A ‘brand’ metaverse is a virtual space where customers experience the brand via digital avatars. With the advancement of augmented and virtual reality technologies, a brand metaverse is an important medium for communicating the brand with customers. In this study, we focus on the resemblance between a customer’s self and his/her avatar (i.e., self-avatar resemblance) in the brand metaverse and examine its influence on brand attitude. Prior studies examine self-avatar resemblance exclusively in non-brand-related virtual gaming platforms and test its effect on identity perception and immersion in the platforms. However, few studies probe the extent to which self-avatar resemblance influences customers' exploration in a brand metaverse and their attitude toward the brand. We fill this research gap by uncovering the positive effects of self-avatar resemblance on brand attitude and purchase intentions. Moreover, we proffer that the customers’ engagement toward the brand metaverse platform mediates the relationship between self-avatar resemblance and brand attitude. In addition, based on the interactive nature of metaverse, we hypothesize copresence―the number of avatars exploring the brand metaverse at the same time―to be a moderator, which strengthens the mediation. We conduct an experiment using a fashion brand’s virtual world positioned in a popular metaverse platform. In this experiment, participants create an avatar and freely roam around in the brand metaverse with their avatars. By reviewing the screen recording of each participant’s brand exploration in the metaverse, we measure self-avatar resemblance and other constructs. We also collect responses from questionnaires designed to measure attitudinal and behavioral variables. With the accumulated data, we test the hypotheses using partial least square structural equation model and find the results largely consistent with the hypotheses. With the findings, we provide important and interesting implications to marketing practitioners considering and doing ‘metaverse marketing.’

This study examines how brand-influencer, influencer-users, and user-brand congruences affect perceived fantasy about the influencer and closeness toward the brand when an Instagram ad is endorsed by celebrity (vs. non-celebrity) influencers. The study employed a between-subject online experiment by manipulating an advertisement endorsed by a celebrity and a non-celebrity influencer. The results suggest that congruence between brand-influencer matters in building effective relationships.

Consumer brand engagement has recently drawn attention for researches because of its importance in predicting brand loyalty. Meanwhile, social media is used as digital marketing tools for marketers to attract and engage younger consumers. This study aims to answer the question whether social marketing efforts by fashion brands on major social media platforms have influence on consumer brand engagement in the context of Vietnamese fashion brands. Social marketing efforts include five dimensions of entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization and word-of-mouth. Although social marketing efforts has been examined in relationship with other important marketing concepts such as brand equity and customer equity (Godey et al., 2016; Kim and Ko, 2012), few studies have investigated its effect on consumer brand engagement, especially in fashion brands. Besides, Vietnam as an emerging market is witnessing considerable changes that social media brings to every field including fashion markets. It is noticeable that more and more fashion brands in Vietnam are trying to expand and advance their marketing strategies on social media to engage consumers. In this study, a self-administered online survey was delivered to Vietnamese consumers, which included 281 valid responses who followed Vietnamese fashion brands on Facebook or Instagram. The empirical results show that social media efforts engage consumers differently on brand engagement dimensions. The key finding indicates that entertainment and word-of-mouth are positively related to brand engagement in affective, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Interaction is positively related to affective and behavioral brand engagements. Trendiness is positively related to behavioral brand engagement. Finally, customization is positively related to cognitive brand engagement.

Negative brand events can significantly harm the brand, affecting consumer cognitions, emotions, and behavior, leading to negative brand evaluations, negative emotions, brand avoidance, and retaliation. Thus, it is critical for brands to design and implement strategies that promote consumer forgiveness to mitigate those negative consumer responses. Despite the growing literature on the determinant factors of consumer behavior in a brand failure context, there is still scarce evidence regarding the impact of brand type on consumer responses, including consumer forgiveness, following a negative brand event. Considering that consumers tend to react differently to a brand perceived as arrogant (making them feel inferior), as opposed to a brand they strongly identify with, this paper focuses on failures of equal vs. higher status brands and investigates their impact on consumer forgiveness. Following the above, we expect that differences in brand status can shape consumer behavior following a failure or transgression.

