The rapid growth in the popularity of social media sites has meant that social media has become an important communication channel for brands. Brands create brand pages on social media to cultivate positive and strong relationships with consumers. This study seeks to enhance our understanding of how fashion brand pages in social media foster consumer-brand relationships by exploring the factors that affect the development of consumer-brand relationships. Drawing on the parasocial interaction theory, this study proposes parasocial interaction as a key factor of this process. Specifically, this study proposes four antecedents (vividness, interactivity, social presence, and focused attention) of consumers’ parasocial interaction with brand pages, which further affects consumer responses in terms of affective engagement and brand loyalty. An online survey was administered with consumers who have followed and visited at least one fashion brand page via a social networking site (SNS). Structural equation modeling revealed that consumers’ perceptions of vividness, interactivity, social presence, and focused attention on a fashion brand page positively affected their feelings towards parasocial interaction with the brand page, which in turn led to their affective engagement with the brand page and consequent brand loyalty. These findings suggest that consumers build relationships of varying degrees with brand pages in a similar manner to that with people, which leads to their development of a positive relationship with the brand. This study concludes with discussions and practical implications.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between conspicuous consumption tendency, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions of college students regarding eating out by limiting conspicuous consumption tendency among several psychological variables to acquire a more precise and concrete influence factor on consumption behavior to eat out. First, as for sensing other people, pursuing individuality and brand orientation among conspicuous consumption tendency of restaurant costumers had significant effects on brand attitudes, whereas the influence of status symbols and pursuing trend factor on brand attitudes was not verified. Second, as for sensing other people, pursing individuality, pursuing trends, and brand orientation factor among conspicuous consumption tendency had significant effects on purchasing intention. Otherwise, the significant effect relationship between status symbols factor and purchasing intentions was not confirmed. Third, as purchase intentions increased, brand attitudes of consumers increased according to existing research. Thus, this study suggests a more departmentalized marketing strategy method to create profits and enhance competitiveness of food service enterprises, and academic implications suggest fundamental data of relevant studies on conspicuous consumption tendency and purchasing behavior of consumers to eat out

The term used to describe consumer's valuation of a brand is brand equity. One concept that can be managed and may impact valuation of a prestige brand is “luxuriousness.” As the concept of “luxuriousness” appears to be a key factor contributing to the equity of a prestige brand, the purpose of this study was to examine how luxuriousness is related to the brand equity utilizing a model developed by Yoo, Donthu, and Lee (2000). Yoo et al. (2000) identified three dimensions [brand association with awareness (BA), perceived quality (PQ), brand loyalty (BL)] accounted for the equity (OBE) of a brand. We speculated that the five dimensions of luxuriousness (i.e., quality, extended self, hedonism, accessibility, and tradition) would selectively influence the two dimensions of brand equity (BA, PQ) and that loyalty would mediate the relationship between the two dimensions of brand equity (BA, PQ) and overall brand equity. A total of 502 participants aged from 18 to 74 were surveyed in USA. Using AMOS 18, the path analysis was conducted with the maximum-likelihood estimation procedure. The model exhibited a good fit with the data and all hypotheses were supported except one. Quality, accessibility, and hedonism dimensions of luxuriousness affected perceived quality of the equity of a brand. Hedonism and extended self dimensions affected brand association with awareness. However, tradition dimension did not significantly influence brand association with awareness. Overall, this research expands understanding of brand equity as it documents the contributions of luxuriousness, a component that can be controlled by brand managers.

As social media are emerging as essential communication channels for corporates in all areas, luxury jewelry brands have implemented enhanced strategies for brand story videos by creating brand channels on YouTube. In this study, a comparative analysis of the videos made available by Cartier and Tiffany&Co. on their YouTube Brand Channels was conducted, with the aim of identifying their strategic characteristics. The research method encompassed, both literature review and empirical investigations. A quantitative analysis was conducted by means of the ‘HEART’ model, a type of luxury jewelry brand story, and the following common strategic elements were identified. First, in their brand story videos both brands focus primarily on ‘theme’. Second, ‘relationship’ and ‘artisanship’ are emphasized in addition to ‘theme’. Third, the videos incorporate high level aesthetics to stimulate the fantasies and dreams of their audiences. The strategic differences between the brands are as follows. : First, ‘artisanship’ is given the greatest significance along with ‘theme’ in Cartier videos, while ‘relationship’ has prime significance in Tiffany&Co. videos. Second, a difference between a European approach and an American approach towards luxury brand building is evident, with Cartier hosting exhibitions while Tiffany&Co. provides gala videos instead.

