Budnarowska, Corinna

Marciniak, Ruth

Bournemouth University Research Online

Selfies: An Exploration into the Brand Effects of Visual Imagery with Earned Media Ruth Marciniak, Glasgow Caledonian University Corinna Budnarowska, Bournemouth University Outline of Presentation • What’s a selfie? • Who posts selfies? • Why do they do it? • Why are selfies of interest to fashion brands? • What academic research has been done on selfies? • What is the gap in the literature? • What theory can help fill the gap? • What are the results to date? • What issues and concepts need to be further explored? • What are the issues do the industry need to be aware of?  Taking images of yourself – is nothing new Self portraiture Commissioned portraits  Camera Camera with self timer The photo booth The polaroid camera The camera phone ‘The selfie’    What is a selfie? Self generated, self selected picture to communicate transitory message in a particular moment in time taken to be immediately distributed to others via social media networks (Soerjoatmodjo, 2014)  “the selfie is a mirror, and a camera, and a stage or billboard all at once” (Warfield 2014)  “Visual culture”  (Franco, 2013) “Visual promiscuity”  (Nelson, 2013) “vainglory”  (Nelson, 2013) Social conformity?  (Nelson, 2013; Franco, 2013)  • Significantly more women • Typically young people estimated median age is 23.7 years (Selfiecity, 2014) Who posts Selfies?  Why do People take Selfies? • Self expression • Killing time • Recording memorable moments • Affirmation from social media friends (Soerjoatmodjo, 2014) • Narcissism • Vanity • Self disclosure (Gasbo and Wittberger 2014).     Selfies facilitate the opportunity to … • Share a presentation of the self and identity (Soerjoatmodjo, 2014); • Create a life narrative through images (Rutledge, 2013); • ‘protest’ against airbrushed images portrayed in popular media (Gervais, 2013); • Self disclosure (Christofides et al. 2013) • Create an ‘avatar’/alternative version of oneself (Franco, 2013)   Likewise, fashion serves as a vehicle for self expression.      Why are selfies of interest to fashion brands?  Serve as a medium for stimulating earned media – visual eWOM What academic research has been done on selfies? • Academic research has mainly been limited to social-psychological role of the selfie (e.g. work of Pogontseva & Grinkova, 2014; Warfield, 2014) • Marketing aspect largely ignored so far – early findings mixed (can be both positive and negative (Houghton et al., 2013) for brands    Just because they are popular doesn’t make them right  “increased frequency of sharing photographs of the self, regardless of the type of target sharing the photographs, is related to a decrease in intimacy.”  (Houghton et al. 2013)  … implications for stimulating earned media.   What is the gap in the literature? A substantial research stream exists with regards to WOM and eWOM (King et al. 2014)  Extant research: • Types of eWOM: discussion groups, blogs, product reviews; • Motives for engaging in eWOM online; • Motives for reading/listening online;  Gap: Visual imagery via eWOM has been ignored. Point to consider: Social media is not owned media  “If social media were truly owned, brands would have control over the experience, access to their fans and full use of the data. But the reality is quite different… It’s true that you own your accounts and profiles. That’s like having your name on the mailbox. But .. they can enter your apartment at will,  renovate the building whenever they like.” (Bonchek, 2014) Voice The Brand’s web site Footprint The brand’s ads, emails, twitter feeds Shadow What everyone says about the brand  What issues and concepts need to be further explored? Customer equity: i.e. value the customer brings to the brand in terms of bringing attention and awareness to the brand.  Components of customer equity: • Value • Brand • Relationship (Lemon et al., 2001)  Further to explore … Whether this type of earned media is positive or negative – trade off for brands?  