Consumers may not be fully aware of the level of personalization used in brand placements in digital advertising. Personalized brand placements use customer data to select and insert preferred brands into digital media content, such as having Coke appear in a YouTube video for someone who favors Coca-Cola. This personalization can enhance the consumer experience (Trifts & Aghakhani, 2018) but may also backfire if placements don't account for changes in brand preference or when personalized placements are co-consumed with a person whose preferences strongly diverge from one’s own (e.g., one’s romantic partner; Brick, Fitzsimons, Chartrand, & Fitzsimons, 2018). Brands have a significant impact on how people perceive each other. Brands convey social information and symbolic meaning (Keller, 1993; Levy, 1959) and can influence behavior (e.g., Fitzsimons, Chartrand, & Fitzsimons 2008) and provide a source of affiliation (Escalas & Bettman, 2003). However, less is known about how brands affect basic social connections like empathy. This notable gap is relevant to the evaluation of the impact of brand placements in digital advertising as brand logos are quite visible in brand placements and can be the first piece of information someone observes when forming an attitude towards another person. For example, imagine an Instagram post of a person wearing a Harley Davidson baseball cap. What kind of person did you imagine? Does your impression change if, instead, the brand was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or the Trump Organization? Moreover, how likely would you be to engage with media showcasing a person supporting this brand. In the current research, we propose that personally disliked brands create a negative bias in person perception and consumer judgment, a phenomenon we coin “brand negativity bias.” Our results show that disliking a brand can reduce empathy for others and substantially bias attitudes toward a digital product associated with but not created by the brand. Specifically, we show process evidence that suggests disliked brand placements reduce (1) empathy toward others through reductions in perceived similarity and (2) attitudes toward a digital product through perceived similarity and empathy, as serial processes. In addition, although we do not empirically test an overall mechanism that explains the negativity bias in its entirety, we speculate several reasons that underlie the broad influence of personally disliked brands (e.g., symbolic, ideological, or moral). From a societal point of view, our findings inform the public to be mindful of how simple consumption cues can bias people’s decision making, which holds implications beyond consumer judgment in domains involving first impressions.

Brand resonance plays a crucial role in customer relationship management and the development of brand equity between customers and the brand. Therefore, effective methods for promoting customers’ brand resonance are critical in the hospitality industry for gaining competitive advantages and establishing sustainable management strategies. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships among brand coolness, customer inspiration, and brand resonance in the hospitality industry, as well as the mediating influence of customer inspiration. A total of 451 customers from 25 well-known brand restaurants in Taiwan returned questionnaires. These restaurants are recommended by TripAdvisor and had elements of coolness indicated in the customer reviews. Among the 451 participants, 260 (57.6%) were female and 191 (42.4%) were male; 344 (76.3%) were unmarried; 279 (61.9%) had received a college-degree certificate or above; and most were 21 to 30 years old (36.6%). The results revealed that brand coolness positively affected customer inspiration and brand resonance and that customer inspiration positively affected brand resonance. Furthermore, customer inspiration mediated the relationship between brand coolness and brand resonance. The study contributes to the hospitality literature of brand resonance. These findings can apply for the practice of brand management and customer relationship management in the hospitality industry.

This study takes the perspective of a brand introducing its own second-hand products to the re-commerce market. The project finds that consumers are more willing to forgive a transgressing second-hand product compared to a new product, which leads to lower negative word-of-mouth. The relationship is mediated by the underdog effect.

The objective of this research is to analyze the importance of Virtual Reality (VR) in digitally promoting perceived online trust toward green brands. We propose a conceptual framework based on Stimulus-Organism-Response to understand whether VR can increase cognitive and affective experiential state and customers' perceived trust toward green brands.

Destination branding has become an important trend in modern tourism. The development of destination brands has become a strategic tool worldwide because of the growing competition between destinations. In recent years, many tourist destinations have combined unique, creative, and attractive elements to transform themselves into “cool” tourist destinations. Destination brand coolness refers to tourists’ subjective and positive perception of tourist destinations and their beliefs that the destination brand offer distinctive, novel characteristics and attributes that the visitors are attracted to. Creating destination brand coolness can help tourist destinations differentiate themselves from their competitive counterparts, thereby attracting tourists. However, no study has conceptualized the construct of destination brand coolness, let alone developing scales that measure destination brand coolness.

Interest in metaverse-based NFTs is growing rapidly. Therefore, NFT fashion marketing is increasing in fashion-leading luxury brands. This study provides a deep understanding by analyzing NFT cases of luxury brands through the typology of NFT fashion. Based on the ternary model of stimulants and brand attitudes through case analysis, in-depth interviews are conducted targeting experts in the fashion industry. Through this, this study aims to investigate the brand attitude toward NFT fashion of luxury brands. As a result of the analysis, NFT fashion marketing of luxury brands creates an immersive consumer experience and increases participation in raising brand value for young consumers. Contribute to brand favorability by responding quickly to market changes. This study provides theoretical implications and marketing strategy directions for NFTs in the context of luxury brands.

