HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT? THE ROLE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY AND CREDIBILITY

Silvia Ranfagni,Riccardo Rialti,Lamberto Zollo,Cristiano Ciappei 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

Celebrity endorsement has been traditionally considered as a strategic promotional tool by marketers. Actually, advertising scholars generally found a positive influence of celebrity endorsement on brand equity and, consequently, on consumer purchase intention. On the one hand, literature interprets celebrity source and endorsement factors as related to celebrity-brand fit, perceived celebrity motive, and celebrity expertise. On the other hand, consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) has been usually referred to brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand associations. Despite such a growing interest, there is limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms linking celebrity endorsement to CBBE. Building on consumer psychology and brand signaling theories, this study develops a conceptual model which hypothesizes consumer-based brand authenticity (CBBA) and brand credibility as mediating variables of the aforementioned relationship. First, CBBA is interpreted as a multidimensional construct composed of a brand’s quality commitment, sincerity, and heritage. Second, credibility refers to a brand’s ability – e.g. expertise – and willingness – e.g. trustworthiness – to reliably keeping its promises to consumers. Moreover, this study hypothesizes that the influence of CBBA and brand credibility on CBBE vary according to consumers’ advertising evaluation. Hence, communication effectiveness is considered as a moderating variable of these relationships. The conceptual model is empirically tested using bootstrapped moderated mediation analysis on a sample of Millennial consumers. In fact, Millennials very well describe postmodern consumption and communication, which increasingly emphasize the need of “real” and authentic communication by credible endorsers and endorsed brands. By stressing the significant role of brand authenticity and credibility in the context of celebrity endorsement, this study provides both theoretical and practical implications to marketing communication literature.

GENERATING BRAND AUTHENTICITY: CASES OF TUSCAN WINE COMPANIES

Silvia Ranfagni,Aldo Burresi,Massimo Rosati 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2015 No.06

Our work analyses the theme of authenticity as a process of self-appropriation pursued by companies during their existence. The goal is to investigate this process by identifying the trade-off companies have faced. By doing this, we propose to recognize the sources of brand authenticity. The research methodology is based on the case analysis of Tuscan wine companies that are emblematic for the topic investigated.

BE SOCIAL AND BE TUNED: EVALUATE YOUR BRANDS IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Silvia Ranfagni,Monica Faraoni 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2017 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2017 No.07

The paper proposes an analytical approach that explores brands in virtual environments by combining indicators of consumer brand alignment with measurements of social engagement. The results illustrated can be useful to devise adjustments to brand communication. The analysis is applied to brands belonging to the fashion industry.

BRAND AUTHENTICITY AND CREDIBILITY IN CELEBRITY ENDORSED ADVERTISING: EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

Silvia Ranfagni,Claudio Becagli,Lamberto Zollo,Riccardo Rialti,Sukki Yoon 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2020 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2020 No.11

CONSUMER-BRAND KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENTS: AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH ON THE MULTI-VOCAL NATURE OF THE BRAND

Silvia Ranfagni,Matilde Milanesi,Simone Guercini 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

The aim of the paper is to present an analytical approach that combines netnography with text-mining to build consumer brand knowledge in terms of brand associations deriving from social media contents. More specifically, it is based on the multi-vocal nature (Gensler et al., 2013) of the brand related to the participatory, collaborative and socially-linked behaviors by consumers that serve as creators of brand stories thus determining brand associations. It identifies and explores user-generated contents (UGC) as expression of brand associations emerging from different categories of actors in social media (consumers, influencers and other online prescribers), and measures their alignment with the company-defined brand associations. The rise of social media and the associated possibilities of large-scale consumer-to-consumer interaction and easy user generation of content shed light on the importance of the consumer-generated brand stories through social media, which have a high impact due to their characteristics of being digital, visible, ubiquitous, available in real-time, and dynamic (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Methodologically, the paper proposes a two-pronged methodological approach integrating qualitative market research techniques with the quantitative ones, respectively netnography, used to explore consumer interactions in virtual communities through computer-mediated discourses, and text mining, used to extrapolate information from relatively large amounts of electronically stored textual data by means of computer applications. More specifically, the paper proposes an analysis of the 10 top luxury fashion brands in terms of brand associations emerging from UGC in social media through the voices of consumers, bloggers and other online prescribers, in line with the multi-vocal nature of the brand. Such associations are then compared to those generated by the company, in order to identify a possible alignment. The paper provides an analytical tool that allow managers to actively understand how different “online market brand players” interact with their brands, and eventually redefine their branding strategies together with their brand communication.

CONVIVIALITY IN ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES AND BUSINESS NETWORKS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PROJECT

Simone Guercini,Silvia Ranfagni 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2015 No.06

Conviviality is an interdisciplinary concept and a key phenomenon in the entrepreneurial communities. Entrepreneurial communities are social units that share values, experiences, emotions, rituals and traditions. They give rise to personal contact networks that are sets of formal or informal individual relationships. Conviviality means sharing, openness and participation; in this sense, it can be a tool to foster, animate and amalgamate a community. Thus, it can increase social relations that stably bind individuals and thus, becomes a source of business relations. Drawing from literature analysis and a case of a fashion entrepreneurial community, we propose to investigate how conviviality create an integration between social and business networks.