What theory can help fill the gap?  Conceptual Model of the Selfie as Earned Media Experiential Benefits • High • Medium • low Selfie Brand Familiarity • High • Low Outcome: Earned Media • Attention to the brand • Brand choice Research Aim  To examine the way in which earned media can, influence  • consumer attitudes towards brands; • the appeal  brands  Pilot Study Screening question:   Do you post selfies of yourself wearing particular fashion brands you have either a) just bought (post purchase); b) when deciding whether to make a purchase e.g. whilst in a changing room (pre-purchase)    Sample:  11 females aged 16 and 24 years old   Research Themes • Brand choice: is it only particular fashion brands interviewees select to post?; • Brand attention: what comments do posters make about the brand? i.e. what attention do they bring to the brand; • Brand influence: what influence do the posters perceive they have on others when they post a selfie? e.g. reinforce someone else’s experience of the brand; influence someone to change their mind about the brand posted; • Brand awareness: When posting a selfie, do posters perceive they are making others awareness of the brand they are wearing; increase others’ familiarity with the brand?  Results Brand choice Top End Bargain If it's a luxurious item like a designer handbag then I would be more likely to post it on Instagram  Liberty x Nike trainers:  its a limited edition that means it is very difficult to buy. Want to share my excitement to my friends … the ones I’m really impressed about like an item from Primark that doesn't look like its from there I will share. These are the ones you usually receive positive feedback from friends who also cant believe its from Primark.  Brand choice as a vehicle to reflect self image I do see other people I follow that will only post a purchase if its a designer or expensive purchase so I guess it depends on each person and what type of image they are trying to portray.  Brand Attention Love this ZARA dress; In love with this coat Tends to be just listing items and where they’re from   "me and my arm candy" I don't tend to post brand selfies Style more than fashion brand,  Unusual, different, colourful, fun, trendy  Brand influence Responses have been " so stylish" , "can't go wrong with McQueen" Perceived opinion leaders Inadvertent opinion leaders Sometimes someone will ask me where I got someone from, for example where I got my shoes from.  It is quite common to ask that.  I don't really think I have an influence on others. My friends usually go out and buy the same style clothing as me once I've shared it with them!  Selfie – a vehicle for approval not brand influence I guess subconsciously you are seeking the approval of others or trying to express a desired image, although I don't ever assume I am having an influence over others on the type of image I am sharing.  … most of the time I feel people look at my photos to get a sense of my personality and what I'm like.  Brand Awareness I post a jacket from urban outfitters that my friends bought the same as mine by chance. We have discussed about the quality and how we can match the jacket up with our other clothes online. It isn’t my main priority. Sometimes I would make an effort NOT to as if it is a very specific item I would be quite selfish and not want someone to go and buy it. And never actively trying to promote a brand  If anything I find myself not posting lots of brand stuff up as I hate having the same things as everybody. Perhaps I'm trying to make people aware that I don't buy a lot from topshop etc.  Key Finding to Date There is evidence to suggest from the pilot study that selfies can function to support fashion brands in terms of brand awareness and attention hence serving to influence brand attitude and enhance the appeal of the  brand.   However this is not always the case. The perfect Xmas gift! Thank you 

