consumers are exposed to advertising and marketing communications, including Web sites. As a majority of luxury brand consumers are deemed to be loyal to the brand, it is important to capitalise on these followers (Levitt 1975) to further foster brand- follower- consumer engagement. Pastor et al (2007) were able to demonstrate that followers’ emotional responses have a significant influence on charismatic leaders; where followers experienced higher levels of arousal, they were more likely to rate leaders as charismatic. Brands can have charisma through social construction, compelling emotional associations that build on imagery, symbolism and prestige. Thus, it leads to extraordinary levels of motivation and attachment- achieving brand resonance. Thus, followers and consumers will view the brand as being sacred, and imbued with deeply significant and metaphorical meaning (Smothers 1993). It is evident that brand charisma allows the brand to exercise control and influence over a following or group of consumers. As brand charisma serves as a motivational tool to inspire and communicate their brand vision to followers, it allows the charisma to remain unique and rare (only for those in the community). While the ability to attain this brand charisma is always kept out of reach for everyday consumers, in order to motivate them to perform and engage with the brand beyond expectation. From the followers perspective, charisma is used to communicate or signal to others their social belonging and identity to a particular community. The presence therefore of brand charisma serves as a guide, or vision, of the brand that is aspirational and inspirational for the followers, with the promise of the ‘dream’ being attainable by belonging to this group. It is interesting, and pivotal to note that brand charisma is not like a normal brand- follower relationship, but rather a unique bond that is value laden, ongoing and influential on perceptions. Some key characteristics have been used in forming a conceptual definition of brand charisma, form both the brand and follower perspective. These include “exercise diffuse and intense influence over the beliefs, values, behaviour and performance of others through own behaviour and example” (Dow 1969; House et al 1991; Shils 1965); “unique connection between leader and follower that can account for extraordinary performance and accomplishments of individuals, work groups, units and organisations” (Yammarino et al 1992; Bensman and Givant; Conger and Kanungo 1998); “transcendent from the ordinary” ; “the process is both parallel and analogous process…both change meaning and perceived value” (Weber 1922; 1966; Levitt 1975; Smothers 1993). Drawing from the above emerging characteristics, which is reflective of the literature, a tentative conceptual definition of brand charisma has been proposed below: “The ability to articulate the brand vision, elicit a positive emotional response by its audience or followers that is characterised by extremes of motivational attachment” Through a content analysis of luxury brands and a rigorous literature review, has identified ‘core’ and ‘supplementary’ characteristics for the presence of brand charisma, which is aimed to be further explored. The Core characteristics of brand charisma can be thought of as the source of the brands charismatic aura and this must be present for charismatic brands; while the supplementary characteristics are not crucial or inherent to every charismatic brand. Research Gaps Based on the extended literature review, the following key gaps have been identified: 1. To the best of my knowledge there has been no conceptualisation of brand charisma in marketing and branding (e.g. Smothers 1993; Dion and Arnould 2011) a. Lack of working definition for brand charisma and lack of research framework and scale to measure brand charisma 2. Diminutive studies have used the concept of charisma in luxury branding or marketing 3. Assessing whether brand charisma should be implemented or is present across various ‘categories’ of luxury (e.g. inaccessible vs. affordableluxury) 4. Past studies have not addressed the influence of brand charisma on consumer emotions and perceptions (e.g. Dion and Arnould 2011) Based on the above research gaps the following research questions have been developed: RQ1: What is brand charisma? RQ2: How does the presence of brand charisma influence brand resonance? RQ3: Does the presence of brand charisma differ between affordable and inaccessible luxury? RQ4: What are the emotional responses elicited by the presence of brand charisma? Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Development Stimulus- Organism- Response (S-O-R) model is the underpinning theoretical framework for the proposed research (Mehrabian and Russell 1974). The S-O-R model has been widely used in retail environment (e.g. Buckley 1991; Chang et al. 2011) and to study different types of involvement (Arora 1982). Based on the S-O-R model, the stimulus is defined as any external stimuli that influence the internal states of an individual which consist of both environmental influence and marketing mix variable (Bagozzi 1978; Eroglu et al. 2003). In this proposed research the presence of brand charisma will serve as the external stimuli that influence consumers’ perception of luxury and brand affect. The perception of luxury is affected by brand related stimuli and imagery (Brakus et al 2009), which include but not limited to, elements such as; brand name, products sold and communications. Organism is defined as the internal emotional response which