Sports Sponsorship is considered to be one of the most effective tools in marketing. However, in order to assess the effectiveness of sponsoring activities in customer’s mind, science and business practice often refer to explicit measures such as self-reports or focus interviews. Such aligned conventional measurement approach is missing mental processes which run without awareness, so-called implicit processes, taking place and activity hidden in the unconscious mind. Against that background, the goal of the current work is to shed further light on the impact of athlete sponsorship on dual processes underlying customer’s associations toward a brand.

The aim of the present study is to propose a model to examine the relationships among social Website interactivity, brand experience, brand choice, and behavioral intentions in the context of online travel agencies brand websites, as well as to examine the ultimate moderating role of the age of the traveler in the dynamic of this model. Drawing on website interactivity and brand development theories, current research suggests that the inclusion of social website interactivity in the design of online travel agencies brand websites helps to directly and indirectly create a positive brand experience and to enhance the perception of online travel agencies brand websites as valuable. These perceptions may consequently impact the behavior of travelers to pay higher prices and to continue buying from the online travel agencies brand websites. However, while this existent research mostly considers the positive and causal relationships among the aforementioned constructs, there is also some indication that the perceptions of travelers in relation to the proposed relationships change with age, suggesting that older travelers (age above 25) may perceive distinctively the relationships among these constructs in the context of online travel agencies brand websites as compared to younger travelers (aged 18-25). The study attempts to analyze on this relevant and under-examined research topic. This research is mainly based on a sample of travelers who have used an online travel agencies brand websites in China. The empirical findings suggest that social website interactivity, brand experience, and brand choice are essential factors for travelers to be willing to pay higher prices and to continue buying. The empirical findings also suggest that the proposed theoretical framework is adequately adjusted, therefore confirming that the age of the traveler moderates the proposed relationships first between social website interactivity and brand choice, second between brand choice and price premium, third between brand choice and buying intention, and lastly between brand experience and buying intention. Overall, the theory-driven framework accomplishes an acceptable model fit. Additionally, theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Social Website Interactivity (SWI) construct is defined as the reciprocal communication between individuals and technology. Research shows that SWI exerts a positive impact on the user that eventually causes an e-loyal behavior (Cyr et al., 2010). Voorveld et al. (2009) conclude the design of a theoretical model that includes SWI and branding elements is required to brand Websites. The theory explains SWI as a branding tool and its influence on travelers’ perceptions and behaviors in the travel context. Given these findings, the authors of this study predict that OTA Websites that incorporate features of SWI may have a remarkable competence to build a brand online. Based on the given review, it is rational to expect that SWI might influence user perceptions of value and positive brand experience of the OTA branded website. A favorable experience is what reduces perceived risks when buying online and what influences users to revisit the website. Brand selection and brand experience (Morgan-Thomas & Veloutsou, 2013) are key elements to influence consumers’ behavior therefore must have a significant influence on behavioral intentions and willingness to pay premium prices. The current perception in social sciences and behavioral marketing is that age is a critical demographic variable that has direct and moderating role in the impact of interactivity and brand selection, brand selection and willingness to pay higher prices, brand selection and behavioral intentions, and online experience on behavioral intentions (Kirk et al., 2012).

