Luxury brand marketers have recently turned their attention to luxury brand consumers and their social brand communities devoted to the brands. Luxury brands appeal to customers by enhancing their images regarding heritage, quality, and artistic value. Luxury fashion brands also establish social media communities to communicate their images more effectively. This study uses the key concepts of integration and interactivity to provide theoretical foundations to investigate luxury brand communities (LBCs) in the social media context. A survey was given to 252 members of Facebook fan pages for luxury brands from South Korea. This study examines effects of interaction as a process on perceived interactivity of LBCs in social media, and consequences, attitude, purchase intentions, and brand loyalties, hence offering implications for luxury brand management academics and practitioners

Introduction Luxury is an intriguing and alluring concept. The word ‘luxury‘ is used very often in advertisement, indicating something positive, some-thing worth striving after, something worth desiring. This thesis will focus on how luxury, and particularly luxury brands, are created, represented and consumed in an online environment. The Internet has proven to be of great importance for many types of brand when it comes to communicating and providing information to consumers and potential consumers. Luxury brands, however, work on different premises than other brand categories. Thus, luxury brands on the Internet would seemingly be an oxymoron. Given the growing importance of the luxury goods industry in economic terms and the increasing scholarly interest for not only the phenomenon of luxury brands but also luxury brands online (c.f. Dall‘Olmo Riley and Lacroix, 2003), it would seem that more systematic research is warranted on how brands, and luxury brands in particular, are handled on the Internet. The consumption of luxury brands, as opposed to the consumption of physical goods, lies in the difference in ownership. A luxury brand can be ‘consumed’ without the actual owning of a physical good produced by the brand. This type of consumption is instead a sort of merging of the consumers‘ view of themselves with their image of the luxury brand. This relatively new way of viewing consumption is of central importance when viewing brands online. The virtual ownership or ‘consumption‘ of luxury brands also brings with it new forms of expressing ownership or kinship with the luxury brand, as well as with other types of consumer sharing in the affection of a brand. The problems facing luxury brands, is best summed up in the ‘luxury brand paradox‘, in which the core is a balancing act. In this balancing act, the perception of exclusivity surpasses that of actual scarcity. The perception of exclusivity has to be invoked in consumers for the luxury brand paradox to maintain equilibrium. If (or perhaps when) there was an actual scarcity to luxury goods and luxury was truly limited, the consumption of luxuries was quite different from the consumption of luxury brands today. The clicks environment The clicks environment has brought with it not only new ways for brands to communicate with consumers but also for consumers to ‘consume‘ the brands. The following aspects will be emphasized the rise of the Internet and its characteristics, the business logic that is emerging from this, consumers on the Internet and new communication patterns. New to not only luxury consumption, but also retailing and consumption is the entrance of the Internet as a means of distributing, marketing and gaining information on goods and services. The advent of the Internet brought with it a frenzy for no-name and generic brands, as well as some high-priced, status brands to not be left behind in incorporating a clicks environment, with many luxury brands jumping on the bandwagon. Many luxury brands can thus now be viewed and, to some extent, purchased online by anyone having access to a computer. Luxury brands are presenting themselves online and communicating everything from designer influences to products and prices and store listings. On the Internet, old trusted methods cannot be used to the same extent and the migration to an online environment will inevitably bring with it new problems as well as intensify some old ones: the perception of scarcity is harder to create. Maintaining the balance between maximizing profits and evoking feelings of exclusivity is one of the most important tasks for luxury brands. The creation of perception of exclusivity or social desirability in a luxury context is the basis for non-functional demand. This is a balancing act that comes into greater focus with the entrance of the Internet. This research examines the new business logic in the clicks environment from the problems that arise for luxury brands in particular. For mass-producing brands, the clicks environment does not pose the same kind of threat as it does for luxury brands. The cost of marketing could be lowered by using the means provided by the Internet and giving access to products to many new consumers, something that in the case of luxury brands can be a danger. The specific nature of luxury brands and the new business logic on the Internet generate new challenges as well as opportunities. The Internet environment brings with it the fact that luxury brands can be not only consumed but also represented and created in a widely diverse environment. This requires a specific way of viewing consumption, which will be explored in this chapter Representing, creating and consuming luxury brands online The luxury context has been changed with the entrance of the Internet, challenging luxury brand management and forcing luxury brands to act in new ways. Where the borders were previously stricter and the consumption of luxury brands was solely an act between company and consumer and luxury brand identity was communicated from company to consumer, with rather few distractions, the Internet gives rise to many other constellations. The creation of brand image is thus now intertwined and overlapping. For luxury brands to be consumed online by consumers, they have to be represented online. Although the representation can be officially either by the brand or by others, it is when ‘others‘ get involved in luxury brand representation that the preconditions change. The online representation of luxury brands is a basis for luxury brand consumption, but as will be explained later, the consumption taking place online does not have to involve purchase of actual physical goods. Brands can, to a certain degree, be ‘created‘ online as a luxury brand or status brand, all depending on the processes surrounding the brand in question. This research starts with the presumption that the luxury context is changing with the entrance of the Internet and that luxury brands are now exposed to new challenges in which the luxury brand image is more elusive than ever. The Internet has become a valuable communication tool for brands in their endeavor for a favorable and prosperous brand image. However, the belief is that as a communications and distribution channel the Internet has led to changes in the market structure as well as changes in producer and consumer roles (Peterson, et. al., 1997; Prahalad et. al., 2000). To be able to be viewed and purchased online would seem an ideal situation if not for the inherent paradoxical nature of the luxury brand. Luxury brands face several challenging problems within the online context. Online rarity The term luxury rests on certain assumed connotations, such as the ‘rarity principle‘, meaning that the rarer the good, the more desired the commodity is (Phau and Prendergast, 2000). With the Internet as a distribution channel, the ‘rarity principle‘ may be lost when the brand can be not only viewed and desired but also consumed by all. According to Dubois and Paternault (1995), the prestige of the brand may be eroded if too many people own it. The possibility of online purchase may give opportunity for the ‘masses‘ to consume these products and the company can maximise its profits and sell even larger amounts, something that would, however, be in sharp contrast with the need of luxury brands to maintain a fragile equilibrium between high exposure and awareness but a controlled level of sales (Roux and Floch, 1996 in Dall‘Olmo Riley and Lacroix, 2003). It is also feared that the possibility of purchasing luxury brand goods online could give greater opportunities for counterfeiters to sell copied merchandise as ‘original‘ merchandise. Studies have shown that price and price discounts are very important factors in online purchasing and when revisiting a website. Luxury brands online thus face problems, largely because they do not compete with low price or price discounts. Consequently, online distribution pro-vides a challenge. How do you make consumers buy the much more expensive genuine product instead of a cheap counterfeit when many of the core elements of the luxury brand are lost online? Another problem is the ever-increasing product range of luxury brands. Because many luxury brands today include all sorts of products, this makes it harder to distinguish counterfeit copies from the original. This is a problem that could devalue the brand and increase the temptation for consumers to buy cheaper ‘knock-offs‘ or counterfeits‘ online. de Chernatony (2002:186) suggests that brand strategists need a new mental model to "develop integrated brands in a digital age which goes beyond the classical and which recognizes the new roles consumers are taking". New roles for consumers are an important fact for luxury brands in that consumers are more involved in creating a buzz for certain brands, engaging in reviewing, discussing and sharing opinions online. The online environment and the challenges to luxury brands that follow show a significant change in the business logic. The new business logic on the Internet, with the consumption of brands instead of actual goods, is problematic for brands in general and for luxury brands in particular. The specific problems regarding luxury brands are seen in relation to the previously described inherently difficult luxury brand paradox. The problems arising from the very scattered Internet context for luxury brands are many, as well as interrelated. Empirical contributions There are four main groupings of websites that have been examined: (1) brand websites, (2) consumer-to-consumer sites, (3) communities and (4) Replica sites and such. (1) The first type of sites is the sites that are officially connected with one brand, multiple brands or a conglomerate. In this category ‘umbrella‘ sites are also included, which can be directly owned by a luxury conglomerate (such as eluxury.com, or sites such as prêt-a-porter.com or yoox.com that sell a wide range of upper-range and luxury brands). (2) The second type of site is the online auction site where consumers sell to consumers, or in some cases, an organized firm conducts the selling. This type of site is not associated with the luxury brand. Although somewhat separate from the community website, this type shares many of the characteristics of the community websites, including being mostly consumer driven and not directly affiliated with a luxury brand. Thus, the auction websites are grouped together with the community websites. (3) The third type of site examined is the community websites. These come in different forms, ranging from sites associated with fashion magazines in which involvement only can occur on an observer or viewer basis to communities discussing all aspects of fashion and luxury to community sites dedicated to identifying the brands celebrities are wearing. The sites that are the online version of fashion magazines can be viewed only with possibilities to receive weekly (sometimes daily) fashion updates and newsletters, include chat possibilities and bulletin boards, and in some cases have limited product sales. (4) The fourth type is the website that sells replicas or counterfeits. In this category sites that rank and review sellers of counterfeit merchandise are included. Conclusions Four themes on the sense of a luxury brand have emerged throughout this research. The themes show how the sense of a luxury brand is created in an online environment. The four themes are luxury history, authenticity, community and paradox. Luxury history refers to the stories (either real or thought up as marketing campaigns) told by luxury brands, as well as the history that is thought up of and shared by consumers of the brand. Authenticity pertains to the need for luxury brands to have authenticity and genuine products in the sense of having reputable and innovative designers to repel counterfeits. Community concerns the different types of community formed online, i.e. communities formed for a particular brand or other common interest. Paradox relates to the inherent problem for luxury brands to create desire and appeal (and hence the power to sell a particular product) while simultaneously giving the perception of uniqueness. Paradox also refers to the contradictory workings online in the creation of a sense of luxury brand. As has been revealed through the empirical data, the online environment for luxury brands is an environment for communication and interaction, an environment that is both lively and active. The online context is comprised of many different elements that are interwoven, making up the platform for luxury brands online. This is seen in not only the different people involved in the online context but in some instances also the changing roles they play and the often multiple activities that they perform. This is because the luxury environment is made up of these sometimes very different yet interlocking elements. Examining the data from different perspectives and by comparing them to previous research on brands, luxury and the Internet the conclusion is that a new and exciting arena for luxury brands and their consumers emerge, an arena that will be referred to as an online fair. The online context is a highly scattered and chaotic environment that exhibits a scope of different characteristics. These characteristics resemble those pertaining to a fair. Definitions of a fair can range from describing the display of farm animals to entertainment and amusement. The common denominator is the key-concepts of display and the people there to see the display or to be amused and entertained. The online fair embodies different actors and activities that will be described together with the special environment of the online fair. The actors that are identified in the online fair are the audiences, the exhibitors and the copycats. The activities performed by these three groups are exhibition and display, sales and trade and entertainment. Finally, the online fair environment is characterized by its globality, openness, accessibility and fuzzy boundaries. As opposed to many bricks-and-mortar fairs, the online fair requires no entrance fees. Neither does it have strict admission controls based on special invitations, as is often the case with luxury fashion shows. The online fair is instead open and accessible to all. The audience in the online fair encompasses various consumer types and how ‘active‘ a consumer or potential consumer is, is not dependent on his or her status as an ‘actual consumer‘. The online audience also serves as reinforcement for consumers with regard to postpurchase feelings. Given that the online fair is open to anyone, there will inevitably be those wishing to profit from someone else. In this context these ‘tricksters‘ would be counterfeit sellers trying to profit from the luxury brand image.