influences the relationship between external stimuli and the behavioural response (Bagozzi 1978). In this study, perception of luxury and brand affect will serve as the internal consumer responses (sensations, feelings and cognitions) which is degree to which a consumer is effected via the environment, being either direct or indirect, through the 5 senses (sensory appeal). In this study, the resulting response will be brand resonance, as this extends beyond loyalty and encapsulates a brand follower or consumer to willingly and proactively engage in word of mouth, have deep attachment or connection with the brand, feel proud of association with this brand and community followers (Keller 2001). Supporting Theory As brand charisma is a set of activities to capture the distinctive brand essence, which creates a strong sensory appeal compelling consumers to strongly advocate for the brand; we see the transfer of charisma onto the brand through concepts such as brand experience (consumer touchpoints) and brand resonance (brand- follower relationships). Thus, the Law of Contagion is the underpinning theory to support the effects of brand charisma (Frazer 1959, Mauss 1972; Tylor 1974). The Law of Contagion for the proposed research focuses on sympathetic magic, namely the effects of contagion, which deem that whatever is done to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not (Frazer 1889). This can be extended to brand activities such as communications, Furthermore, Spillover Effects, is the secondary effect of brand charisma as we are assessing the ‘spillover’ of charisma onto the brand and the effects it will have on the proposed relationships (Simonin and Ruth 1998) between perception of luxury, brand affect and brand resonance. Charismatic Leadership Theory (Weber [1922] 1978) has been deemed ‘transformational’, ‘visionary’ or ‘inspirational’ throughout the organisational literature (e.g. House 1977; Conger and Kanungo 1988). These theories focus on exceptional leaders who have extraordinary effects on their followers and larger social systems (Shamir et al 1993); hence leaders transform the needs, desires, values and aspirations of followers from self- interest to collective interest. This is demonstrated through brand communities, and kinship, as followers become highly committed to the leader’s mission and often perform above and beyond what is expected of them. Charismatic Leadership is further demonstrated through the strong relationship between follower and brand by; emotional and motivational arousal through brand behaviour, nonverbal communications, visionary and inspirational messages and ideological appeals. Therefore, in layman terms, the more charismatic brands are, the more likely they are to experience overall higher brand resonance. Brand resonance is the outcome variable proposed for this research. Brand resonance aims to capitalise on previously acquired loyalty and equity (Huang et al 2014); thus brands add value to consumer goods by supplying meaning, and consumers like brands because they package meaning derived from interaction with the brand (Biel 1970). This can further be explained by an enduring sense of communal kinship and affiliation; which sees followers of the brand invest personal resources in order to stay connected (Keller 2001; Huang et al 2014). Social Identification Theory (Tafjel and Turner 1985) is used to support the outcome variable of brand resonance, as one of the primary drivers of brand resonance is that followers draw some association or similarity between themselves and the brand. Social Identification Theory is also closely linked to Charismatic Leadership Theory (Shamir et al 1993) (discussed below), as brand behaviours define the boundaries of the collectivity to emphasise its distinctiveness, prestige and competition with other groups. Such leader behaviour increases the salience of the collective identity in members’ self- concepts (Ashforth and Mael 1989); therefore, identification with the leader (brand) as it is perceived via a representative character (brand activities). Based on the above, we postulate the following: H1: High Presence of brand charisma will lead to high perception of luxury H2: High perception of luxury will lead to high brand affect H3: High presence of brand charisma will lead to high brand affect H4: Perception of luxury mediates the relationship between presence of brand charisma and brand affect H5: High presence of brand affect will lead to high brand resonance Methodology My research will encompass a mixed methods approach and be split into three predominant phases. The first being scale development, followed by stimulus development and finally the main study. The mixed method offers greater depth and breadth of understanding and corroboration (Johnson et al 2007) and is in line with the underlying pragmatist paradigm of this study (Johnson and Onwuegbzie 2004). A convenience sample will be used comprising of consumer panel data. The sampling frame will consist of everyday consumers, as these consumers need not be buyers of luxury brands. Phase 1: Scale Development The scale development phase will use methods by Churchill (1979) and Devillis (1991). The purification, CFA, EFA and validity will be undertaken to refine and test the scale. The approximate sample for this phase is approximately 200 respondents. Phase 2: Stimulus Development This phase will use expert panel to select the most appropriate charismatic brand and stimulus to use for this research. The potential brands of interest, thus far guided by literature, are; Hermes, Chanel, Dolce & Gabanna, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Oscar de la Renta. The sample size of the expert panel will comprise of approximately 15-30 respondents (Endacott et al 1999; Keeney et al 2010). Phase 3: Main Study This phase will comprise of the self-administered questionnaire, with all sclaes measured on a 7- pinot Likert scale. With the use of an embedded stimulus, using consumer panel data with the sample size of approximately 800. Validation study will be included using psycho-physiological equipment available in the School of Marketing to validate the brand charisma scale; and to test whether there is positive emotions elicited that can be attributed to the charisma of the brand. This sample will consist of approximately 120, in line with recommended JCR guidelines. Significance Theoretical Contributions • Building and extending the current branding literature by conceptualising brand charisma, which has only been attempted in fragments throughout the literature. •Developing a scale to measure brand charisma in a luxury context. Until now, a brand charisma scale demonstrating rigour and validation is lacking within the literature • Empirically evaluating the developed brand charisma scale, validating the applicability and the moderating effects of brand charisma on the relationships between perception of luxury, brand experience and brand resonance. Methodological Contributions • This study will develop a brand charisma scale, employing psychometric properties to demonstrate reliability and validity. • This scale will then be used to further develop a Brand Charisma Index Managerial Contributions This study aims to provide a blueprint for luxury brand managers, owners and policymakers on: • How to use brand charisma to grow brand community, brand attachment and brand engagement; vis-a – vis the brand. • Build stronger brands, that are resilient to market changes and fluctuation • Segmentation process to identify consumers with high brand resonance To identify what cues of brand charisma should be present for brand content and campaigns and how to augment these • For inaccessible and affordable luxury offerings, identify whether the presence of brand charisma should be used for both. Provide insights how the presence of brand charisma can impact and influence consumer’s perceptions and emotional responses.

Brand threats are unexpected, widely spread negative brand occurrences that are manifest in various forms such as rumours (Einwiller et al., 2008), negative publicity (Ahluwalia et al., 2000), ethical scandals (Huber et al., 2010; Lisjak et al., 2012; Trump, 2014) and product failures (Dawar and Pillutla, 2000; Ahluwalia et al., 2001). They are quite common in the marketplace with adverse effects on brand reputations and brand equity (Duttta and Pullig, 2011) by thwarting consumers` expected benefits from the brand (Ahluwalia et al., 2000; Dawar and Pillutla, 2000; Dutta and Pullig, 2011). Due to the frequency and seriousness of brand threats, academic interest in studying the effects of brand threats as well as predicting consumers responses has been rising in the past decade (Swaminathan et al., 2007; Cheng et al., 2012; Lisjak et al., 2012; Trump, 2014). Brand threat literature has evolved over the years from few case studies focusing on organizational response strategies to empirical work documenting cognitive and attitudinal responses by consumers to different types of threats. However, there are still a number of inconsistencies within this loose body of work that requires further research attention. The following section will highlight some of the most imminent controversies within the brand threat literature and thus paving the way for the current review paper to synthesize different streams of research and offer some conceptual clarity on brand threats. First, with regards to the conceptualization of brand threats, there appears to be no broad agreement on a precise definition of what constitutes a threat at the brand level. Over the past few years, scholars have expressed this notion using words such as negative brand publicity (Ahluwalia et al., 2000;2001; Pullig et al., 2006), brand scandal (Roehm and Tybout, 2006), brand failure (Roehm and Brady, 2007; Cheng et al., 2012), brand-related crisis ( Dawar and Lei, 2009; Dutta and Pullig, 2011), brand misconduct (Huber et al., 2010) and brand transgression (Trump, 2014). While these definitions can be used interchangeably as they reflect the overall characteristic of brand threats; they draw upon different theoretical foundations. As a result, competing views and understandings of brand threats have materialised, resulting in perennial dissensus within the extant literature. In addition, there is a debate in the literature with regards to the differential effects of brand threat types. The majority of prior research on brand threats has predominantly focused on two types of threat which is product–related brand threat (Ahluwalia et al., 2000; 2001; Cheng et al., 2012; Swaminathan et al., 2007) and values-related brand threats. Product-related threats usually involve defective or dangerous products and reduce a brand's perceived ability to deliver its functional benefits (Dawar and Pillutla, 2000; Pullig et al., 2006; Roehm and Brady, 2007; Dawar and Lei, 2009). Values-related threats, on the other hand can be defined as unexpected events that threaten a brand's perceived ability to deliver expressive or symbolic benefits (Dawar and Lei, 2009; Pullig et al., 2006). They do not involve the product but rather the social or ethical