Luxury Fashion of Swarovski Toward

¶ … luxury fashion of Swarovski toward social identity.

The review of the literatures presents "the effects of luxury fashion from Swarovski toward social identity." The paper reviews the literatures to provide greater understanding of the "experiential marketing for fashion jewellery, emotional brand attachment and brand personality and social media and cultural influences." The literatures identify that Swarovski is facing competition within the global market environment due to the influx of cheap fashion jewelry product from China . Thus, the company needs to design effective marketing promotion to differentiate its product as well as enhancing competitive market advantage.

Swarovski Overview

Swarovski is a global company that specializes in designing fashion jewelry and the company uses the supreme mastery to design and produce fashion products such as stones and genuine gemstones. The company uses creativity and ingenuity to produce high quality and creative products, and integrates its creativity and ingenuity in producing fashion, lighting and interior design products. The company has different brands, which include Swarovski ELEMENTS, Swarovski CRYSTALIZED, Swarovski ENLIGHTENED and Swarovski OPTIK. (Swarovski 2010). While the company has achieved success with its brands, the company has faced biggest challenges with the current global market competitions. A successful global marketing campaign such as experiential marketing is a strategy that Swarovski could employ to achieve competitive market advantages.

Experiential Marketing for Fashion Jewelry

In the contemporary business environment, there are difference between traditional marketing and experiential marketing. While traditional marketers view consumer as rational decision-makers who are interested in the benefits and functional features of product and services, experiential marketing views consumers as emotional and rational human being interested in achieving pleasurable experiences. Schmitt (2010) argues that marketers use five different methods to create customer's pleasurable experiences:

SENSE (sensory experiences),

FEEL ( affective experiences),

THINK (creative cognitive experiences),

ACT (physical experiences, lifestyles and behaviours)

RELATE (social-identity experiences resulting from relating to a culture or group reference).

The SENSE marketing involves the objective of creating sensory experiences such as sound, taste, touch, and smell and SENSE marketing is used to differentiate products, and company. It could also be used to add value to products and motivate customers through excitement and aesthetics. On the other hand, FEEL marketing is used to appeal to customer's inner feelings and emotions with the aims of creating affective experiences with mildly positive moods linked to a brand. Typically, the objective of FEEL marketing is to trigger certain customer's emotion in order to engage in empathy and perspective taking. THINK marketing appeals to the intellectual aspect of consumer with objective of creating problem-solving, cognitive experiences as well as engaging customers creatively. The objective of ACT marketing is to enrich customer live and physical experiences as well as showing them alternative ways of doing things while RELATE marketing contains aspects of FEEL, SENSE, ACT, and THINK. The RELATE campaign aims to appeal to individual's self-improvement. (Schmitt, 2010).

The experiential marketing is used to demonstrate consumer experience through electronic media, product presence, and communications, visual and verbal identity. The experiential marketing provides the sensory, cognitive, emotional, relational values, which replaces functional values. The ultimate goal of experiential marketing is to integrate consumer experiences into a holistic form. Typically, organizations are gradually moving away from the traditional form of marketing in order to create experience for customer and the shift towards experimental marketing has been due to the following simultaneous development:

Development of Information Technology

Supremacy of brand

Ubiquity of Entertainment and Communications. (British Columbia Institute of Technology, 2003).

In the contemporary marketing environment, special focus has been employed in the marketing of fashion jewelry since it contains special features different from other products. Fashion jewelry consists of fashion accessories used for personal adornment and fashion jewelry consists of bracelets & bangles bracelets, synthetic gem stones, necklaces, earrings, cuff links, and rings. (Swarovski, 2010). While there are many companies specializing in designing and the production of fashion jewelry, Swarovski is among the top companies specializing in designing and production of authentic fashion jewelry. Swarovski is known globally for its design and production of incredible diverse range of precision-cut crystal making Swarovski brand to be unmistakeable within the fashion jewelry industry. Swarovski brand characteristics are reflected within the facets of a crystal making all the company products to meet the highest levels of quality. The company stands for perfection and precision because of its inventory and creativity. Swarovski's principle stands for fashion and decor. The company is also a technology leader in the area of fashion business and the company designs and produces crystal to meet the expectation of customer. To develop the unique fashion jewelry for customer, Swarovski focuses on innovation because the company believes that innovation is the method that the company could use to enhance competitive advantages. The innovative strategy that Swarovski employs to design its product has made the company to achieve market advantages for its brands.

