Virtanen, Hanna

English

UTUPub

ABSTRACTSubject International Business Date 15.11.2007Student numberAuthor(s) Hanna VirtanenNumber of pages 86Title GETTING REAL - Authenticity in Personal Luxury MarketSupervisor(s) D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus.Adm.) Esa StenbergM.Sc. (Econ & Bus. Adm.) Pia LotilaAbstractAuthenticity, by definition, is the quality of being genuine or true. Recently, there have been effortsto define authenticity in terms of marketing, in which the definition is not as clear cut. Research onauthenticity is scarce and scattered. This study aspires to contribute to this void in the research. Thepurpose of this study was to analyze the presentation of authenticity of personal luxury brands.The document analysis was central method in this research. Documents were used as primarysource because entry to these companies was restricted. The empirical framework consisted ofnumber of documents drawn from the company websites. The selected brands represent seven of thelargest luxury brands in the industry. In order to get more comprehensive outlook on subject and tofurther the credibility of the research, an expert in luxury branding industry was contacted. Aninterview with Philippe Mihailovich was conducted in Paris, in May 2007.Luxury is a world of its own. Standard marketing rules do not often apply to luxuries. Also thestructure of the brand architecture separates the luxury brands from the ordinary brands. Luxurybrands follow the hierarchy proposed by Jean- Noël Kapferer. In this hierarchy, a griffe representsthe peak. The concept of griffe proved also to be a salient point to this research. A griffe is closelyrelated to the hero of the brand story and often provides face to the brand.Both status and story aspects were assumed to affect perceptions of authenticity. Presumption wasthat brands would lean on either status or story. However, the evidence shows that status and storyare not, in fact, two opposite ends of the spectrum, but status is often an element of a luxury story.The story, in turn, was found to be momentous to authenticity. In marketing, a powerful storyentwines the story of the brand and that of the customer.The story affects how authenticity is presented, but it remained unanswered what authenticityconsists of. The authenticity attributes assumed where drawn from  Michael Beverland’s research in2006 focusing on authenticity in luxury wine trade. These attributes included: heritage, quality,method of production, stylistic consistency, reference to place and appearing to be abovecommercial constraints. Research findings supported the original model to some extent, however,the model evolved somewhat throughout the study. It was the face that brought the researchtogether. Face, hero and griffe are often the same person, the creative talent of the brand. The re-vised model combined also method of production and quality. A superior quality was found to be aderivative of meticulous method of production and superior materials.Key words Authenticity, Storytelling, Luxury, Griffe, BrandsFurtherinformationx   Master´s thesis  Licentiate´s thesis  Doctor´s thesis

GETTING REAL - Authenticity in personal luxury market

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GETTING REAL - Authenticity in personal luxury market

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