values of the brand (e.g., Pullig et al., 2006). Both types of threats have negative impact such as brand equity, satisfaction and choice likelihood (Dutta and Pullig, 2011), however existing work offer contradictory findings with regards to the degree of damage caused by either type of brand threat. While some studies implicate the product related threats are more damaging to the brand, other studies indicate that values related threats have more negative impact. For instance, product related threats have been reported to damage brand image and trust (Dawar and Pillutla, 2000), lead to consumer brand switching and consequently cause financial losses (Cleeren et al., 2008). On the other hand, Huber et al. (2010) report that a brand's moral threat can be more damaging for consumers` relationship quality with the brand as well as repurchase intention. In addition, Folkes and Kamins (1999) indicate that negative ethical information is perceived as more diagnostic than product attribute information. Additionally, Trump (2014) compared both types of threats (product vs. ethical) in the same study and reported that ethical-related brand threats can be more damaging than product-related threats. This in turn has contributed to growing inconsistencies within the brand threat literature and elaborated the need for more empirical work to reconcile these conflicting streams of research. An additional layer of controversy within the brand threat literature pertains to the impact of consumer brand relationship in predicting consumer responses. The general assumption is that the stronger the relationship between the consumer and the brand, the more insulated the brand remains from the negative impact of brand threats, however research yield mixed results. While some studies indicate the positive role of strong consumer brand relationship in mitigating the negative impact of brand threats (Ahluwalia et al., 2000; 2001; Einwiller et al., 2006), studies by Roehm and Brady, (2007) and Cleeren et al., (2008) suggest that these positive impacts are only shortlived. While other researchers show that high quality brand relationship may actually result in more negative consumer responses following threat (Hubler et al., 2010). Lastly, there has not been a unified conceptual framework to predict consumer responses to brand threat; different studies have used different theoretical underpinnings to examine the phenomenon reporting different results. Earlier studies on the subject were quite sparse, apart from a few attempts limited to case studies from public relations and publicity literature, there has been no systematic study of how consumers respond to brand threats (Ahluwaia et al., 2000). A common assumption in that literature was that brand threats in the form of negative publicity is considered more credible and influential than the brand`s marketing communications and therefore will always lead to serious adverse consequences (Bond and Kirshenbaum, 1998). Moreover, consumers were assumed to always respond in a uniform manner (Mgrconi, 1997; Pearson and Mitroff 1993). Although these studies have offered insights into how people process negative information and form evaluations, their findings were limited to experimental contexts in which subjects have to evaluate unfamiliar individuals. Although, several theoretical models have been proposed to understand consumers' responses to different types of brand threats (Ahluwalia et al., 2000; Dawar and Pillutla, 2000; Dawar and Lei, 2009; Huber et al., 2010; Roehm and Tybout, 2006; Cleeren et al., 2008; Dutta and Pullig, 2011), the findings of these studies reported mixed findings. Additionally, this body of work failed to present a unifying theoretical framework that predicts how consumers respond to negative information about commercial brands that they are familiar with nor did they identify the factors that could moderate the response strategies (Ahluwalia et al., 2000). Therefore, the current study seeks to review the existing literature on brand threats to propose an integrative classification framework that predicts consumer responses to different types of brand threats. Specifically, this review will offer four important contributions. Firstly, the review will offer a holistic conceptualization of brand threats and its different forms. Secondly, it will highlight existing studies that demonstrate consumer responses to brand threats and the important moderating factors captured in previous studies clustered around four main categories: corporate responses, threat-related characteristics, consumer characteristics, and consumerbrand relationships. Thirdly, the review will propose a theoretical framework and a number of propositions that predict the conditions under which consumers pursue specific responses to brand threat. The proposed framework will also identify a number of situational factors and individual traits that moderate may consumer responses. Lastly, the review will conclude by highlighting underdeveloped theoretical intersections pertaining to the long term effects of brand threats and suggesting potentially fruitful directions for future inquiry. The above contributions will integrate brand threat research in marketing and management theory within a single organizing framework. Moreover, by consolidating past results and setting the stage for further efforts, this review will seek to foster greater integration of fresh perspectives from other disciplines such as social psychology, sociology, consumer research and management to broaden the scope of research on band threat.