Over the years, Swarovski believes in adding value to its brands through active promotion & marketing and the company designs different unique style of products to achieve market advantages. Swarovski ELEMENTS is a premium brand revealing the finest crystal elements. For more than a century, the company uses mastery in cutting, and high-quality craftsmanship to produce brilliant high light-filled crystals of breath-taking value. Swarovski ELEMENTS is known for its crystal's versatility and creativity, and the company uses Swarovski ELEMENTS to express creativity and ingenuity to display a unique creation and glittering crystal. The company labels Swarovski ELEMENTS with "MADE WITH SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS" to reveal the certificate of authenticity and genuineness of the product. Typically, Swarovski sells its jewelry within the fashion arena under the Swarovski ELEMENTS and Swarovski ELEMENTS consists of loose crystal and crystalline semi-finished products that the company has inspired into fashion, jewelry and accessories. (Swarovski, 2012).

Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED is another Swarovski's brand that is unique for fashion jewelry "made with genuine crystal that imparts radiance and cluster, the authenticity of each piece is guaranteed by the 'Made with Swarovski ELEMENTS' label." (Swarovski, 2012 P1). Swarovski crystals have a cornerstone for the company brand because the company has integrated innovation to pursue excellence.

Report by Rhinestone (2012) reveals that Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED illuminates corners of fashion around the world and it consists of the elements that captivates piece of jewelry into something very special and intimate. The company produces individuality CRYSTALLIZED and variety CRYSTALLIZED that are available in different shapes, sizes, cuts, colors, and effects. The assortment consists of classic gemstone cuts as well as refined crystal colors which stand for excellence and jewelry durability and fashion pieces. The Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED has revolutionized the Swarovski's business to the extent that Swarovski group recorded 2.2 billion Euros in the crystal business turnover at the end 2011 fiscal years, while the whole group recorded 2.87 billion Euros in 2011.

While Swarovski has built unique brands to enhance competitive advantages, the intense competitions that the company is facing serve as challenges for the company brands to win market shares. The cheap fashion jewelry from China serves as challenges to the company market shares. The report from JewelleryWorld (2011) reveals that there are numerous cheap bracelets with a diamond ring and 18 carat gold necklace from China. The rising in popularity of such fashion jewelry is due to the technique that has been used to produce such items. Typically, China is known as the largest producer of counterfeit products, and based on the challenges facing Swarovski within the contemporary market environment; the company needs to design effective marketing and promotion campaign to differentiate its unique brands from the competitors in order to achieve market advantages.

Atwal and Williams (2009) argue that experiential marketing has become a cornerstone for the marketing and promotion of luxury goods such as fashion jewelry. Typically, traditional marketing strategies have increasingly faced challenges in conveying image of product's quality as well as the performances' and authenticity of the products. To enhance marketing advantages for products, marketers have designed marketing devices to sell a pleasurable experience to customers. Typically, the features of fashion jewelry makes marketing and promotion strategy of fashion jewelry to be different from the marketing method implemented for other sectors.

To enhance market advantages for products to enhance customer pleasurable, academicians and practitioners have devised frameworks to develop experiential marketing. Smith (2003) provides the five-step process for the implementation of experiential marketing strategies. The first step is to evaluate and assess the current brand's experience. The second step is to define a clear brand-positioning statement while the third step is to design the brand's experience. This involves the alignment of the brand's products, processes and people against the brand's proposition. The fourth step is to communicate the brand externally and internally, while the final step is to monitor performance to ensure that the brand is delivering the marketing objectives.

Hogan et al. (2004) also develop four principles of experiential marketing to enhance memorable experience. The first step is to identify key customer segments and the trends towards democratisation of luxury goods have changed the consumption pattern. The evaluation of customer data could assist marketers to connect right target segment with the brand. "The second step is to develop a touch-point chain and gauge those with the greatest impact. The third step is to turn findings into project priorities. The final step is to implement and monitor." (Atwal and Williams, 2009 P. 343).