The counterfeit market makes up as much as seven percent of worldwide trade and is estimated as a $650 billion industry. Due to consumer demand, this phenomenon has grown over 10,000% in the past two decades and presents a serious threat to the global economy. Many luxury brand managers assume that counterfeiting damages brand image, however some experts have indicated that luxury houses use counterfeit sales to predict demand for their own brand. In this sense, brands are reacting to the effects of counterfeit purchase and need to develop a proactive strategy for preventing it. By understanding consumers’ perception of brands and how it relates to their counterfeit consumption, brand managers can better plan their marketing strategies to build relationships with consumers for increasing loyalty and preventing possible loss in sales. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of branding on non-deceptive counterfeit consumption of luxury brands by proposing that brand equity plays a moderating role in the relationship between attitudes toward counterfeits and purchase intentions and in the relationship between social factors and purchase intentions. Specifically, this study conceptualizes the customer-based brand equity model with the Theory of Reasoned Action to develop strategic marketing implications for luxury brands. Previous research has resulted in managerial implications for combatting the counterfeit phenomenon, but it is more effective to prevent the increase in demand for counterfeits than to react to that demand. This study examines the role of brand equity to help brand managers focus their marketing strategies on specific levels of customer-based brand equity to build stronger relationships with consumers and reduce the demand for counterfeit products. Previous studies have examined the effects of counterfeits on brands, but research on the effects of brands on counterfeit consumption is very limited. This study adds to literature on counterfeits by understanding how branding can affect counterfeit purchase. Studies have used the Theory of Reasoned Action for understanding consumers’ intention to purchase counterfeit products. Drawing on the customer-based brand equity model, this research proposes brand identity, brand response, brand meaning, and brand relations as moderating variables in addition to the basic constructs of the model to extend previous literature, as no previous research has used customer-based brand equity for understanding counterfeit consumption. Previous studies have conceptualized customer-based brand equity for building relationships with customers, but this concept has never been used in the counterfeit context. This study is the first to use brand equity for understanding consumers’ counterfeit purchase intentions. This study suggests important implications for luxury brand marketers. By understanding how consumers associate with a brand, marketers can target specific levels of brand equity as part of their marketing strategies to deter counterfeit purchase. The proposed model serves as an initial step for understanding how brand equity affects non-deceptive consumption of counterfeit luxury goods. Future studies include empirically testing this proposed model and quantifying how much each level of customer-based brand equity contributes to consumer’ perception of brands. Future studies could also test the impact of branding on specific product types to analyze differences in consumers’ brand associations based on product category, as some product categories are more favorable to counterfeit consumers than others.

British heritage brand Yardley was bought by Indian multinational Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting Group in the year 2009 from UK based Lornamead group for USD 45.5million. The task of reinventing the magic of the British heritage brand in contemporary India was not easy. Brand Yardley was perceived as a “grandmother’s brand” given the history and memory of its existence since centuries. In order to connect with young Indians, the company hired Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif (with British lineage) as their brand ambassador to evoke nostalgia of British era in India and promote heritageness of brand Yardley. However, this communication strategy failed to connect with the consumers. This research paper attempts to understand the significance of heritageness, nostalgia, unique positioning and functional benefits as influencers in creating consumer-brand relationship leading to buying intention by the consumer in the personal care category, using heritage brand Yardley as the pivotal point. This research was conducted in three phases. In phase one, qualitative research approach was used with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions after which variables for the study were generated. In phase two, an elaborated questionnaire was developed. The first part of the questionnaire included demographics like gender, age, occupation and income. The second part of the questionnaire related to recognizing brand Yardley among five print advertisements featuring Katrina Kaif as a model but not revealing the brand for which Katrina Kaif had modeled for. The final survey was conducted with 16 assessing questions for four factors namely, heritage, unique positioning, functional benefits, nostalgia and buying intention. The study was pilot tested once (n=89) and revised once (n=235) for clarity and accuracy. Three questions were revised and reduced. The scale used was Likert type (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The sample unit was within a university campus in Mumbai as the young residents were the target audience for the brand. The outcome of the survey resulted in high Cronbach alpha of .87 and clear rotated factor structures. In phase three of the research, a set of competing brands of soaps with respect to Brand Yardley was generated from the focus group discussions and multidimensional scaling by direct method was carried out using two attributes (functional benefits and unique positioning). The research approach employed was both symmetric and asymmetric analysis to provide analytical outcome using multiple regression analysis, structural equation modeling and application of complexity theory for contrarian cases and could be the first to formally examine tenets of complexity theory in personal care category research contexts. The research outcome revealed that functional benefits and unique positioning of brand Yardley should be crystallized using sensory branding and storytelling format that weaves around the evolution of its heritageness to evoke nostalgia resulting in buying intention.