Luxury consumers are highly social online, and with approximately 80 percent of luxury shoppers using social media on a monthly basis (Mckinsey & Company, 2015), the experience luxury brands provide on social networking services (SNS) becomes imperative. Interaction through social streams is about building a relationship with people who may continue to use the luxury product for the next 25 years (The Guardian, 2015). Hence, from magazines to smartphones, luxury brands are seeking new opportunities to communicate with their customers. Brands such as Burberry and Gucci are becoming increasingly active by uploading visuals, narratives, and films that represent their brand, and others are slowly following suit. Although various contents are now being posted online, when it comes to luxury brands, what separates them from others is the rich and unique brand heritage (LinkedIn, 2015; Mckinsey & Company, 2015). Despite this strength, it is a not implemented effectively as a strategy (The Guardian, 2015). In this study, we want to emphasize the need for luxury brands to go digital and to spread their brand stories as a form of advertisement. Stories in advertising and their effects on consumer behavior has been dealt by previous research (Deighton, Romer, & Mcqueen, 1989; Escalas, 2007; Escalas, 2004; Wang & Calder, 2006). Deighton, Romer, and Mcqueen (1989) found that dramatization influenced viewers’ processing to become more empathetic than argumentative, which made dramatized commercials more persuasive than argument-oriented ones. Escalas (2004) showed that narrative advertisement processing is positively correlated with brand attitude and behavioral intention and that narratively structured advertisements persuade others through the experience known as narrative transportation. This experience has been explained by Green and Brock (2000) as “a convergent process where all mental systems and capacities become focused on events occurring in the narrative.” Narrative transportation theory explains the process of being lost in a story and that it takes place when a consumer experiences a feeling of stepping into a world stimulated by narratives due to the empathy with the characters and imagination of the story plot (Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). This process can be effective in changing attitudes and beliefs of individuals who read stories (Green & Brock, 2000). For luxury brands, brand heritage can be transformed into stories that can transport readers to other worlds, and this can affect consumer attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). This experience is what this study pursues to delve into and understand.

Most researchers agree that core to the value proposition of luxury brands is their sym-bolic content and the image they convey (e.g., Dubois and Paternault 1995, Albrecht et al. 2013). One of the key mechanisms through which the brand is charged with symbolic content is advertising (McCracken 1986). Advertising is a key medium in the meaning creation process which is strongly controlled by brand management and intentionally used to convey a certain image to consumers (Kim, Lloyd, and Cervellon 2015). Given the importance of advertising to the luxury industry, it is surprising that only little re-search exists that explores how luxury brands build and communicate their brand in ad-vertising (Freire 2014, Mortelmans 1998, Mortelmans 2014). This study closes this gap by identifying the key themes and codes which luxury brands use in their advertising, analyses their usage and evolution over time, category and brand to show similarities and differences between the advertising of luxury brands. This pro-vides the basis to answer the following research questions: • What are the main thematic and stylistic codes that luxury brands use in print adver-tising? • How do the thematic and stylistic codes vary between brands? • How do the thematic and stylistic codes vary between categories? • How do the thematic and stylistic codes vary over time? This research thus contributes to the advancement of luxury advertising theory as it pro-vides a comprehensive framework for academics and practitioners alike, to analyse and design luxury print advertisements. Drawing on research in the areas of luxury advertis-ing and semiotics, we develop a conceptual framework allowing to analyse and catego-rise print campaigns of luxury brands along the three dimensions’ brand, category and time for over 500 advertisements of luxury fashion brands. The study has important im-plications for academic research as well as the luxury industry. This study identifies the identity-relevant and symbolic codes used in creating a luxury brand and thus adds to an enhanced understanding of how luxury is communicated and constructed.