This conceptual paper discusses the influence of brand knowledge through various components of personal luxury products’ towards the purchase intention. Rapid shifts in luxury consumers’ behaviours is one of the predominant drivers contributing to the growth of the modern luxury market. In response to this, luxury consumers’ characteristics and profiles need to be reexamined. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in global luxury consumption with the rise in number of luxury consumers from 140 million to 350 million globally (Bain & Company, 2015). Such a phenomenal growth in the luxury market leads to a widely increased interests among researchers across all disciplines (Truong et al., 2008; 2009, Tynan et al., 2010; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). In particular, personal luxury goods market is forecast to continue to grow between 2-3 percent through 2020 (Bain & Company, 2016). Despite the fact that personal luxury goods is a major driver of the entire market, there is a limited research in this product category. Two factors of this fast-growing trend stimulate the need for additional research into consumers’ behaviours. First, there has been a shift in luxury consumers’ profile (Hanna, 2004; Fionda & Moore, 2009) and purchasing patterns (Bain & Company, 2015; 2016) where social influences (Dubois et al., 2001; Berthon et al., 2009; Cheah et al., 2015; Yang and Mattila, 2014; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016) and people’s needs for materialism, appearances to enhance their ego and self-concept (Phau & Prendergast, 2000; Kapferer, 2006) are having greater impact on how consumers make their luxury purchase decisions. Second, it appears that the characteristics of the traditional luxury consumers as well as old marketing models from many decades ago need to be redefined (Bain & Company, 2015). Danziger (2005) indicates that the changes in luxury consumers’ purchase decision has created a dramatic shift in the purchase behaviour as a whole, making it difficult for luxury marketers to recognise the trend. To date, existing literature on luxury purchase intention focuses mainly from the cultural, economic, psychological perspectives (Leibenstein, 1950; Veblen, 1899; Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Liu et al., 2012; Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Cheah et al., 2015) but remains limited on investigating luxury consumers’ behaviours through the integration of brand knowledge domain. Major works from marketing scholars on luxury value perceptions (Wiedmann et al., 2007 and 2009; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Shukla & Purani, 2013; De Barnier et al., 2006; Hennigs et al., 2012 and 2013) suggest that they are important in explaining the whole picture of luxury consumption but insufficient in explaining purchase intentions (Shukla, 2012). Kapferer (2006) discusses that it is typical for consumers to identify which brand belongs to the luxury category, however, it could be more complex for the precise definition of luxury to be identified and understood. Therefore, this study seeks to incorporate the branding aspects into the investigation on the significance of brand knowledge towards the intention to purchase personal luxury products. Literature Review The concept of luxury is first explained by Veblen (1899) that the consumption of luxury goods is primarily considered by the affluent consumers with the desire to display their wealth to the relevant significant others. Even though the concept of luxury remains obscure, the clearer definition of luxury is given by Nueno & Quelch (1998) as the “ratio of functional utility to price is low while the ratio of intangible and situational utility to price is high” and that luxury products are beyond an ordinary expensive goods but “an ephemeral status symbol”. Shukla (2010) also defines luxury as the consumption that is not for just oneself but a socially-oriented type of consumption that fulfils the consumers’ own indulgence as well as to serve the “socially directed motives”. The aforementioned definitions of luxury show it is an “elusive concept” (Kapferer, 1998) with “fuzzy frontiers” (Kapferer, 2006). The luxury concept is describes as “incredibly fluid, and changes dramatically” over time and varied among different cultures (Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie 2006). As consumers become richer (Fionda & Moore, 2009) and are able to afford more luxury brands (Nueno & Quelch, 1998), luxury is no longer reserved for the rich but also includes the rising number of aspiring middle-class consumers (Shukla, 2012) who enjoy material comfort (Yeoman & McMahon-Beattie, 2006; Yeoman, 2011: Granot et al., 2013). This change makes the term luxury even more difficult to define (Shukla, 2010) and will continue as an ongoing debate among research scholars (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). Dubois & Paternault (1995) mention that “luxury items are bought for what they mean, beyond what they are”, this statement defines the nature of luxury brands where consumers often purchase luxury products not merely because of their outstanding quality but because of the name and the symbolic identity the brand provides. Kapferer (1998) recognises the importance in exploring the perception of luxury brands from the end-users themselves because they know best. This also adds to the ongoing complexity and difficulties in giving luxury a discreet definition (Kapferer, 1997 and 1998). The work of Grotts & Johnson (2013) investigates the status consumption of millennial consumers and indicates that it is highly possible that the consumers may not express any interest on the quality of the products but are placing greater emphasis on the ability of the handbags to be recognised and generate attention from their reference groups. With regard to marketing strategy, luxury marketers react to the rapid increase in demand to maintain their position of exclusivity by increasing the price every year in order to secure their clientele (Kapferer, 2015b). Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and Christian Dior increase the price of their products every year to sustain the dream value of the consumers (Kapferer, 2015a; 2015b). It is apparent that most luxury companies are managing the dilemma of maintaining the exclusivity of its products while increasing brand awareness as well as focusing on securing more market share and revenue (Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012; Berthon et al., 2009). Despite the recognisable shifts in luxury consumption pattern, the sector will continue to grow with the majority of affluent consumers as discussed by Steve Kraus of Ipsos (King, 2015). The most recognisable shift in luxury marketing strategy is on the increasing number of luxury companies offering lower-price products in response to the rising level of demand for luxury consumption by the enthusiastic middle class consumers (Truong et al., 2008; Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012). Luxury was once reserved for the “happy few” (Veblen, 1899) but this notion is no longer practical for today’s luxury environment where luxury products are “consumed by a larger aspirational segment” (Granot et al., 2013). Democratisation of luxury refers to when luxury brands create a lower-priced accessory items in order to appeal to the broader market, making luxury accessible to those “who could never afford to purchase the principal items in the line” (Nueno & Quelch, 1998) or the new luxury consumers who seeks recognition from luxury purchase. Han et al. (2010) discusses that different classes of consumers can now be distinguished by the brands of purses, watches, or shoes that they own. They let the brands speak for them, whether they prefer the loud Gucci logo or displaying the consumption of a “‘no logo’ strategy” by carrying a Bottega Veneta bag (Han et al., 2010). As Husic & Cicic (2009) state, an important question on today’s luxury consumption that if it is possible for everyone to obtain luxury items, are the brands still considered luxury? This is one of the important agendas concerning luxury consumption that prompts researchers to investigate this changing behaviours and perceptions of luxury consumers. It is also significance to note that the increase in global demand in luxury market is not necessarily positive but could be negative if the demand is not being managed efficiently (Hennigs et al., 2015). Despite frequent changes in luxury consumption patterns, Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) argues that it is vital to understand how consumers behave in order for the brands to create and maintain trust and reputation among its consumers. Danziger (2005) argues that the notion of “past behaviour predicts future behavior” may not be applicable to the luxury market. However, the foundation remains where the marketers need to understand the basics about the past and present behaviours in order to offer the products and services at the price that luxury consumers are willing to pay. It is partly due to the minimisation of the possible risks that might occur in purchasing luxury products as stated by Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) that “in luxury, no one wants to buy the wrong brand”. In light of these changes in the demand and strategies, a new framework of luxury purchase intention will be presented. This framework integrates brand knowledge in order to accommodate the traditional consumer, who appreciates the brand and its exclusivity, as well as the new buyer who wants recognition. This attempt in merging the two groups of luxury consumers together will highlights how traditional and new luxury consumers make their purchase decisions based on different components of luxury product characteristics as well as different value perception, or that is to say, based on a different levels of brand knowledge. Conceptual Framework Over several decades scholars attempted to agree on a single comprehensive definition for the term ‘luxury’ but have not yet reached that goal because the concept of luxury is highly individual and the market itself is heterogeneous (Hennigs et al., 2013). The definition of luxury, therefore, is very complex to define (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999; Dubois & Duquesne, 1993) due to its “subjective character” (De Barnier et al., 2012) with many diverse facets (Phau & Prendergast, 2000). This study provides a new perspective by looking at the factors that influence luxury purchase intention. Based on the original work of Keller (1993), it is important to understand the structure and content of brand knowledge because these dictate what comes into the consumer’s mind when they think about a brand and what they know about the brand (Keller, 2003). Consumer brand knowledge is defined as the “personal meaning about a brand stored in consumer memory, that is, all descriptive and evaluative brand-related information” (Keller, 2003). Strong, unique, and favorable brand associations must be created with consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2012 and 2016). In luxury consumption, different consumers seek different emotional and functional benefits from luxury brands (Kapferer, 1998), which makes it relevant and significant to investigate the level of influences of brand knowledge and value perceptions on the intention to purchase luxury products. The proposed conceptual framework for this study is presented in Figure 1 in the Appendix section. Managerial Implications This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications. On theoretical grounds, this study provides an enhanced model in investigating the influence of luxury brand knowledge towards luxury purchase intention considering luxury brand characteristics and luxury value perceptions. On managerial perspective, this study provides an update in the modern luxury consumers consumption pattern in terms of what specific characteristics of luxury products they would consider when they intend to purchase. At the same time, this study analyses the types of luxury value perceptions acknowledge by modern luxury consumers towards their