There is a variety of mobile beauty application specialized services providing information, such as reports on the advantages and disadvantages of a product, as well as tips and recommendations, based on consumers' comments for products that demand much consultation on the part of the consumers to critique the products. From goods purchased through mobile shopping apps, beauty-related products come right after fashion/retail and food/health-related goods, while promotions, followed by review/comments, are known as influential factors when selecting mobile shopping apps. Consumer reviews about a product are seen as important instruments for obtaining a variety of information about a product for those consumers who have not yet used it. Moreover, there is an increasing interest in authentic information instead of purely advertised narrations, while studies are actively in progress to verify the effectiveness of consumer reviews according to their nature and direction. The results vary with each researcher and since online consumer reviews differ, there is a need to research dynamically blended reviews and the forms that they take. Accordingly, this study attempts to observe and identify the factors that affect the perceived authenticity of the information, brand attitude, purchase intention and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). The sample consists of 110 respondents in their twenties and thirties who have purchased beauty products online. The respondents were given online and offline questionnaires, and the collected information was analyzed with SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0 using factor analysis, reliability analysis, t-tests, structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis. The results show that perceived information authenticity has a significant influence on brand attitude, purchase intention and e-WOM. Positive, negative and subjective evaluations have more significant impact on information authenticity than did only positive and negative reviews, while perceived authenticity has significant relevance to brand attitude, purchase intention and online word-of-mouth. The implications of these findings

The purpose of this study is to investigate symbolic consumption of fashion global brands and its relation to the self. This work adopts a qualitative approach and the “tripartite model of self” (Brewer & Yuki, 2007) to study brand meaning among consumers in two different cultural settings: UK and Colombia. Findings show how some meanings change among groups, addressing different self-identity needs, motivations and tensions. This work contributes to debates around international marketing strategies.

This study (i) examines the main effect of how a customer’s trust in the service personnel could affect his/her service co-designing and co-delivering behavior; and (ii) investigates how the main effect could vary by the customer’s trust in the service brand, and the types of customer contact service contexts. Keywords: customer participation, co-

Developments on the Chinese automotive market could change the business in the race to the crown for German premium brands. With extraordinary growth rates, car manu-facturers prioritized Asian market development. More concrete, a quickly evolving segment of young, wealthy Chinese customers demanding German luxury cars seems to be a chance to compensate maturing home markets. BMW – originated in premium segments – is about to expand its luxury reach through its 7-series while, at the same time, serving the increasing demand for “affordable luxury” in all markets. However, competitors are catching up with new concepts. Whereas Mercedes-Benz always had a great proportion in the luxury segment, Audi became the market leader in China by launching several new luxury models. BMW sees the answer in the possible launch of a new 9-series sharing a platform with their Rolls-Royce cars. Furthermore, the BMW Individual manufactory launched a new, strictly limited 7-Series in corporation with silver manufacturer Robbe & Berking – the most expensive and exclusive car BMW ever crafted. To be able to win the race, BMW has to incorporate new technologies when considering the trading-up or trading-down of their model range.

Trusting beliefs are playing an increasingly important role in building customer-based brand equity (CBBE) in the business arena. The present study examines the mediating effect of trusting beliefs on the interactivity-brand equity relationship. An online survey was administered to collect data from randomly selected consumers. The results show that system interactivity impact brand equity directly and indirectly through trust integrity. The present theory-driven model contributes to a better understanding of online brand equity. Therefore, allocating resources to influence the perception of system interactivity and trusting integrity beliefs is valuable to develop online brand equity. This research contributes to the interactivity theory and the relationship marketing theory and it also offers implications for practitioners.

This study aims to examine the impact of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, site appearance, informativeness and perceived risk on online brand equity though the brand value chain. The study grounds from two theories: TAM and Perceived value approaches. Five hundred and six sets of questionnaires were used to analyze and produce the research results. The study found that perceived ease of use and informativeness were not related to the customer’s perceived functional value and emotional value on the brand while other factors were significantly related. The results of the study were discussed as well as the research conclusion and recommendations

Brand communities have been increasingly used by marketers to build brands. A brand community can be defined as a “…group of consumers with a shared enthusiasm for the brand and a well-developed social identity, whose members engage jointly in group actions to accomplish collective goals and/or express mutual sentiments and commitments” (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006, p. 45). Recent research on brand communities has begun to identify the importance of consumers’ psychological processes in regard to developing successful brand communities. Based on the flow theory from positive psychology, we propose that flow could be generated by brand community characteristics and plays an important role in influencing brand community members’ attitudes toward the brand. Specifically, we propose a model that identifies brand community characteristics (i.e., community cohesiveness and information quality) that produce flow experience and how the flow experience impacts brand identification and brand loyalty. Members from 31 automobile brand communities participated in this survey study, and 580 validated questionnaires were returned. Structural Equation Model was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that community cohesiveness and information quality positively directly influence brand identification and also indirectly influence brand identification via flow. Flow also positively influences members’ brand identification and, subsequently, impacts brand loyalty. The results from our research contribute to the branding, brand community, and flow theory literature.