In response to the increasing deployment of brand chatbots in the service sector, this study developed a conceptual framework to examine the psychological processes through which brand chatbots contribute to relationship building efforts. A 2 (interactivity: high vs. low) X 2 (anthropomorphic conversation style: warm vs. competent) between-subject design was conducted in the context of the coffee service business. The levels of interactivity in the chatbots were operationalized by altering the subdimensions of interactivity: modality (i.e., media richness, response latency), message (i.e., interdependency in message exchanges), and source (i.e., customization of content flow). Different linguistic elements (e.g., terms of address, vocabulary, punctuation, emoticons) were used to construct two sets of scripts that emphasized either warmth or competence of the chatbots. Based on the results of the pretests, four brand chatbots via Facebook Messenger were developed using the platform provided by GoSky AI Inc.

Social media has emerged as a prevalent tool for businesses in recent years through which brands actively engage in promotions. This development has resulted in several social media trends aimed at garnering increased consumer engagement on various social media platforms that brands utilize routinely. We investigate one such prevalent social media trend: brands sharing memes. Several popular brands, such as Netflix, regularly post memes on social media platforms. Therefore, it is important to study the brands’ use of memes and their resultant impact on consumer behavior.

Based on the metaverse situation, this paper explores the influence of perceived usefulness and usability on brand experience. The brand experience include two dimensions of sensory experience and behavioral experience. And then, based on 329 valid data collected through online experiment, it makes an empirical analysis by structural equation model and hierarchical regression. Results show that, metaverse situational perceived usefulness and usability have significant effects on customer sensory experience and behavioral experience, and sensory experience plays a mediating role in the effects of usefulness and usability on behavioral experience. Social presence plays a positive moderating role in the influence path of usefulness and usability on sensory experience and behavioral experience.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important pillar in business practice. Luxury brands are no exception to this trend and have invested deeply in different types of CSR, and this is evident with companies such as Prada and LVMH. However, empirical research has demonstrated the paradox between CSR and luxury and has identified certain undesirable effects. The reason for this inconsistency in the results to date, is the lack of a comprehensive CSR categorization system. To be more specific, we integrated two dimensions - visibility and relevance - and have proposed a novel CSR type in four types, which is external-embedded, external-peripheral, internal-embedded and internal-peripheral. We can easily classify the CSR initiatives into this category, which means the source of undesirable effects can be clearly shown for luxury brands.

Involving issues of environmental, consumer safety and health, and/or social concerns, a morally controversial action refers to an activity that does not have a single standard of ethics for all people, making it challenging to draw a clear line between what is ethical versus unethical. Despite its ambiguity, any firm can be involved in it, especially when the firm operates in the global marketplace where a variety of social, health, and environmental consequences surrounding a given action are questioned by consumers. If consumers come to know of a familiar brand’s morally controversial behavior, it can create approach-avoidance conflicts in their minds; they may see the brand’s action as mismatched with their own moral standards (“avoidance” manifested through a measurable construct––moral incongruence), while being tempted to justify the action (“approach” manifested through moral rationalization).

The economic recession and changes in purchasing habits of young adults (aged 18–25) has led to a decline in the sales of Japanese fashion apparel. This younger generation’s choice of fashion items is primarily based on price. They are not devoted to a favourite brand with a frequent purchase history. Thus, developing customer loyalty and strengthening brand value are essential for the fashion industry. This study explores the improvement in fashion companies’ financial performance (FP) through young generation’s behavioural brand loyalty (BBL) from two aspects: social media brand engagement (BE) and loyalty programmes (LPs). This study listed 14 popular Japanese fashion brands which belonged to 14 publicly traded companies in Japan. Further, we surveyed 183 consumers about their brand related behaviours. The findings reveal the positive and negative effects of the same variable (BE and LPs) on the outcome (short- and long-term FP), indicating that not all activities related to BE and LPs boost FP. FP is influenced by various combinations of these causal factors and complex situations, such as consumers’ demographics and shopping characteristics. The results deepen our understanding of brand loyalty formation and the linkage among BE, LPs, and FP in a realistic marketplace, and offer multiple practical solutions to achieve high levels of short- and long-term FP by targeting the right consumers based on their specific characteristics.

This study aims to understand the influence of authentic marketing on the formation of trust between brands and customers and consumers’ purchase intentions and to analyze the role that brand trust has in this process. In doing so, it examines the specific aspects of authentic marketing that increase brand trust and contribute to the formation of purchase intentions, which could then be leveraged as key elements of a company’s marketing strategy. Data in this study was used frequency analysis and factor analysis through SPSS 26.0, and reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis, path model analysis, and mediated effect analysis were performed using AMOS. Finding indicate that, identity and truth in authentic marketing had a positive effect on brand trust but heritage and reality did not affect brand trust. It was also found that the factors of identity, heritage, reality, and trust did not significantly affect purchase intention. Additionally, brand trust was found to have a positive effect on purchase intention. Finally, the analysis indicates that brand trust plays a mediating role in the process of forming purchase intention through the factors of identity and truth in authentic marketing. Therefore, the core of authentic marketing is the sincere relationship between companies and consumers obtained from the clarity and integrity of messages, and in this process, mutual trust is built, which leads to product purchases. It can be surmised that the purpose of authentic marketing is to build relationships with consumers based on brand trust.