purchase decision. In addition, the proposed conceptual framework will take into account the behaviours of traditional luxury consumers, who seems to have been lost due to the increased demand among the new luxury consumers. According to Keller et al. (2012), the marketers of the brand needs to acknowledge the insights to how brand knowledge exists in consumer memory. From the model, marketers can plan and execute efficient marketing and communication strategies for modern luxury consumers given their fast-changing preference in luxury consumption. Following the suggestion from Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) which indicates that “luxury is made by brands” and apart from selling luxurious products, the dream is what is attached to the brand logo and name. Therefore, by investigating the relationship between luxury products characteristics along with luxury value perceptions, this study aims to provide a refreshing analysis of today’s luxury consumers and what stimulates them to buy personal luxury products. Further Research A questionnaire will be developed by the integration of the established measurements and scales from the existing luxury consumption and branding literature. A draft of the questionnaire will be reviewed against the literature and the practical insights obtained from the sales associates and experts in the luxury industry for the suitability and clarity of the questions. The final draft of the questionnaire will be pre-test on a small number of respondents from the target audience. The target population for the study is among general luxury consumers. The data collected from the survey will be analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to model decision process and validate the proposed conceptual framework. Cluster analysis will be used to identify segments of consumers as recommended by Aaker et al. (2013). The anticipated research findings will expand on the degree of influences of the brand knowledge towards the willingness to purchase of personal luxury goods. It is also expected that the research findings will be useful in redefining the existing types of luxury consumers to represent today’s luxury consumers.

Consumers’ perception of advertisements can affect brand attitudes, brand trust, and brand image (Meenaghan, 1995; Sheinin, Varki, & Ashley, 2011). Therefore, strategic selection of elements in advertisements becomes important, especially for luxury brands. Luxury brands tend to position themselves as artisans of a particular category or a product and highlight exclusivity (Fionda & Moore, 2008). When a luxury brand is known for a specific product, a less-known product of the brand in an advertisement would be perceived differently. The present study focused on exploring the different effects of iconic products and less-associated products of a luxury brand in the context of advertisements. Categorization theory, typicality effects, and conceptual fluency provided theoretical foundation in understanding the relationships. Typicality effects, simply put, occur when members in a category are graded, “with members ranging from very good (typical) members of a category to very poor (atypical) members of a category” (Loken, Barsalou, & Joiner, 2008, p. 153). In consumer studies, typicality had been examined in various dimensions and showed to effect consumer attitude (Goedertier, Dawar, Geuens, & Weijters, 2015; Loken & Ward, 1990; Ward & Loken, 1988). However, to our knowledge, the subject had not been covered in the luxury brand advertisement context. To test the effects of typicality, the study examined whether typical products in luxury advertising have a higher level of advertisement liking, pleasantness, and novelty than atypical products (H1), whether consumers’ advertisement attitude from luxury advertising have a positive effect on brand attitude (H2), and whether consumers’ product involvement moderated the relationship between product typicality and advertisement attitude. Before the main test, two pretests were performed; the first to select the luxury brand and products to be used in the main test; the second to ensure the brand-product association of the advertisements. A total of 123 undergraduate students participated in the experiment, a (typical vs. atypical) between-subjects design. Participants were exposed to one of the two experimental conditions and were asked to complete a questionnaire. They were provided with questions measuring advertisement liking, pleasantness, novelty, brand attitude, demographical questions, and manipulation checks. All questions, apart from the demographics and certain questions in the manipulation checks, were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Reliability analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis were used in hypothesis testing. Results of the study revealed that typical brand products in luxury brand advertisements have a higher level of advertisement liking, pleasantness, and novelty. Additionally, advertisement liking and novelty have a positive effect on brand attitude but pleasantness had no effect. Finally, product involvement did not moderate the effects of product typicality on advertisement attitude. The study shows significance in that it supports the typicality effect in categorization theory by showing that there are certain products that consumers link with brands, and the closer the link, the more positive advertisement attitude becomes. Based on the results, it is recommended that luxury brands take caution in product placement and include iconic products in advertisements. There should also be focus on which products are in the advertisement, not the individual consumer’s involvement in a product. For future research, experiments exploring whether presenting typical products with atypical products in advertisements would strengthen the relationships between brands and atypical products is suggested. Also, studies on how luxury brands can elevate the status of atypical products to typical products by educating consumers would provide practical strategies for luxury brand marketers.

