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

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.

Storytelling has become increasingly of interest for marketing and management in the last years and promises both aesthetic design and effecting consumers’ perception of fashion brands positively. Nevertheless, the complexity of story design, still being rather focussed by the humanities, and its effective adaption for luxury fashion brands regarding value perception and related behavioural consequences are still poorly understood and have not been explored so far. We seek to fill this research gap. In our study, we chose a luxury brand’s existing story and applied story concepts of narratology to rearrange plot, characters, and style first. In a second step, we examined the effect of applying the story concepts by testing the perception of three different groups (no story, original story, and rearranged story). Using PLS path modelling, we proved our hypotheses empirically. Our examination suggests that an application of narrative concepts for creating fashion brand stories has a measurable impact on consumer’s reception and behavioural outcome. On the one hand, this involves dimensions of luxury value, such as financial, functional, individual, and social consumer perceptions as well as an overall likability perception of the brand. On the other hand, this perception obviously impacts consumption habits regarding luxury fashion as much as it is related to recommendation behaviour, willingness to pay a premium price, and purchase intentions. Our findings strongly advice to consult established theories, concepts, and models of the humanities for storytelling in marketing and management. While measuring specific elements already proves their applicability, it will be a major task for theoretical and qualitative research to discuss existing material for the demands of marketing and management as well as (fashion) brands. Even for professionals in brand management, our study advices to have a closer look on traditional storytelling concepts to create effective campaigns. The particular value of our study is to present and empirically verify design elements of storytelling with respect to theoretical narrative approaches, which may have specific impact on certain luxury values and their causal effects on luxury fashion consumption. Our results reflect remarkable implications for luxury brand management as well as future research in luxury fashion, brand management, and marketing storytelling. A luxury company may stimulate purchase behaviour with a storytelling campaign. Nevertheless our study proved that a rather appropriate design, respecting research approaches of narratology, is able to increase the impact on consumers’ perception and behavioural outcome.

Social media has radically altered marketing’s ecology of influence. Moreover, through the rise of visual social media platforms in recent years, marketers are facing new challenges. Adopting an exploratory approach, our study combines interviews and content analysis to explore the managerial perspectives to brand storytelling through visual content site Pinterest and to assess its potential as a strategic marketing communications tool.

광고의 범람시대에 살고 있는 지금, 광고이미지를 부각시키는 자극적인 시각요소나 감동을 주는 스토리가 없다면 어느새 사장되고 마는 실정에 이르렀다. 그만큼 소비자의 트렌드는 실시간으로 변화하고 있고 그에 대응하는 광고시장은 기민하게 대처할 수밖에 없게 되었다. 광고에 표현되는 기법은 갈수록 다양해지고 있으나 아직까지도 제품의 기능과 특징만을 부각 시키는 정보전달 위주의 광고가 주류를 이루고 있는 것도 사실이다. 특히, TV에 방영되는 CF의 경우 시간상 제약으로 인 해 임팩트 있는 요소를 짧은 시간 안에 표현해야 효과가 있는 만큼 아이디어 개발은 마치 전쟁과 같다고 할 수 있다. 이런 상황에서 스토리텔링을 이용한 광고기법은 소비자의 감성과 심리적 요소를 아우르는 것으로 제품의 객관적 요소뿐 아니라 소비자의 감성을 자극하여 광고의 효과를 극대화시키는 유용한 도구로 자리 잡고 있다. 본 연구는 판매량 1위 주류인 맥주광고 중 스토리텔링 기법을 적절히 사용하여 호응을 얻고 있는 HITE 맥주의 TV광고 이미지를 분석하여 스토리텔링 기법이 맥주광고에 얼마나 효과적으로 적용되고 있으며 브랜드 이미지 제고에 어떤 효과가 있는지를 살펴보고자 한다.