One of the most significant challenges of modern strategic marketers refers to the ability of expressing the authentic value of fashion brand. This is particularly important for luxury goods, which are able to effectively impact on customers’ social attitude and behavior. Hence, pertinent literature is progressively focusing on the role of authenticity as a strategic element for marketing theory. Specifically, three elements have been associated with brand’s authenticity, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. In the present research we apply a validated empirical instrument concerning brand authenticity and its aforementioned three elements. Precisely, we will present and discuss the results of a survey implemented in the Tuscany region (Italy), thus aiming at investigating possible differences and/or similarities characterizing Tuscan customers’ perception of luxury brand authenticity. A structural equation model will be conceptualized and assessed in order to analyze the existing relationships between brand’s authenticity elements, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. The results confirm the hypothesized significance of these relationships among variables. Further, we will introduce the notion of mythopoiesis, which will be interpreted as a strategic vehicle able to appropriately communicate the traditional values, culture, and historical symbolic meanings of luxury fashion brand. Actually, marketing mythopoiesis results in being an effective element for translating a historical ‘stock’ of heritage into a strategic ‘flow’ of narrative capabilities by marketing managers.

The aim of this article is to explore and to sum up essential elements in building a strong luxury brand. Contribution of this article to the academic discussion on branding is in critical review of the literature and collection of empirical insights from the Swiss watchmaking industry. The novelty of this project lies in the «industry-based» approach to the conceptual framework development (semi-structured interviews among watchmaking industry experts). The main findings of this research are ten pillars (axes) of strong luxury brand that gather the essential elements for creation of a strong brand in Swiss luxury watchmaking industry.

The popularity of visual communication in social network sites (SNS) can guide an important question about its effectiveness and the optimization for luxury brand advertising: How do visual communication messages via SNS work for consumer information processing and their evaluation of luxury hotels? To address this question, we examine consumer information processing in SNS in which visual communication messages work as narratives based on narrative transportation theory (Green & Brock, 2002; van Laer, Ruyter, Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014). Specific purposes are: (1) to identify key features of consumer information processing as narrative persuasion (i.e., narrative transportation), (2) to examine how consumers’ perceptions of fluency with visual messages (i.e., comprehension fluency and imagery fluency) influence the narrative persuasion process, and (3) to explore how the narrative persuasion process develops consumer responses with respect to positive affect and visit intention. First, we predict that increased fluency of information processing (comprehension fluency and imagery fluency) would increase narrative transportation. Second, increased narrative transportation would increase affective response and visit intention. Lastly, as for the two consequences, we predict that affective response would positively affect visit intention. A web-based survey was used for data collection. Measurement items of research variables were adapted from previous studies. A total of 193 usable responses were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were directed to explore one randomly assigned luxury hotel Instagram page (Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton) and complete the questionnaire based on the experience. Results showed that comprehensive fluency, rather than imagery fluency, has significant impact on narrative transportation. Narrative transportation in turn influences affective response and visit intention; affective response influences visit intention. Additional tests suggest that narrative transportation and affective response play a mediating role in the narrative persuasion process. These findings highlight the power of narrative transportation in advertising for luxury brands, advising that marketers need to put efforts on enhancing visual storytelling in SNS communication.

Currently, the luxury retail market exceeds one trillion dollars in sales (Aroche, 2015) and is proliferated by the use of celebrities as endorsers and luxury brand ambassadors (Buckley, 2015; Okonkwo 2010). The practice of linking celebrities in luxury brand communications dates back to at least the 1800s and while the successful usage of celebrities is widely documented (e.g., Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995), so too are the stories of catastrophes as a result of celebrity transgression, overshadowing or just poor fit. Even without negative publicity or inappropriate behaviours, the use of a celebrity can still present risks to the luxury brand. For example, where unintended meanings associated with the celebrities are transferred to the luxury brand (Walker & Langmeyer, 1992; Till, 1998) or when the popularity of the celebrity (e.g. Angelina Jolie) overshadows the brand (e.g. St John) (Buckley, 2015; Horwell, 2011; Rossiter & Percy, 1987; Till & Busler, 2000). Overshadowing isn’t the only risk luxury brand managers may encounter when utilising a celebrity to endorse their brand. If, for example, consumers don’t see a match between the brand and the celebrity, or if consumers perceive the celebrity as being irrelevant to the brand, or if the celebrity has lost their appeal and connection with consumers then the celebrity presents a risk for the brand image (Choi & Rifon, 2012; Fleck, Korchia & Le Roy, 2012; Till & Busler, 2000). The choice of the ‘wrong’ celebrity can be an extremely costly mistake, with loss of sales and/or damage to the brand equity and image of the luxury brand being the potential outcome (Carrillat, D’Astous & Lasure, 2013; Folse, Burton & Netemeyer, 2013; Halonen-Knight & Hurmerinta, 2010; Thwaites, Lowe, Monkhouse & Barmes, 2012). Risk reducing strategies and due diligence during the selection process is a lengthy, complicated and complex process (Erdogan, Baker & Tagg, 2001). Luxury brand managers have long called for a more systematic and objective criteria by which to evaluate the potential celebrity risk factors (Okonkwo, 2010; Toncar, Reid, & Anderson, 2007); and this paper takes up that call with three contributions to both the literature and to practice. The first contribution concerns risk reduction strategies and extensions to the current thinking on the celebrity construct (for a thorough discussion on the celebrity construct see Gabler, 2001; Goldman, 2011; Rojek, 2001; Turner, 2004). There is a small stream of research that discusses the non-human celebrity as both a risk reducer for celebrity endorsement and also as an extension of the concept of ‘celebrity’ (e.g., Blewitt, 2013; Callcott & Lee, 1995; Folse et al., 2013; Giles, 2013; Rindova, Pollock & Hayward, 2006). This stream of research is novel and emergent and our work adds to this literature by defending our claim that like firms, animals, mythical beings and fictitious humans, events can also be celebrities. Broadening the conceptualisation of celebrity to apply to more than just real people, allows luxury brand managers to reduce costs, and regain some degree of control over the important image and reputational management of the celebrities with whom they wish to be associated The second contribution is the Celebrity Criterion Checklist, which provides luxury brand managers with a simple, systematic and quick way to determine whether someone or something (an entity) is a celebrity or not (given at least 15 years of debate about the contest term of “celebrity”). The Celebrity Criterion Checklist contains five criterion. If a luxury brand manager finds the entity they are considering fulfils all five criteria, then the brand manager be confident that they are a celebrity. The third contribution is the Celebrity Risk Evaluation Matrix (CREM). The Celebrity Risk Evaluation Matrix (CREM), facilitates higher-ordered assessments of the risk/benefit ratio associated with using different types of celebrities in luxury brand communications in a simple visual representation. Since celebrities are dynamic and have an ongoing narrative, celebrities can and do move between these quadrants and movement will depend on their life-cycle, their behavioural choices, their media presence, their authenticity and their relevance to consumers.