목적: 본 연구는 소비자가 인식하는 안경원의 브랜드 자산, 외부환경, 내부환경이 고객만족, 신뢰 및 재방 문 의도에 미치는 영향을 구조방정식을 이용하여 실증해 보고자 하였다. 방법: 서울, 경기, 충남지역에 거주하는 안경원 이용 경험이 있는 성인 420명을 대상으로 설문을 실시하 였고, 불성실히 응답한 9부를 제외한 411부가 분석에 사용되었다. 신뢰성 분석과 확인적 요인 분석 및 구조 방정식 모델을 이용하여 가설을 검증하였다. 결과: 브랜드 자산이 외부환경과 내부환경 변수에 유의한 영향을 미쳤으며, 브랜드 자산, 내부환경 등 외 생변수가 매개변수인 고객만족을 통해 신뢰에 간접적으로 유의한 영향을 미치고, 다시 고객만족과 신뢰를 통해 재방문에 미치는 영향이 모두 유의한 것으로 나타났다. 특히 외부환경은 고객만족과 신뢰 모두에서 유 의한 영향을 미치지 못했으나, 브랜드 자산과 내부환경의 경우에서는 재방문에 직접적으로 유의한 영향을 미치고 있었으며, 고객만족과 신뢰를 통해 간접적으로도 유의하게 영향을 미침을 알 수 있었다. 결론: 안경원은 기타 서비스직종과 달리 내부환경 중에서도 안경사특성이 큰 비중을 차지하고 있는 특수 성을 가지고 있다. 본 연구를 통해 브랜드 자산이 내·외부 환경에 유의한 영향을 미쳤으며, 이 중 내부환경 즉, 상품, 가격 그리고 안경사 특성이 고객만족으로 이어져 신뢰를 거쳐 재방문에 이르는 것을 확인하였다. 이를 통해 브랜드 자산을 높이기 위한 노력과 함께 내부 환경 및 고객과의 신뢰 향상에 대한 중요성을 인식 하고 이에 대한 관리에 더욱 노력을 기울어야 할 것으로 보인다.

이 논문은 중국 현대소설, 특히 신감각파(新感覺派)의 작품에 나오는 상품과 광고를 추출 하여 그 표상과 브랜드의 역사를 살펴보고자 한다. 이들 작가의 작품엔 수많은 시각 매체와 도시 매체가 출현한다. 그 가운데 현대 상품은 현대인이 갖고 싶어 하는 욕망의 리스트이자 오마주(Hommage)다. 자동차, 보석 등과 같은 고급 사치품에서부터 일상 생활용품에 이르기 까지 현대 상품은 각종 매체를 통해 자신의 가치를 온갖 방법을 동원하여 선전한다. 위의 작 품들을 토대로 현대 상품 목록을 뽑은 결과 크게 몇 가지 범주, 즉 영화나 배우 광고, 담배 광고, 양주 광고, 자동차 광고, 일상용품 광고 등으로 나눌 수 있겠다. 본 연구자는 상품 매체 와 공간 매체를 모두 상품 광고의 범주 속에 넣을 수 있다고 보고 다시 이를 도시 경관 광고, 공인 광고, 기호품 광고, 사치품 광고, 일상용품 광고 등으로 분류하여 논의할 것이다

본 연구는 중국의 밀레니엄 세대를 대상으로 소비자 자민족주의(CET) 가치와 자민족주의 광고가 소비자의 국 내 및 외국 브랜드 구매 행위에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 검증하였다. CET 선행 연구에서는 소비자의 CET 가 치가 구매 행위에 미치는 영향에만 치중하여 온 반면에, 마케팅 자극에 의한 효과에 관한 연구는 미흡하였다. 본 연구에서는 CET 효과와 함께, 자민족주의 광고의 효과도 분석하였다. 이를 위해, 가상 광고를 제작하여 220명 을 대상으로 실험 연구를 수행하였다. 검증 결과, 우선, CET의 효과가 내국 브랜드와 외국 브랜드에 따라 다르게 미치는 것으로 나타났다. CET를 독단주의와 애국심 CET로 구분하여 분석하면, 내국 브랜드에 대해서는 독단주의와 애국심 CET 모두 유의한 영 향을 미쳤으나, 외국 브랜드에 대해서는 애국심만 영향을 미치는 것으로 발견되었다. 연구의 또 다른 결과는 자 민족주의 광고가 내국 브랜드 선택에는 영향이 없으나, 외국 브랜드에는 유의한 영향을 미친다는 점이다. 그러나, 자민족주의 광고가 CET 가치가 높은 소비자에게는 높게 나타나고, 그렇지 않은 소비자에게는 나타나지 않는 확 증 편향(Sullivan, 2009)은 발견되지 않다.