In recent years brands have come under the spotlight for delivering unique and authentic brand experiences. Consumers find themselves looking for brands that add experiential value to their daily life, from a sensory, behavioral, intellectual and relational perspective (Brakus et al., 2009). Moreover, there is a growing demand for brands that are able to deliver their brand promise authentically (Morhart et al., 2015; Schallehn et al., 2014). On this background, our research was conducted in order to examine the role of brand experience and brand authenticity in generating brand love. In addressing this issue, the present study attempts to perform a test on research hypotheses by empirically validating the proposed conceptual model in a cross-country context (Japan and Portugal) for the brands Apple and Samsung. Additionally, it analyses the moderating effect of self-authenticity in relation to brand experience and brand authenticity. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire to final consumers, who are owners of Apple and Samsung devices. A total of 574 valid questionnaires were collected regarding Apple brand (Japan = 300; Portugal = 274). Following the testing of the structural equation model, results demonstrate the correlation between brand authenticity and brand experience and show that the greater the self-authenticity, the higher is the effect of brand authenticity on brand love. It is worth noting however that the direct and moderating effects are different for Apple and Samsung in Japan and Portugal. This accounts for the cultural differences in how consumers perceive the experiential and authentic brand value propositions and how they relate emotionally to brands. Our study also provides important managerial implications by helping brand managers to understand how to drive passionate and intense feelings towards brands and to target consumers who are looking for compelling, meaningful and authentic brand experiences.

This research explored how experiencing a country’s cultural heritage influences consumers’ authenticity evaluation of its luxury brands. It showed authenticity was culturally constructed and perception was influenced by marketing means selectively exposing the consumers to different brand attributes. It contributes to transcultural research by linking cultural attributes to brand authenticity attributes.

This study targets Korean culture theme park in Yeongju-Zone and World confucian scholar culture park in Bonghwa-Zone among the Three Major Cultural Areas Projects supervised by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The study analyzes the Historical and Cultural Authenticity of each project on the basis of the reports and the report materials for meeting with related organizations. The results of the study are drawn as follows. First, through the theoretical consideration, this study drew the types of authenticity: originality, identity, specificity and visibility, which are evaluation items on the Historical and Cultural Authenticity. Second, Bonghwa-Zone succeeded in acquiring originality with tangible cultural properties but Yeongju-Zone chose a project site without it. Third, with originality, Bonghwa-zone was evaluated as having resources and concept with high traditional culture connectivity and fulfilled identity. It led the feature showing the high affinity between originality and identity. Fourth, compared to the projects of Andong-Zone in the Three Major Cultural Areas Projects, these two projects failed to acquire the distinctions since the primary and the secondary influence area and major facilities & programs coincided with those of the projects of Andong-Zone. Fifth, compared to Bonghwa-Zone, Yeongju-Zone realized visibility faithfully by the conceptual flexibility of "Korean Culture" and a large-scale development. Sixth, in terms of the Historical and Cultural Authenticity of project plan, it is evaluated that Yeongju-Zone and Bonghwa-Zone only fulfilled visibility and specificity respectively.