This study explores the role of corporate involvement and brand perception in moderating the Cause Related Marketing on consumer purchase intention in the luxury product category among Japanese consumers. This research examines three core cause attributes - cause scope, cause type and cause acuteness developed by Vanhamme, Lindgree, Reast and van Popering (2012) as well as an additional component of duration – with corporate involvement and brand perception moderating the effect on purchase intention. The general public places judgment on a corporation based on how much of positive or negative impacts its business has on environment or society (Sheikh & Beise-Zee, 2011). In fact, more corporations have been developing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, no matter how big their business sizes, big or small, are (Brinkvan, Odekerken-Schroder, & Pauwels, 2006). The general public loses its faith in corporations, especially after a financial crisis or malfeasances of big corporations and as a result, corporations are under stronger pressure to contribute to environmental or societal causes in order to reclaim lost faith from the general public (Sheikh & Beise-Zee, 2011; Berglind & Nakata, 2005). One way corporations contribute to society has been to employ marketing strategies that link product sales to the support of specific charities to create and maintain favorable brand images known as cause related marketing or CRM. CRM has been growing faster as a type of marketing that allow corporations to contribute to environment or society (Brinkvan et al., 2006). Various factors have been extensively researched on and identified as pertinent in the success of cause-related marketing campaigns such as brand-cause fit (Bigne-Alcanniz, Currase-Perez, Ruiz-Mafe and Sanz-Blas, 2011; Nan and Heo, 2007; Samu and Wymer, 2009), donation size (Dahl and Labvack, 1995; Pracejus, Olsen and Brown, 2003), types of causes (local causes are preferred to national ones) (Ellen, Mohr, and Webb, 1996; Smith and Alcorn, 1991) and product type with luxury products found to be more effective (Strahilevitz and Myers, 1995).

