In the Eyes of Consumers: Perceptions and Attitudes towards Louis Vuitton and Their Brand Ambassadors

Main Article Content

Victor Mechai Siharath
Papaporn Chaihanchanchai

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.

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

Aniftos, R. (2017). BTS is the most tweeted-about artist of 2017, plus more Twitter year-end data. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/

Andersson, M., & Ekman, P. (2009). Ambassador networks and place branding. Journal of Place Management and Development, 2(1), 41-51.

Bachmann, F., Walsh, G., & Hammes, E. K. (2019). Consumer perceptions of luxury brands: An owner-based perspective. European Management Journal, 37(3), 287-298.

Belk, R. W. (1985). Materialism: Traits aspects of living in the material world. Journal of Consumer Research, 12(3), 265-280.

Bergkvist, L., & Rossiter, J. R. (2007). The predictive validity of multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(2), 175-184.

Bergkvist, L., Hjalmarson, H., & Mägi, A. W. (2016). A new model of how celebrity endorsements work: Attitude toward the endorsement as a mediator of celebrity source and endorsement effects. International Journal of Advertising, 35(2), 171-184.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Deshbhag, R. R., & Mohan, B. C. (2020). Study on influential role of celebrity credibility on consumer risk perceptions. Journal of Indian Business Research, 12(1), 79-92.

Dholakia, R., & Stemthal, B. (1977). Highly credible source: Persuasive facilitator or persuasive liabilities. Journal of Consumer Research, 3(4), 223-232.

Dilshad, R. M., & Latif, M. I. (2013). Focus group interview as a tool for qualitative research: An analysis. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 33(1), 191-198.

Donbavand, K. (2021). 6 times BTS wore Louis Vuitton (and we swooned). Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.instyle.com

Erdogan, B. Z. (1999). Celebrity endorsement: A literature review. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(4), 291-314.

Erdogan, B. Z., & Baker, M. J. (2000). Towards a practitioner-based model of selecting celebrity endorsers. International Journal of Advertising, 19(1), 25-42.

Euromonitor International. (2016). Louis Vuitton (Thailand) Co Ltd in Luxury Goods (Thailand). Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.marketresearch.com

Farhati, R., & Khan, M. B. (2011). Celebrity endorsement: A congruity measure of personalities. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(1), 30-38.

Field, S. (2021). BTS members guide: Read BTS’ profiles to become an ARMY. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.

hypable.com/bts-member-profile-guide/

Gentry, J. W., Sanjay, P., Clifford, S., & Commuri, S. (2001). How about Ralph Lauren? The separation of brand and product in a counterfeit culture. Advances in Consumer Research, 28(1), 258-265.

Gunawan, D. D. & Huarng, K. H. (2015). Viral effects of social network and media on consumers’ purchase intention. Journal of Business Research, 68(11), 2237-2241.

Haber, H. (2005). Vuitton garden: A maze through history. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/vuitton-garden-a-maze-through-history-574719/

Harris, F., & de Chernatony, L. (2001). Corporate branding and corporate brand performance. European Journal of Marketing, 35(3), 441-456.

Hovland, C. I., Janis, L. I., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and Persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Hudders, L. (2012). Why the devil wears Prada: Consumers’ purchase motives for luxuries. Journal of Brand Management, 19(7), 609-622.

Hudders, L., Pandelaere, M., & Vyncke, P. (2013). Consumer meaning making: The meaning of luxury brands in a democratized luxury world. International Journal of Market Research, 55(3), 69-90.

Interbrand. (2020). Best luxury brands - Luxury. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.interbrand.com/best-global-brands/?filter-brand-sector=luxury

Jain, V., Vatsa, R., & Jagani, K. (2014). Exploring Generation Z’s purchase behavior towards luxury apparel: A conceptual framework. Romanian Journal of Marketing, 2(1), 18-29.

Jansom, A., & Pongsakornrungsilp, S. (2021). How Instagram Influencers Affect the Value Perception of Thai Millennial Followers and Purchasing Intention of Luxury Fashion for Sustainable Marketing. Sustainability, 13, 1-19.

Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2004). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Kamins, M. A. (1990). An investigation into the ‘match-up’ hypothesis in celebrity advertising: When beauty may be only skin deep, Journal of Advertising, 19(1), 4-13.

Kapferer, J. N. (1997). Managing luxury brands. Journal of Brand Management, 4(4), 251-260.

Kasztalska, A. (2018). Louis Vuitton as an example of the old and modern in the same time luxury brand in the eyes of its clientele. In CBU International Conference Proceedings, 6, 226-230.

Kiecker, P., & Cowles, D. (2001). Interpersonal communication and personal influence on the internet: A framework for examining online word-of-mouth. Journal of Euromarketing, 11(2), 71-88.

Kitner, J. (2014). Louis Vuitton: Case study. [Marketing Strategy in Service Business, Masaryk University] Masaryk University Intellectual Repository.

Klopper, H. B., & North, E. (2011). Brand management. Cape Town, South Africa: Pearson.