Time in business-to-business interactions. A case analysis in textile and clothing

Simone Guercini,Silvia Ranfagni,Andrea Runfola 한국마케팅과학회 2014 Journal of Global Fashion Marketing Vol.5 No.1

The article analyzes the role of time in business network interactions. Its main aim is to examine time issues and fill a research gap regarding different market models anddifferent concepts of time. The methodology used is a case study to investigate a focal interaction in the fashion industry, between a firm considered to be the focal company, a luxury clothing manufacturer, and one of its main suppliers. From the research, two concepts of time emerge with regard to business networks: time as a product and time as a process. Combining literature and case analyses, it derives a correspondence between time as a process and interaction as adaptation, and time as a product and interaction as exchange. The findings of this study point to the need for further studies on time in business networks.

MILLENIALS AND ON AND OFF LUXURY PURCHASING: FACTORS DRIVING THEIR CHOICES

Serena Rovai,Silvia Ranfagni,Simone Guercini 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2019 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2019 No.07

Creation of Fashion Trends and Role of the Bureau de Style for Textile Innovation

( Simone Guercini ),( Silvia Ranfagni ) 한국마케팅과학회 2012 Journal of Global Fashion Marketing Vol.3 No.1

The aim of this paper is to examine the bureaux de style as producers of fashion trends and their interactions with textile firms in order to analyze their contribution in terms of knowledge and of competence to textile innovation processes. The business relationships for innovation has considerable current importance in the textile sector. Although this industry is considered mature, product innovation, based on the generation and exploitation of fashion trends, represents a fundamental strategic option to face the increasingly competitive pressure. From a theoretical point of view, the achievement of our research goals has led us to analyze the scientific paradigms of knowledge generation and of cognitive networks as conceptual frameworks. As to knowledge generation we focus on constructivism, which considers the creation of knowledge as a generative act (Weick, 1995; Starbuck and Milliken 1988; Westley 1990; Louis, 1980; Griffith 1999; Drazin et al. 1999). In other words knowledge is not just a revelation of an objectively given situation; its generation means creating a reality and actively influencing the surrounding circumstances, which it contributes to shaping (Von Glasersfeld, 1981). According to this approach the process of knowledge generation can be subdivided into the three specific stages: a) activation of the environment; b) selection of environment on the basis of the search for causal linkages; and c) retention of the constructed environment. Portions of potential knowledge are identified in the environment that can take form and be built as a subjective act. The constructivist approach is opposed to the cognitive approach , which considers knowledge as a representation of a world, outside the subject; this is because the object of thought processes is consists of symbols and situations which are structured by encoding and elaborating information. In connection with the cognitive network (Schwenk, 1988; Lektorskii, 2010), we introduce the concept of relations as way of sharing and exploiting knowledge to generate product innovation. In particular relations among firms can favor the exchange and sharing of cognitive resources, producing a co-evolution of their own learning processes and product innovations. Studies in management literature analyze the cognitive contribution to innovation deriving from subjects (customers, distributors, suppliers) belonging to the same inter- organizational network (Cooper and Kleinschmidt 1987; Von Hippel, 1988, 2011; Jones and Ritz 1991; Rangan, Melvyn and Mayer 1992; Clark and Fujimoto 1991; Leonard-Barton, 1995). Other studies highlight how the development of innovation also implies an analysis of the sources of knowledge internal to the firm. A firm in order to produce innovation, has to assimilate the external stock of knowledge and combine it with its competence, thereby producing new knowledge (Mahajan and Wind, 1992; Workman, 1993; Griffin and Hauser, 1994; Pisano, 1994; Bruce and Morris, 1995; Davies-Cooper and Jones, 1995; Williams and Smith, 1990; Axelsson and Hakansson, 1990). In this perspective, the process of new product development is encouraged by the integration of knowledge between an inter-enterprise network and an intra- enterprise network, which can considered in the various functions of the firm (marketing, research and development, production, purchasing). Resting on these theoretical frameworks, our empirical analysis focuses on the processes of knowledge generation produced by the bureaux de style. In particular we examine a) how the bureaux de style produce knowledge to generate fashion trends; b) the interactions between bureaux de style and textile firms in the sharing and production of fashion trends; and c) the contribution of these interactions to textile product innovation. In a relational perspective the bureaux de style constitute part of the cognitive network for innovation in textile firms; they produce creative knowledge that can influence the realization of seasonal collections. Our study is both exploratory and original: in the management literature in fact, specific studies on the bureaux de style and their role in the fashion sector have not yet been carried out. Our work is based not only on the study of the literature and an analysis of the results of research on this topic, but also on primary sources consisting of information gathered through interviews with four important bureaux de style in France and Italy, which, in the opinion of Italian textile manufacturers` associations, are considered to play a major role in trend generation.

FASHION LUXURIOUSNESS IN ADVERTISING: THE ROLE OF MADE IN ITALY AND HERITAGE ON THE NEW FACE OF LUXURY

Serena Rovai,Silvia Ranfagni 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2020 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2020 No.11