There has been a global growth of luxury business start-ups, which has accelerated especially since the late 1990s along with the upswing of the global luxury market. Start-ups in the high-end cultural and creative industries reflect the various new types of luxury from green or sustainable luxury and slow luxury to value luxury, and from digital and high-tech luxury to experience luxury. However, there exist only a few studies about luxury brand-building, the related area of luxury marketing success factors (Fionda and Moore, 2008) and the new research domain of luxury entrepreneurship (Fonrouge and Lipovetsky, 2013). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify critical success factors of luxury brand-building. In the high-end and generally in the lifestyle segment, the generation of a business model must go hand in hand with brand-building. Even more, setting-up a luxury or lifestyle business is hardly possible without emphasizing on brand-building. Consequently, we suggest combing business model generation with brand-building as this is naturally an interrelated process, especially in the high-end and creative industries. Based on the Business Model Canvass by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2014), we develop the Brand-Building Canvas and then use it as a framework to analyze the success factors of luxury brand-building. As success criteria of luxury marketing depend on a brand’s stage of development, we employ the concept of brand lifecycles to differentiate success factors. Due to its explanatory power for real-life organisational phenomena, our study relies on Grounded Theory, combined with a multiple case study methodology according to Fionda and Moore (2008). We analyzed ten luxury start-ups in different development stages and from various luxury industry segments and countries. The empirical database was obtained from multiple sources including also documentary material such as company presentations, brochures, homepages, and media articles. Moreover, expert interviews were conducted with representatives of the luxury start-ups and other relevant industry experts. Based on a content-analysis of the empirical database, we outline an overview of success factors of luxury brand-building, organized by brand lifecycle stages and the categories of the Brand-Building Canvas.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how a luxury brand may be affected by the variables associated to a new market entry as the Chinese and how those new market variables are integrated in the process of rebranding in the new geographical context. In doing so, the paper will review the existing literature in the field and following three derived propositions through a qualitative approach, it will analyse the successful brand strategy of three Italian luxury brands. The luxury brands considered in our investigation are three international ones with a specific consolidated brand heritage and with a multisectorial positioning. The methodological approach chosen in the analysis is the case-study method (Yin, 1984) with the specific purpose of focusing on a particular phenomenon instead of generalising (Schramm, 1971). Following the case-study methodology, this paper will explore and analyse the specific luxury brand building and rebranding process adopted by three Italian luxury brands to enter the new market and specifically through the digitalisation of the brand. The abstract will report a summary of one case as a reference sample. The empirical research will evidence the positive impact of digitalisation for successful luxury branding and rebranding in entry market strategy and justify its adoption in the exclusive luxury sector by the socio-cultural context-related factors of the new market. It will provide specific orientations and recommendations as well as best practices for luxury corporations on the specificities of branding and digitalisation of luxury in China. The research will show a successful model path for luxury branding when entering the Chinese market and the key impact of the “luxury digitalisation” strategy - usually associated to high accessibility - with respect to a traditional “luxury retailing” strategy - associated to the exclusivity of the luxury sector. Introduction The increasing interest in luxury brands in the fast growing economies of Asia, with particular attention towards China, has supported the growth of the luxury market in the last years. China, the global second largest economy, with the global largest consumer market, has reached a role of an undisguisable strategic leader in the luxury market. Far from theexponential double digit growth rates characterizing China’s growth in the past decades - as high as 14.2% in 2007 – at the moment it is entering a different phase of growth. A recent trend is tending to see China as the source of a multiplicity of diversified aspects impacting the global luxury market scenario – despite the fact that luxury industry market situation is not simply China related. The ongoing Chinese growth in the last decade has been associated with a decrease in European and US markets. In addition to this, further issues have negatively affected the market grow more related to Chinese market specificity. Chinese exponential luxury market growth has negatively influenced the exclusivity aura associated to luxury goods and consequently disrupting non-Chinese luxury customers and Chinese top spenders luxury brands orientation. In relation to the economic crisis in consolidated markets, international luxury brands have focused their interest towards fast growing economies. As a result, global brands have focused their attention on attracting fast growing economies with a specific growth in affluent consumers interested in foreign brands and in an augmentation in global consumption (Le Monkhouse et al., 2012). As a consequence, China has attracted much attention by significantly contributing to balance the sales decline in consolidated economies that in 2013 accounted for 28% of the €212 billion global luxury consumption (Schiliro, 2013). In the new luxury oriented Chinese context, local shoppers have started to become brand aware of what they were in the past and with a specific focus on luxury fashion brands (Bruce & Kratz, 2007). However, it would be too limited to simply consider that the volumes of the market and focus on luxury brands is resulting only from consumer intentions to purchase luxury brands. A multiplicity of factors and in particular context related factors affecting shoppers luxury brand perception and luxury goods purchasing experience must be considered and as a consequence those context related factors that may affect the branding process itself. China's culture is different from Western cultures (Henriksen, 2009), and thus, Chinese luxury consumption may not follow the trends of the Western world. The Chinese perceive luxury brand value in terms of China's unique cultural background and as a consequence of the Chinese economic development, the Chinese luxury lifestyle is gradually evolving and beginning to show its own distinct characteristics. Although prior research related to luxury examines different cultures and markets such as the US, Indian, European, the Chinese luxury context and its impact on luxury brand when entering this market have not been examined sufficiently. Literature review Luxury Brands, Rebranding and the Chinese Context Literature teaches us that “luxury” is used to denote the main category of highly prestigious brands (Vigneron & Johnson, 2004). In the same way, luxury brands are related to wealth, exclusivity and power and are related to the fulfilment of nonessential desires (Brun et al., 2008 and Dubois and Gilles, 1994). “Luxury brands” comprises highly quality, expensive and nonessential goods and services that are symbols of rarity, exclusivity, prestige, and authenticity in for their consumers and they can provide highlevels of symbolic and emotional value (Tynan, McKechnie, & Chhuon, 2009). Vigneron and Johnson (2004) and later Wiedman et al. (2007) defined the concept of luxury as the physical and psychological values provided by prestige of luxury brands and consequently highlighting the symbolic and conceptual dimension associated to luxury. However, it was evidenced how the dimension is strongly associated to the cultural values and to the social environment by considering luxury goods representatives of individual and social identity (Vickers & Renand, 2003). These elements of exclusivity, prestige, rarity as well as individual and social identity are the key values distinguishing luxury from nonluxury brands (Tynan et al., 2009). In the same perspective, Kapferer (1997, p. 334) highlighted the importance of those luxury brand values in evidencing that brand memory and brand values should not be abandoned when the brand is revised suggesting that rebranding is an incremental process in contrast to a radical change. The Digitalisation of Luxury Brands and the Chinese Market In the western countries, the elder people mainly compose luxury customers, while luxury consumers become younger (about under 40 years old) in China. The increasing number of middle-level class has been the main force of online luxury consuming. The consumption concept of younger customers are huge different from that of traditional customers. Solomon (2009) expressed that customers’ behavior is a dynamic concept because they are influenced by the outer factors and inner elements (Solomon, 2009). A survey from McKinsey & Company indicates that there are almost 90% of Chinese Internet users living in tier1, tier2 and tier 3 cities have enrolled in a social-media site and Chinese people can be regarded as the world’s most active social-media population, around 91% of respondents telling they visited a social-media site in the previous six months, followed by 70% in South Korea, 67% in the United States and 30% in Japan (Chiu, Lin, & Silverman, 2012). The Chinese social and cultural context is increasingly becoming “digitally savvy” and Chinese citizens are more likely to gain information from Internet when they would make shopping decisions. First Proposition Indirect orientation for the first proposition comes from Vickers and Renard (2003) conceptual development that evidences that the conceptual dimension of luxury is strongly influenced by cultural elements and by the social context. Consequently it derives that the digitalisation of luxury as a part of the social and cultural variables of contemporary Chinese consumers’ market will be conceptualised in the rebranding process for luxury brands when entering the Chinese market. Second Proposition Specific support for our second proposition comes from Kapferer (1997) theory highlighting that successful luxury rebranding has to keep least certain core brand elements to have a proper transition from the existing luxury brand to the revised luxury brand in the new Chinese market. The digitalisation process for rebranding will evidence the core elements kept as a part of the brand heritage and identity.In the re-branding process new market segments may be touched or even new markets (Kapferer, 1997). Successful luxury rebranding may require meeting the needs of new market segments. As a consequence, in our third proposition it is assumed that new attributes to the brand may be required to satisfy the new market and in particular the Chinese digitally savvy” segment. These principles of rebranding applied to our Chinese luxury context refers to the existing literature relating to re-create the brand vision to entry the new Chinese market. Research questions and methodology This research aims to analyse the impact of cultural and social variables of a new market, the Chinese one, in the redefinition of a luxury brand and in particular: - the evolution towards a new digital orientation as a response to the needs of the new customer segments - the specific socio-cultural characteristics of the new Chinese market customer segments In order to provide specific responses from the field, the empirical research methodology is based on the case analysis method (Yin, 1984). The luxury brands cases considered in the research have been kept anonymous in order to keep the confidentiality of the data collected and consequently referred as A, B and C. It has been based on interviews carried out in China and in Europe with the management of the luxury brand, with a sample of its customer segments and also on the published data of the corporation. The Case of an Italian Luxury Brand in China The A case: Rebranding through Digitalisation for Successful Entry in the Chinese Market Out of the three cases, A is an Italian global luxury brand with an established brand image and heritage internationally. Its positioning as authentic luxury brand worldwide specifically focus its image on exclusivity, originality and innovative design. China, which was entered lately with respect to the other geographical markets in their global strategy, has now become clearly the main focus. Its entry strategy has been oriented towards a progressive reinforcement of relations between brand and market, in particular in relation to the digitalisation of the market and its consumption mode. The brand started opening the main flagship store in the Mainland China capital Beijing and following with the fashion centre Shanghai at the beginning of 2006. After a few years of gradual expansion and monitoring of the market evolution, the brand can nowadays count on a consolidated flagship store network adding value to the brand awareness. Counting on the younger Chinese luxury market segments, the brand had a remarkable immediate growth in the market as a result of its brand core values and image as well as of its own digitalisation of the brand development strategy. The growth and consolidated positioning allowed the brand to start a brand expansion strategy by introducing the cosmetics line in department stores after clothing and apparel and perfumes. Conclusion A luxury brand focused on a specific rebranding as entry strategy for the Chinese market through the integration between the socio-cultural variables associated to the local context and the core components of the brand. A transferred the brand to the Chinesemarket by maintaining its own young style and image, specifically suitable for the young Chinese luxury market. In the initial phase of the Chinese market entry, A focused on reinforcing the brand image and awareness in the local socio-cultural context by developing their retail and distribution in particular by having key premium locations, fundamental to communicate the brand identity and core values. However, the retailing network was not perceived as sufficient to create “a social buzz” in the Chinese young socio-cultural context that is specifically influenced by digital media in this geographical environment. The analysis of the brand and its entry strategy in China have clearly shown that they entry and kept expanding in China from first to third tier cities and to different targeted segments by developing an intelligent digitalisation of the brand. Starting from developing a Chinese version of the brand name, A brand modified its brand name as a main strategy to giving meaning to the brand in the Chinese socio-cultural context, as well as emphasizing the heritage of the brand and creating a strong position in the mind of the Chinese consumer and creating a strong advantage in the digital search positioning. Furthermore, in analysing the market socio-cultural digital trends and the decreasing reach of conventional media and the increasing one of the digital ones, A decided to focalise on a diversified use of digital media in their entry strategy - through online video advertising and the growing digital out of home as well as local search engine as Baidu or local social networks, BAIDU Sina.com Wechat Youku and in particular online influencers and BBS, Bullet Board Systems – by clearly choosing to rebrand through the digitalisation of their luxury brand in compliance with the socio-cultural variables and trends of the market. The sample case will be reported and the model path for branding and rebranding in the Chinese context will be presented.

