In the Eyes of Consumers: Perceptions and Attitudes towards Louis Vuitton and Their Brand Ambassadors
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Abstract
This study was qualitative in nature aiming to gain more understanding on consumers’ perceptions towards Louis Vuitton and their attitudes toward Louis Vuitton’s brand ambassador, BTS, a K-Pop boy band. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from eight participants through an online focus group discussion. All participants were consumers of Louis Vuitton, aged between 22-28 years old. The luxury value perception framework by Weidmann and Hennigs (2007) was used to explore consumers’ attitudes towards Louis Vuitton and the VisCAP model by Percy and Rossiter (1980) was used to evaluate the source characteristics of BTS as Louis Vuitton’s brand ambassador. The findings showed that the participants perceived Louis Vuitton to be a brand of good quality and functionality, however, a brand for older consumers. BTS were also evaluated BTS to have limited visibility and not credible as Louis Vuitton’s brand ambassador. This study has raised important questions about the congruency between a brand and its ambassador, especially for luxury brands.
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