Selfies: An Exploration into the Brand Effects of Visual Imagery with Earned Media

Over the past decade, online social media, for example, the use of blogs and online discussion forums, has created novel opportunities for companies to engage in various marketing communications initiatives (Stephen and Galek, 2012; Anderson et al., 2014). As a consequence, academic literature has emerged exploring the use of social media in marketing, for example, its impact on traditional marketing (Papasolomou and Melanthiouearned; 2012) and; stages of social commerce (Harris &amp; Dennis, 2011). In particular, examination of earned media, media that is directly related to a company or brand but the company does not directly generate, has spawned much interest. For example, motivations for shopping on retailers’ Facebook pages (Anderson et al., 2014) and Hollenbeck and Kaikati’s (2012) work which, explored consumers’ use of brands on Facebook. However neglect within the literature is an exploration of the use of visual imagery in earned media. It is well established that visual imagery plays a significant role in most advertising, for example, television advertising, bill posters and in magazines (Branthwaite; 2002). Visual imagery serves as a powerful tool in influencing brand recall and familiarity (Mikhailitchenko et al.; 2009). It has been studied extensively within consumer research (Babin and Burns; 1997) and, most importantly, reliance of imagery has grown in importance over recent decades, which Branthwaite (2002) attributes to the growth of global brands. More recently, with the growth of interest in social media, and in particular, the growth of social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest, offer attractive vehicles for consumer generated visual media. In particular, the selfie, a photograph wherein the photographer has taken a picture of themselves and subsequently uploaded it on to a social media site, have emerged as an opportunity for companies to tap into people’s desire for praise (Griner, 2014), and in so doing, foster consumers with a compelling way to engage with the brand experience. Indeed there are numerous campaigns that have been built around selfies, which have sought to access a ready made audience, that being, the photographer’s own online community. The aim of the research is to examine the way in which, earned media, specifically selfies, can influence consumer attitudes towards brands, in particular, the appeal of the brand. Explicitly, the research aims to identify the extent to which the selfie serves as a brand communication vehicle thereby contributing to increasing attention to a brand, and, ultimately influencing brand choice. In so doing, recognition of the role of the selfie to create brand differentiation is explored. Output of the research has relevance to brand companies looking to engage in brand extension, reposition the brand or possibly engage in sub branding. For the purposes of the study, the researchers selected to explore fashion brands. The research is informed by theory based on Underwood et al.’s (2001) work on visual imagery, which explored packaging. The research identified two dependent variables, attention to a brand and brand choice, which were explored through examination of perceived level of experiential benefits and level of familiarity with the brand. For this current research, which examines these concepts within the context of earned media, brand choice is the fashion brand, amongst a set of competing brands, selected by the individual to wear when posing for the selfie. Alternatively, attention given to the brand is the posts or comments made by the individual who posted the selfie about the brand, that is, their engagement in promotion of the brand. Both brand familiarity and experiential benefits serve as moderating effects (Underwood et al., 2001). For example, if an individual’s selfie serves to promote a brand but a friend of the individual who posted the selfie had a previous poor experience of the brand, the effect of the selfie will have a negative impact on brand attention or influence brand choice. Alternatively, if it was a positive experience, the selfie would function to enhance the experience of the brand. Likewise, if the brand was unbeknown to the friend, on viewing the selfie, an awareness of the brand would follow. Increased familiarity would follow if the friend was already aware of the brand. Given that it remains to be the case that word of mouth can contribute towards positive brand communications, as cited by Richins: ‘customers continue to purchase those products with which they are satisfied and in telling others about particularly pleasing products, they may influence the brand perceptions of those with whom they communicate’ (Richins, 1983:68),the selfie has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool.In order to examine how selfies, a form of social earned media, may bring attention to a brand and, in doing so, influence brand choice, the research adopted an exploratory approach wherein qualitative data was obtained via semi-structured face to face interviews. In total, 20 interviews were conducted with consumers who, in response to a screening question, had direct experience of posting selfies wearing selected fashion brands. Interviewees were recruited via convenience and multiplicity sampling. The resulting pool of respondents varied in gender, education and employment. Interviews were conducted in a location convenient to the respondent and followed a semi-structured interview protocol, wherein an open form of dialogue was encouraged. In conducting the interviews, the same themes were presented to all the respondents. Themes were based on Underwood et al.’s (2001) work. The aim of undertaking multiple interviews was to achieve theoretical saturation. This was accomplished when the later interviewees failed to extract any new information. It was then that the data collection was concluded. Results of the empirical research contribute to the growing body of literature on social media, in particular, earned media. In additional, the results contribute to theory relating to brand effects of visual imaginary and marketing communication.Key words: visual imagery, brand effects, earned media, selfiesReferencesAnderson (2014) Influence of hedonic and utilitarian motivations on retailer loyalty and purchase intention: a facebook perspective, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 21(5):773–779Babin L.A. &amp; Burns A.C. (1997) ’Effects of print ad pictures and copy containing instructions to imagine on mental imagery that mediates attitudes’, Journal of Advertising, 26(3):32-44Branthwaite A. (2002) ‘Investigating the power of imagery in marketing communication: Evidence-based techniques’, Qualitative Market Research, 5(3): 164-171Griner D. (2014) ‘Infographic: How brands became selfie obsessed,’ Adweek, 11th February 2014, accessed 15th July 2014 [http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/infographic-how-brands-became-selfie-obsessed-155651]Harris L. &amp; Dennis, C. (2011) ‘Engaging customers on Facebook: challenges for e-retailers,’ Journal of Consumer Behaviour 10(6):338–346Hollenbeck C.R. &amp; Kaikati A.M. (2012) ¿International Journal of Research in Marketing, Volume 29, Issue 4, December 2012, Pages 395-405Mikhailitchenko A., Javalgi R.G., Mikhailitchenko G. &amp; Laroche M. (2009) ‘Cross-cultural advertising communication: Visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand recall’, Journal of Business Research 62(10): 931–938Papasolomou I. &amp; and Melanthiou Y. (2012) ‘Social Media: Marketing Public Relations’ New Best Friend,’ Journal of Promotion Management 18(3):19–328Richins M.L. (1983)‘Negative Word-of-Mouth by Dissatisfied Consumers: A Pilot Study’, Journal of Marketing, 47(1):68-78Stephen A.T. &amp; Galak J. (2012) ‘The effects of traditional and social earned media on sales: A study of the microlending marketplace,’ Journal of Marketing Research, :624-639Underwood R.L., Klein N.M. &amp; Burke R.R. (2001) ‘Packaging communication: Attentional effects of product imagery,’ Journal of Product and Brand Management, 10(7):403-422 <br/

Selfies: An Exploration into the Brand Effects of Visual Imagery with Earned Media

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