Brand equity, “the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brand” (Keller, 1993, p. 1), is at the heart of competition in the luxury goods market (Keller, 2009). While firms competing in this segment have come up with sophisticated ways to build brand equity, they are currently challenged by the increasing importance of the internet in consumers’ journeys (Kapferer & Bastien, 2012; Okonkwo, 2009). With online sales of luxury goods showing a twelvefold increase over the past 11 years (D’Arpizio et al., 2014), it is evident that luxury brands have to be present somehow in the digital environment today (Heine & Berghaus, 2014). The strategic purposes, business potentials, and consequences for brand equity of this presence, however, are still largely unexplored and remain a paradoxical topic. As a luxury brand’s website is the brand’s most valuable digital asset (Heine & Berghaus, 2014) and as there appears to be a consensus that luxury brands can use their websites to present their products in the digital environment, at least for purposes of communication, the question arises which products are most suitable for reinforcing the brand’s image. The roles a luxury brand’s products can play in relation to brand management can be classified between four poles spanning two dimensions, which this research terms ‘accessibility’ and ‘contemporariness’, in relation to Kapferer and Bastien’s (2012) luxury brand architecture map. Empirical evidence of these dimensions is, nevertheless, scarce, and yet no prior research has investigated these product roles in an e-commerce setting. The current study develops a model to test how an online purchase option and the contemporariness as well as the accessibility of the product assortment offered on the websites of luxury brands affect specific brand equity dimensions of luxury brands. Data of a 2x2x2-online scenario experiment were analyzed, showing that prestige and uniqueness value are non-significantly affected by offering an online purchase option, while functional value increases significantly. Regarding the displayed product assortment, the brand equity dimensions of functionality, prestige, and uniqueness are found to be significantly affected by the inaccessibility of the products, while their contemporariness elicits significant changes in uniqueness value. The study also assesses the mediating role of the brand attributes of availability, price premium, aesthetics, and innovativeness, as well as the moderating role of consumers’ prior brand ownership, for these effects.

The Internet is providing companies with an opportunity to market their goods more widely than has been the case in the past. This is having implications for senior managers as it means that some luxury goods are being made available to a wider market segment than previously and also, there are issues as regards authenticity and counterfeiting for example. Cultural value systems underpin psychological needs which are taken into account when advertising a brand and in addition, marketers are keen to build a relationship with customers, which takes into account the customers’ psychological aspirations. Meeting consumer expectations is crucial in the luxury sector because of the value placed on uniqueness and the price-quality dynamic. Bearing these points in mind, the research question to be addressed in this paper is: How can marketers utilize the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo 1984 & 1986) in order to maintain the quality of the luxury brand and develop a relationship with high net worth individuals while marketing the product online? The aim of the paper is to explain how marketers can develop a better understanding of how the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo 1984 & 1986) can be utilized to develop theoretical insights into promoting luxury goods online. Bearing this in mind, two research objectives were formed: (i) to explain how the Elaboration Likelihood Model can be used to formulate international luxury brand strategies; and (ii) to provide guidance as to how marketers can develop a better understanding of marketing luxury products online. The study will build on the work of Hennessey and Anderson (1990), as it will explain how involvement affects motivation vis-à-vis luxury brands. By studying luxury brands, the Internet, and social psychology, it should be possible for marketers to provide marketing practitioners with relevant theoretical insights into how marketing theory is evolving and is applied in practice. The Elaboration Likelihood Model represents “a fairly general framework for organizing, categorizing, and understanding the basis processes underlying the effectiveness of persuasive communications” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986, p.125) and proves ideal with respect to researching cultural value systems. The Elaboration Likelihood Model allows academic researchers to look into and comprehend cognitive processing (Cacipppo, Harkins, & Petty, 1981, p.37). The main strength of the Elaboration Likelihood Model is that the variables that can impact certain judgements are made clear and in addition, the processes underlyingchanges in attitude are made known and so too are the resulting judgements (Petty, Rucker, Bizer, & Cacioppo, 2004, pp.66-67). The Elaboration Likelihood Model has been extensively used by marketing academics and has relevance in terms of how people formulate a systematic information processing strategy (De Meulenaer, Dens, & De Pelsmacker, 2015, p.610). Marketers are concerned about the price-quality dynamic and also the trust construct (Shu-Chen, Wanchiao, Sung, & Cheng-Kiang, 2006) and risk (Park, Lennon, & Stoel, 2005) vis-à-vis buying online. Furthermore, how online consumers interpret signals has been given attention (San Martin, Camarero & San Jose, 2011) and according to Areni (2003), argument-driven persuasion is important and will be given attention in the study. Attention will be given to luxury branding, the development of an international brand strategy and how marketers can protect a luxury brand through a marketing intelligence strategy that counteracts counterfeiting. As well as utilizing data collected via a group interview, reference will be made to data collected over a three year period using a survey instrument. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo 1984 & 1986) will be used as a basis for providing a framework for understanding how a luxury brand can be perceived and protected, and the research outcome will be used by marketers to advise senior management about the need for implementing an integrated international luxury brand strategy. For example, research has been undertaken into the relevance of the construct trustworthiness and it is important to note that “trustworthiness is an attribute of individual exchange partners” (Barney and Hansen, 1994, p.176). This is an important observation because the producers of luxury goods depend on a number of external specialists (eg., designers, communication and public relations advisors, and manufacturers of specialist components) in order to help the company to add value to the product/service and make sure that it is viewed as unique. Marketers employed by a luxury goods producer need to ensure that data and information relating to the product offering is well guarded because they need to have confidence in the fact that there are no vulnerabilities in existence. A vulnerability could result in leakage of sensitive data and information (e.g., a new design) and result in a loss in intellectual property and ultimately brand piracy and reputational damage. By failing to identify potential vulnerabilities and deal with them through adequate counter threat measures, it is likely that it will take several years and require a repositioning and a rebranding strategy to recover the brand in the market. What we are advocating is a marketing counterintelligence strategy that is aimed at reinforcing the need and usefulness of security to protect the brand and ensure that the brand is not diluted in any way. Another reason as to why marketers need to engage in risk management is because there are a number of country-of-origin issues that arise and need to be addressed. Balabanis and Diamantopoulos (2011) have indicated that consumers are not always able to link a brand correctly with its country-of-origin and this may prove problematic. This is linked with brand image perceptions and again the Elaboration Likelihood Model can help to provide evidence that is used by marketers to overcome consumer misperceptions. Reflecting on the fact that marketers are confronted with legitimate competition (products and services compete in adherence with regulatory processes) as well asillegal forms of competition, it can also be argued that marketers need to be aware of and embrace the standards that govern the production of the product/service to the quality specified. Thus, senior management need to ensure that employees lower down the organizational hierarchy are committed to maintaining the standards that are in being (Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1994, p.96). Ghoshal and Bartlett (1994, p.98 and pp.106-107) add to our understanding by suggesting that marketers need also to have a shared ambition and participate in a collective decision-making, which relies upon collective learning. The logic of this view manifests in the fact that the Elaboration Likelihood Model is used to reinforce and condition the views of the employees as well as the organization’s customers and because it has both an internal and an external dimension. Because marketers work closely with organizational strategists that are outward looking and intelligence driven, and liaise with R&D, technology and production staff that are inward looking and security driven, they are well able to contribute to the risk management process and advise on all the aspects of marketing strategy. The research undertaken will be placed within a strategic marketing context and the learning aspect will be drawn upon to show how marketers can link social psychology theory with marketing theory, and how risk communication can be used to reinforce the advertising message. The paper will explore the advertising-consumer perception dynamic and will examine how the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo 1984 & 1986) can be used to promote the uniqueness of a luxury good to individual consumers who share and exchange information using social networks. The influence of social networks is growing and marketers need to be aware of how and why consumers share and exchange information as they do across geographical boundaries. In particular, it will build on the work of Michaelidou and Christodoulides (2011) by establishing how certain psychological factors influence attitudes towards counterfeited products and what marketers can do to counteract these attitudes. This will contribute to the literature because it will highlight both price related and ethical related issues associated with the purchasing of counterfeited goods. In addition, it will allow marketers to identify trends in customer buying behavior and build on the work of Jack and Powers (2013) relating to shopping behavior and consumer satisfaction. By understanding better the motivations of those that purchase luxury products, marketers will be better able to plan product offerings and formulate and implement promotional strategies.