This study gathered basic information on the development of Jiu-Jitsu uniforms suitable for players in Korea. Detailed data were collected between December 20th and December 30th, 2022 on 21 selected brands sold in online shopping malls. For each, information was recorded on the production country, product type, price, colors, material, and sizing system. A total of 612 datasets were analyzed using frequency analysis, cross-tabulation, and Chi-square tests. Jiu-Jitsu uniforms were classified as either standard or limited edition. Limited edition uniforms were more expensive than regular uniforms. International brands had a higher price range than domestic brands. The most commonly used colors for Jiu-Jitsu uniforms were the regulation colors associated with the sport: white, black, and blue. Domestic brands were more likely to use non-regulation colors than international brands. The material used for the top half of the uniform was predominantly pearl weave, while the bottom half was usually ripstop. International brands used a more diverse range of materials than domestic brands. The Jiu-Jitsu uniform sizing system incorporated a range of sizes between A00 and A6. While sizing designations differed according to the established sizing systems of different countries, the sizes remained the same, as did the range of sizes available. Where size guides were provided, height and weight were used to help the customer determine the appropriate size. The dimensions of each size varied between brands. Overall, we found that international brands offer a more diverse range of Jiu-Jitsu uniform designs than domestic brands.

최근 패션 브랜드들이 사용자들의 능동적 참여가 가능한 메타버스 플랫폼을 자사의 브랜드 접점으로 활용하기 위한 방안을 모색하고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 메타버스와 오프라인 스토어에서의 브랜드 체험을 비교하고자 한다. 패션 브랜드 젠틀몬스터의 오프라인 스토어과 이를 메타버스 공간에 그대로 재현한 제페토(ZEPETO) 스토어의 브랜 드 체험을 비교하였다. 실험 참가자 집단을 메타버스 스토어 체험이 선행된 집단과 오프라인 스토어 체험이 선행된 집단으로 구분하여 현장 조사를 진행하였다. 그 결과, 다음과 같은 주요 연구결과를 도출할 수 있었다: (1) 전체 체험 반응에서 감성 보다는 새로운 정보에 반응하는 감각 체험이 주를 이루었다; (2) 메타버스보다는 제품을 직접 만지고 체험할 수 있는 오프라인 스토어에서 체험이 더욱 활발하게 이루어졌다; (3) 네 가지의 테마공간 유형 중에서는 제품 공간에서 가장 많은 체험 반응이 나타났다; (4) 오프라인 스토어 체험이 선행된 두 번째 그룹보다 메타버스 스토어 체험이 선행된 첫 번째 그룹에서 보다 활발한 체험 반응이 일어났다. 마지막으로 본 연구결과를 통해 가상공간에서 의 메타버스 브랜드 스토어가 현실 공간의 시공간적 제약을 뛰어넘은 차별화된 경험을 제공할 뿐만 아니라, 오프라 인 스토어의 경험을 더욱 의미 있고 풍부하게 만들어 주는 전략적 도구로 활용될 수 있음을 알 수 있었다.

본 연구는 국내 유소년 축구클럽 브랜드 아이덴티티, 가치, 충성도 간의 구조적인 모형과 효과 성을 검증하여 축구클럽들이 효율적인 브랜드 전략을 수립하는 기초자료를 제공하고자 했다. 따라서 서울, 경기도, 충청도 지역 유소년 축구클럽 회원의 학부모들을 표본으로 선정했으며, 372부의 자료를 최종분석 에 활용했다. 자료처리는 SPSS(ver. 21.0) 프로그램으로 빈도분석, 신뢰도를 검증하는 내적일관성을 실시했 다. 또한 AMOS(ver. 20.0) 프로그램으로 확인적 요인분석, 상관분석, 구조방정식 모형분석, 효과성과 유의 성을 검증하는 붓스트랩 BC법을 적용했다. 연구결과 첫 번째로 국내 유소년 축구클럽 브랜드 아이덴티티 는 가치에 영향이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 국내 유소년 축구클럽 가치는 충성도에 영향이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 국내 유소년 축구클럽 브랜드 아이덴티티는 충성도에 영향이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 마지 막으로 국내 유소년 축구클럽 브랜드 아이덴티티 및 충성도 간의 가치는 부분매개효과가 있는 것으로 나타 났다.