The impact of digital communication on Luxury Fashion Brands’ Reputation

• Autor(a) principal: Nave, Margarida Mateus
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/42123
• topic: Brand reputation; Digital communication; Luxury fashion; Instagram; Content strategies; Influencer marketing; Celebrity endorsements; Reputação da marca; Comunicação digital; Moda de luxo; Estratégias de conteúdo; Marketing de influência; Recomendação de celebridades; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Ciências da Comunicação

The luxury market, more specifically in the fashion sector, has experienced many deep changes throughout the last years, provoked by the rise and dissemination of social media. The popularity of luxury fashion brands on social media has continually stimulated demand for newer items at an unprecedented pace, making collections become obsolete much faster than ever before. Digital communication strategies deployed by luxury brands have contributed to the cycle of fashion being sped up to a pace never seen before and the implications for that remain unknown. The present study aims to explore the importance that social media has in luxury brands and analyze how the different communication strategies that rely heavily on social media can impact the brands’ digital reputation. To do so, this investigation resorts to an array of qualitative methods that range from interviews with nineteen consumers of luxury fashion brands and two communications experts, as well as case studies about three brands that have very different approaches to social media marketing and external endorsement strategies. The results of this analysis demonstrated that while it is not required for luxury brands to have an online presence in order to maintain a good reputation, it is very advantageous. Also, it was understood that luxury brands must have a careful and meaningful approach to external endorsers to optimize their social media presence, without harming their reputations. All in all, this research articulates and deepens the understanding of relationships between the luxury industry, content strategies, and social media.