Anti-Social" Strategy and Brand Equity: BOTTEGA VENETA´S case

• Autor(a) principal: Luz, Maria Margarida Pinto da
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/42085
• topic: Luxury Brands; Social Media; Brand Equity; Bottega Veneta; Balenciaga; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Social media poses a dilemma for luxury brands, while luxury represents exclusivity, uniqueness, and outstanding customer experience; social media is accessible, characterized by the lack of physical contact and created for the masses. Despite this conceptual paradox, research shows that social media is a powerful addition to the marketing strategy of luxury brands and has a positive impact on brand equity. However, scant evidence is available on what happens to the image and awareness of a luxury brand when it stops creating content and interacting with consumers on social media platforms. This research aims to analyse Bottega Veneta’s brand equity after adopting an “anti-social” strategy (i.e., deleting their social media accounts). An online questionnaire was used to evaluate the current state of Bottega Veneta’s brand equity and perform a comparison with a similar brand present on social media, Balenciaga. Findings based on 147 participants suggest that Bottega Veneta has low levels of brand awareness and brand image, leading to reduced overall brand equity. When compared to Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta also presents a lower brand awareness and brand image. Overall, this research concluded that reducing brand communication and relying only on one-way communication could be negative for brand awareness since customers are not frequently exposed to the brand elements, consequently resulting in low levels of brand image since potential consumers cannot form solid brand associations.