Knittel, C. R., & Stango, V. (2014). Celebrity endorsements, firm value, and reputation risk: evidence from the tiger woods scandal. Management Science, 60(1), 21-37.

Krueger, R. A. (2002). Designing and conducting focus group interviews. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from http://www.eiu.

edu/ihec/KruegerFocusGroupInterviews.pdf

Lafferty, B. A., & Goldsmith, R. E. (1999). Corporate credibility's role in consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions when a high versus a low credibility endorser is used in the ad. Journal of Business Research, 44(2), 109-116.

Lazarevic, V. (2011). Encouraging brand loyalty in fickle generation Y consumers. Young Consumers, 13(1), 45-61.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

McGuire, W. J. (1985). Attitudes and attitude change. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (3rd ed., pp. 233-346.). New York: Random House.

Min, J. H. J., Chang, H. J. J., Jai, T. M. C., & Ziegler, M. (2019). The effects of celebrity-brand congruence and publicity on consumer attitudes and buying behvaior. Fashion and Textiles, 6(10), 1-19.

Mowen, J. C., & Brown, S. W. (1981). On explaining and predicting the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. In K. B. Monroe, & A. Abor (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research (8th vol., pp.437-441). Association for Consumer Research.

Nelissen, R., & Meijers, M. (2011). Social benefits of luxury brands as costly signals of wealth and status. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(5), 343-355.

Nelson, O., & Deborah, A. (2017). Celebrity endorsement influence on brand credibility: A critical review of previous, Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 7(1), 15-32.

Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorser’s perceived expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39-52.

Okwodu, J. (2021). BTS and Louis Vuitton’s new fashion film is a game changer. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.

vogue.com/article/bts-louis-vuitton-fall-winter-2021-film

Parc, J., & Kim, Y. (2020). Analyzing the reasons for the global popularity of BTS: A new approach from a business perspective. Journal of International Business and Economy, 21(1), 15-36.

Percy, L., & Rossiter, J. R. (1980). Advertising strategy: a communication theory approach. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Petravičiūtė, K., Seinauskiene, B., Rūtelionė, A., & Krukowski, K. (2021). Linking luxury brand perceived value, brand attachment, and purchase intention: The role of consumer vanity. Sustainability, 13(12), 1-21.

Porath, N. (2018). A meeting of masks: Status, power and hierarchy in Bangkok, by Sophorntavy Vorng. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, 174(2-3), 356-359.

Rice, P. L., & Ezzy, D. (1999). Qualitative research methods: A health focus. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Rolfe, G. (2006). Validity, trustworthiness and rigor: quality and the idea of qualitative research. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 53(3), 304-310.

Romaniuk, J., & Huang, A. (2020). Understanding consumer perceptions of luxury brands. International Journal of Market Research, 62(5), 546-560.

Royan, F. M. (2005). Marketing Selebrities. Jakarta, Indonesia: Elex Media Komputindo.

Singh, A. (2010). Brand ambassadors endorsing brands: A case study of Telecom companies In India. Management Insight, 6(1), 55-60.

Solomon, M. R. (2019). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Swant, M. (2020). The world’s most valuable brands. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/the-worlds-most-valuable-brands/#1957de2d119c

Thomas, S. (2021). Louis Vuitton advertising strategy: Why is Louis Vuitton so popular? Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://avada.io/resources/louis-vuitton-advertising.html

Ulkhaq, M. M., Nurdianti, A. R., Kartika, M., & Astharina, V. (2016). A confirmatory factor analysis of the source model for celebrity endorsement. Journal of Management, Marketing and Logistics, 3(1), 28-37.

Voytko, L. (2020). BTS’ Jungkook breaks the Internet (again) with twitter’s most-liked tweet this week. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com

Wadhwa, B., & Chiahanchanchai, P. (2021). The role of online influencer’s characteristics in attitude towards a brand and purchase intention: A case study on the L’Oréal brand. Communication and Media in Asia Pacific, 4(2), 21-32.

Wee, T. T. T. (2004). Extending human personality to brands: the stability factor. Journal of Brand Management, 11(4), 317-330.

Weidmann, K. P., Hennigs, N., Siebels, A. (2007). Measuring consumers’ luxury value perception: a cross-cultural framework. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 27(7), 1-20.

Westberg, K., Stavros, C., & Wilson, B. (2010). The impact of degenerative episodes on the sponsorship B2B relationship: Implications for brand management. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(1), 603-611.

Wilson, E., & Sherrell, D. (1993). Source effects in communication and persuasion research: A meta-analysis of effect size. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21(1), 101-112.

Wu, P.C. & Wang, Y.C. (2011). The influences of electronic word-of-mouth message appeal and message source credibility on brand attitude. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics, 23(4), 448-472.

Ye, S. H. & Liu, X. T., & Shi, S. Y. (2015). The research of status’s influence on consumers’ self-brand connection with luxury brands: Moderating role of self-esteem and vanity. Open Journal of Business and Management, 3(1), 11-19.