Research Purpose This study is to clarify the image of luxury brand advertising is not equal to brand image completely, and the main purpose is to understand whether self-image congruence with luxury brand advertisement can affect the consumers’ brand loyalty. Research Background In earlier days, luxury brands were the preserve of the privileged few. But now they have become more affordable to consumers who are belong to middle-market with the problem of mass production largely solved. Now days, luxury brands play an increasingly important role in profit generation for global corporations. Atwal and Williams (2009) indicated that experiences are the central of luxury brand consumption activity, and the emotional, cognitive, and relational factors are important for luxury brand marketing. Thus, brand image is one of the most important factors for luxury brand. And, lots of scholars have proved that luxury brand has a significant positive effect on consumer purchase intention. Meenaghan (1995) identified that imagery advertising is one of the principle components of image creation. However, whether the image of the advertising is completely equal to the brand image? Most of the prior studies are only focusing on the brand image but neglect the image of the luxury brand advertising. Thus, this study is trying to emphasize the role of the image of luxury brand advertising and fill the prior research gaps. Hypotheses Theredistinguish the brand image and the advertisement image. Second is to compare the self-image with both brand image and advertisement image to understand the self-image congruence comprehensively. For the sample, we chose convenience sampling method and handed out 300 questionnaires. The totals of 248 questionnaires were used for analysis except for responses that said they had no experience of luxury brand consumption and have response error. Sample of respondents are consisting of 75% of females and 25% of males. The average of respondent's age was from 20 years old to 30 years old. The structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to validate the research model. Research Results As assumed in hypotheses, self-image congruence with luxury brand advertisement will increase consumers’ empathy to the advertisement and luxury brand esteem. Empathy to the advertisement and brand esteem will increase the luxury brand loyalty. Implications This study focus on the image of luxury brand advertisement and proved importance of congruence between self-image and the image of luxury brand advertisement. It is important for marketers not only just use advertisement to form the brand image but also should use the advertisement to match the target consumers’ self-image.

Purpose: Brand and line extension represents an essential vehicle for growth and is currently one of the most applied marketing strategies within the luxury sector. Though it has its advantages, there are several risks associated with pursuing such a strategy. Consequently, this paper attempts to understand the reasons for brand and line extensions as a way of growth in the new era of luxury expansion. Theory: The study extends the literature of brand and line extensions through an empirical study. Methodology: An integrative model of key success factors behind brand and line extensions is proposed by combining current research with empirical findings obtained through an explorative and qualitative research design based on primary data from eight semi-structured interviews with managers from luxury brands. Findings and Contribution: We identify five key success factors: (1) add value through originality, (2) stay at the level of the brand regarding price, quality, style and image, (3) create relevance to core business and be aligned with DNA, (4) stick to the vision of the founder and (5) assure consistency in brand identity and image. Sig-nificantly, the predominant themes are alignment between the parent brand and the extension and the extension in itself, which resonates with the existing research on the field. Further, drawing on the notion of alignment, this thesis also finds evidence of the importance of consistent brand cues such as storytelling, values, heritage, tradition and visual icons. Practical implications: It is suggested that the five success factors identified in the empirical data to the greatest extent possible should apply to any future brand extension and that resources should be allocated to reinforce the alignment between extension and parent brand. Research limitations: It would be insightful to conduct additional interviews with top managers from other brands to further elaborate on the identified success factors.

This paper aims to gain an understanding of luxury brand positioning in relation to brand attributes, distribution channel and the target consumer characteristics. In so doing, we hope to get a fuller explanation of brand perceptions within the market environment in which the transactions occur. Luxury brands need to flourish in an increasingly complicated and competitive environment. In the past socio-demographic characteristics were used to position the offering, but this is becoming more difficult to apply in contemporary global markets. It is possible to broadly position luxury brands using Aaker’s (1997) 3A’s framework to show how brands are crowded and compete in the middle “aspirational” segment. There also appears to be a polarization within the market on the part of highly informed and expert consumers who do not follow traditional norms of purchasing behaviour; purchasing elite luxury and high street purchases at the same time. Such inconsistent behaviour compels us to investigate the luxury brand consumer in depth. Consumer perceptions of luxury value comprise financial, functional, individual and social components (Hennings et al. 2012), as well as changing cultural interpretations (Mo and Roux. 2009) and symbolic and human characteristics (Aaker, 1997). Examing the brand and the consumer is not sufficient and a third aspect needs to be considered relating to distribution channels (D’Astous and Lévesque 2003). This is the environment where the personality of the brand is staged to reinforce tangible and intangible attributes that further influence consumer perceptions. Store personality suggests functional qualities and psychological attributes that help define the store in the consumer’s mind (D’Astous and Lévesque, 2003). In order to differentiate between brands perceived with similar positioning, the symbolic qualities of the luxury brands become highly relevant and a key motivation of luxury brand purchase behaviour (Heine 2009; Liu et al 2010). What is of interest to us in this study is the congruity between consumers’ perceptions of a luxury flagship store personality, the personality of the luxury brand and consumers own personality traits. Drawing upon the foregoing we have established that there is a need to understand how consumers see themselves in relation to luxury brands. Understanding the relationships between the consumer, the brand and store personality is critical for the effective positioning and strategic management of the luxury brand in terms of product mix strategy, pricing, advertising and distribution. Our analysis draws upon Aaker’s (1997) brand personality, luxury consumer personality traits from Weidmann et. al., (2009) and store personality dimensions from D’Astous and Lévesque, (2003) and we delineate luxury using the four values, financial, functional, individual and social from Weidmann et. al.,(2009). The difference in the degrees of alignment represents what we have termed “congruence distance” between each personality dimension. Misalignment may indicate that the corporate view of the luxury brand is out of sync with consumer perceptions and may impact upon strategic marketing efforts. Using a quantitative research approach we report the results of a survey of Tod’s consumers in the UK, France and Italy. Constructs are developed to measure consumers’ perceptions of a luxury flagship store personality, the personality of the luxury brand and consumers own personality traits. Our theoretical contribution hopes to enhance explanations of luxury consumption. We have taken three disparate frameworks that each look at elements of luxury brand positioning to assess levels of convergence using one case study. We add to luxury brand theory by presenting a rubric of congruence distance that draws the three frameworks together and highlights clusters within dimensions of value. Managerially, we find the importance of alignment across a variety of dimensions and clusters. Through this rubric, multiple segmentation and positioning scenarios can be assessed with implications for strategy. We find that consumer interaction with sales personnel is critical to consumers’ experience of the brand based upon an understanding and expectation of the luxury it represents.