The market for environmentally friendly or ‘green’ products has increased substantially over the last ten years (Willer and Kilcher, 2010). Both brand manufacturers and retailers are increasingly, and successfully, incorporating environmental and social issues in their brands (Aouina Mejri and Bhatli, 2014; Chkanikova and Lehner, in press; Gleim et al., 2013). Given the increasing importance of ‘green’ branding, the current study examines the role of key drivers (i.e., brand equity, store image and product familiarity) in the consumption of green brands. Moreover, since previous studies found that positive evaluations of a specific brand led to more positive buying behavior for the green product concept in general (Bartels and Hoogendam, 2011), in the current study we also assess the impact of these key drivers on green consumption in general. Finally, by explicitly distinguishing between store brands and national brands, we try to determine whether these relationships differ between these two types of brands in a green context. To test these effects, we used a panel study among consumers in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S.. For each country, we used one national brand and one or two store brands. Respondents randomly received one of these brands to evaluate. This process resulted in 404 respondents for store brands and 302 respondents for national brands. Results show that store image and brand equity have a direct effect on the consumption of green store brands and green national brands. In addition, we found that for both store and national brands, the relationship between brand equity and green brand consumption is partially mediated by the perceived image of the store where that brand is sold. Furthermore, for national brands, a positive store image also leads to an increase in green consumption behavior in general, which is not the case for store brands. Finally, for national brands, there is a clear relationship between product familiarity and brand consumption, whereas this is not the case for store brands.

Due to the highly competitive nature of the apparel industry, fashion brands attempt to constantly engage consumers through various marketing strategies. Social media was found to drive female consumer purchases for apparel items. In shopping for fashion, consumers have used their personal connections on social media as an information source about different brands and products and to seek approval of their peers before making a purchase decision (Park & Cho, 2012). Cha (2009) found that female consumers look to their social media network connections for emotional connections, opinions, and approval on clothing, perfume, and accessories they are considering purchasing online. Ruane and Wilson (2013) found that female consumers use social media sites for information on where to shop and what merchandise to purchase. In studying the effect of blogs on corporate outcome, the role Millennials play is found to be significant. They are heavily reliant on word of mouth when up to 93% of Millennials has purchased a product after hearing about it from a family member or friend (Hoffmann, 2014). They not only usually read reviews prior to purchase, but also pass their recommendations via social media post-purchase (Hoffman, 2014). This age group constitutes 27% of the US population and in spite of their lower incomes, they spend more money on e-commerce than any other age group ($2,000 annually) (Smith, 2015). Therefore, this study aims to suggest strategies to fashion brands on effective blog campaign, which may eventually provide insights on how marketers can encourage engagement with female Millennial apparel consumers. The study’s objectives are 1) to examine the effect of brand awareness building customer’s brand credibility, brand similarity and blog engagement 2) to investigate the impact of brand responses on customer’s brand credibility, brand similarity and blog engagement, and 3) interaction effect between brand awareness and brand responses on customer engagement through cognitive evaluation in fashion blog context. A 3 (brand response: automated response, personalized response, no response) x2 (Brand awareness: well know, unknown) experimental design was developed through a pre-test of 139 participants. For main-test, experiment conditions and the following survey were completed by the convenience sample of 537 students in a large Southern university. Research findings revealed the significant impact of brand awareness on customer perceived brand credibility and brand similarity which were significant predictors of engagement intention. In contrast, the study indicated the insignificant relationship between brand responses and blog engagement intention. Study’s result not only suggested implications for marketers but also expanded further studies contributing on the body of knowledge.

This research examines the concepts of customer brand engagement (CBE) and perceived social presence (PSP) in a corporate Facebook context, and tests whether CBE and PSP have an impact on brand trust. CBE has well-defined sub-dimensions that are about behavioral, emotional and cognitive, and motivational aspects. The sample (n=461) is from Kuwait, and asks about use of corporate Facebook pages for smart phones. All three of the CBE sub-dimensions have a significant impact on brand trust. PSP influences the CBE sub-dimensions, and it also influences brand trust directly. Brand trust does impact brand loyalty in the corporate Facebook context.