Increasing attention has been paid to marketing and consumer behavior of luxury industry but research into value creation network and operational mechanisms is very limited. This study focuses on two aspects of the luxury industry: luxury brand and value chain, to inform a comprehensive understanding of the value creation process for high value added brands. In luxury industry, the key elements that create and deliver value are brand, design and research, production, distribution, and retail. A clear brand identity is found as the first step of this value chain, which influences the choices of all other activities. Luxury goods companies will align all the activities in line with brand identity to deliver consistent tangible and intangible values to end users. Furthermore, a luxury value chain is a holistic network with strong coordination among its elements. A combined approach of case study and secondary data collection is pursued. A sample of 9 luxury companies within 6 selected industries is investigated. Data is qualitatively collected via semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observations as a triangulation approach for the purpose of ensuring the reliability of the research data. Multiple interviews of the general manager, industrial manager, brand/communication manager, creative director, and store manager are conducted in each company to achieve a broader perspective and also make data triangulation procedures possible. This research contributes to the luxury brands management as well as value chain concept. It discusses the value creation network and operational mechanism from a less explored corporate perspective. It unveils a secretive existence of brand in value generation process and further establishes a model to amplify the relationship between each activity in the value chain. Also, it expands the research of value chain into luxury industry. It argues that a supply leading value chain can also command a premium rather than the customer-centric value chain discussed by most researchers recently. It also provides valuable insights for companies who want to have a high-end market position. It shows that the widely adopted luxury strategy invented mainly by French and Italian companies employs fundamentally different rules from those of fast-moving consumer goods in mass market. In short, a luxury strategy is different in nature, not in level.

This study demonstrates how consumers’ implicit self-theory orientations (Entity vs. Incremental) relate to their perceptions of luxury brand appeals (Functional vs. Non-functional). Specifically, our experiments show that the entity theorists are likely to value the hedonic appeal of luxury brands, whereas incremental theorists value their functional appeal. The study provides useful insights for managers for designing advertising messages and their positioning strategies for luxury brands.

INTRODUCTION The term luxury usually defines not a category of products but a conceptual and symbolic set of dimensions. These dimensions comprise values that are strongly related to cultural elements and the wider socio-economic context (Vickers & Renand, 2003). Vickers and Renand (2003) recognised luxury goods as symbols of personal and social identity. Luxury is often used as a social marker, as a social stratification tool to reinforce a hierarchy (Okonkwo, 2010, Kapferer & Bastien, 2009). Due to the subjective nature of the luxury concepts and the complexity to define it, perceptions of luxury brands are not consistent across market segments and geographic locations (Phau & Prendergast, 2000), since they depend largely on each consumer's perception of indulgence. A common denominator between consumers in both Western and Eastern cultures is that the purchase of luxury brands serves to portray individuality and/or social standing (Nueno & Quelch, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004). Consumption of luxury brands is largely determined by social function attitudes (i.e. self-expression attitude and self-presentation attitude) as consumers express their individuality (e.g., need for uniqueness) and exhibits their social standing (e.g., self monitoring) through luxury brands (Wilcox et al., 2009). It is of growing importance for researchers and managers to understand how consumers' perceptions of value, influences buying criteria and behaviour (Tynan et al., 2010; Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Siebels, 2007). The perception of value by consumers is given a higher importance (Tynan et al., 2010) however the measurement of luxury value is not agreed amongst scholars and practitioners. Vigneron and Johnson (2004) proposed a structure of the luxury concept and presented the “brand luxury index” framework. Wiedmann et al. (2007) offered a conceptual model of luxury value perceptions highlighting four dimensions, namely: social, personal, functional, and financial values. Tynan et al. (2010) have adapted the earlier work by Smith and Colgate (2007) on generic value framework and suggested a conceptual model based on the following concepts: utilitarian, symbolic/ expressive, experiential/hedonic, relational, and cost/ sacrifice value. With the emergence of new concepts and levels of luxury, the measurement of value becomes even harder. According to Unity Marketing (2006) “…‘old luxury’ was about the attributes, qualities and features of the product and much of its appeal was derived from status and prestige. The new luxury consumer defines the category from their point of view. Today’s new luxury consumers focus on the experience of luxury embodied in the goods and services they buy, not in the ownership itself.” Robins and Ricca (2012) propose an alternative perspective on the established ‘new’ vs. ‘old’ luxury dichotomy. According to the authors, the more brands define themselves as belonging to the world of luxury, the more the concept becomes meaningless as luxury becomes ‘massified’. They introduce the concept of Meta-Luxury as a new form of luxury that escapes the cliché of luxury and establishes the “luxury beyond luxury”. In these complex scenarios, luxury brands are on a constant quest to remain relevant and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. According to Beverland (2004) marketers now need to use “a complex combination of dedication to product quality, a strong set of values, tacit understanding of marketing, a focus on detail, and strategic emergence” in order to effectively manage luxury brands. With the recent focus on co-creation of value, luxury brand management has evolved to include dialogue and complex interactions between the brand owner, employee, customers and other social groups and communities (Tynan et al. 2010) making success factors harder to track. Purpose This paper aims to conceptualize a measurement tool that could be used in the evaluation and classification of a luxury brand’s performance and to assess how these dimensions evolve as the brand moves from mature towards more emerging luxury markets. This paper seeks to make a contribution, by providing a systematic review of the definitions of a luxury brand provided by various authors. It seeks to establish patterns and inconsistencies and to summarise them in a performance measurement matrix (the LPM framework) which can be used to identify growth strategies and to support future managerial developments. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach followed in this paper was to systematically review the academic literature on luxury brands and to reduce the numerous factors cited as components and identifiers of luxury brands to a more manageable number of macro-themes. Through the analysis of the dimensions identified (with a further distinction between ‘new’ and ‘old’ luxury brands), the researchers intended to clarify the key elements of success that impact on brands competitiveness, leading to the definition of the items in the scale. In order to validate the elements, a survey was implemented to identify the most crucial indicators by building on the results of the systematic review. The aim of the survey was to clarify detailed criteria for each of the dimensions in order to construct an effective measurement scale. The scale was tested on four luxury brands selected amongst those perceived as ‘old’ / traditional luxury and ‘new’/emergent luxury. Findings Amongst academics and practitioners there is no common agreement or clear parameters that delineate what luxury is or the strategies such brands employ. This leads to confusion in the definition of the elements that constitute a luxury brand as well as in the brand management process. This paper proposes an alternative measurement scale to the Brand Luxury Index Scale developed by Vigneron and Johnson by focusing on a strategic overview of the performance of luxury brands in the UK market. It attempts to evaluate the performances of key luxury players by using a value-curve approach (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005) as a measurement tool. The value curve is a both a diagnostic and an action tool which captures the current state of play in the market space. The different constituents of the proposed Luxury Performance Matrix (LPM) should be considered when measuring the performance of a luxury brand and its capacity for value creation. The visual representation of the LPM model, allows marketers and brand managers to easily evaluate what aspects and strategic directions should be prioritized. It also allows to capture the brand’s performance across the key competitive factors of the industry and to determine which factors need to be raised above competition as way to increase competitiveness in the marketplace. The Luxury Performance Matrix proposed in this paper represents a major contribution to the measurement and evaluation of the competitive performances of established and ‘new’ luxury brands, in mature and emerging markets. Originality/value The proposed matrix will allow luxury brand managers to assess the current presence in the marketplace and develop more in-depth understanding of the brand’s performance. The findings provide valuable strategic insights for luxury brands operating across emerging and established product/market contexts.