Uche (2009) provides different argument by pointing out that internet experience create compelling, enjoyable, memorable, and positive experience for online shoppers. The author develops web experience model to demonstrate the strategy the virtual environment could provide experience for online customer. Typically, the 7C model was developed to create a high impact digital experiential customer experience. This includes customisation, content, customer care, community, communication, convenience and connectivity.

On the other hand, Snakers & Zajdman (2010) argue that there is a proliferation of fashion jewelry within the present marketing environment making consumer to face challenges in distinguishing between products. Thus, finding the best method to differentiate one product from the other has become a key issue. Typically, the traditional marketing strategies which focus on price and quality are no longer enough to enhance differentiation of fashion jewelry. Thus, experiential marketing is a new strategic marketing method that marketers employ to create emotions for customers in order to create memorable experience. To enhance greater understanding on how experiential marketing influence consumer purchasing behavior, Snakers & Zajdman (2010) differentiate between tradition marketing and experiential marketing. Traditional marketers views consumers as rational decision makers who are concerned about the benefits and functional features of products. On the other hand, experiential marketers see consumers as emotional and irrational human beings who are interested in achieving pleasurable experiences. Typically, the goal of experiential marketers is to offer consumer memorable experiences and these experiences are created with different tools. Experiential marketers may create memorable experience by organizing entertainment for customers as well as giving them the aesthetic objects to see. For example, marketers could develop aesthetic through product design as well as store design. The store could be designed with beautiful architecture, decoration, furniture, and color. More importantly, experiential marketers could create pleasurable experience for customer by organizing entertainment to provide them aesthetic objects or places to see as well as allowing them to escape from reality.

Pine and Gilmore (1999) argues that experiential marketing is ideal for the promotion of fashion jewelry because many luxury goods have ability to trigger emotions. Typically, the object created with masterpiece has the potential ability to create emotions and feelings. This type of product motivates pleasures as well as bringing positive emotions.

Emotional Brand Attachment and Brand Personality

In the contemporary marketing environment, creating the emotional brand attachment has become a cornerstone within the marketing environment. Increasing number of companies is searching for the ideal strategy to develop a strong emotional brand connection with consumers. Emotional brand attachment is motivated by finding the strategy to enhance consumer loyalty which eventually leads to company performances. Over the years, fashion jewelry companies have designed their products to be more attractive and beautiful in order to match their brands with consumer's self to achieve market advantages. This approach has caused a strong emotional connection with the brand. Typically, there is a growing importance of authenticity in marketing messages making consumers to be looking for reality. Presently, many marketing managers are turning to the authenticity to improve branding loyalty which could assist consumer to differentiate a brand from another brand. (Malar, et al. 2011).

Tzou and Lu (2009) contribute to the argument by pointing out that consumer perception can influence consumer-purchasing decision. In the contemporary competitive market advantages, luxury companies needs to provide marvellous quality to achieve market advantages and the product design is critical to forge emotional connection to consumers. The well-known brands and fashion product with charming appearance have been regarded to enhance emotional, and aesthetics pleasurable experience. The authors also refer to the attachment theory, which identifies brand attachment as emotional laden bond between product and consumer. Typically, people have ability to form emotional attachment for objects and a company could create brand attachment after a consumer has known the brand as well as taking the brand into an account.

On the other hand, the concept of brand personality represents the attributes of human traits or characteristics forming consumer perception towards the brand. Typically, the brand personality can be instrumental to consumer self attachment towards the brand.

In psychology, emotion is a laden bond between a specific object and a person. In the marketing context, people have ability to be emotional attached to brands. The emotional brand attachment is the bonds between consumer and specific brand leading to the emotional brand attachment. The feelings will include passion, affection, and connection representing hot affection with a brand. (Malar, et al. 2011).

Achouri and Bouslama (2010) in their own case reveal that congestion of the advertising landscape and market saturations have made organizations to go beyond the image brand and turn to the relation brand in order to preserve the market shares. Within the marketing environment, consumers rely on brand image to form their attachment towards products. Thus, brand personality has been identified as the strategic tools to assist marketers to understand relationship between brand and consumers. On the other hand, Bouhlel et al. (2009) reveal that brand personality is a critical tool that influences consumer's decision making which actually influences the brand attachment as well as brand commitment and trust. In the contemporary marketing environment, brand is becoming more important as firms are facing more competitions in the global marketplace. Brand remains a tool that firms employ to differentiate their products as well as preserving organizational identities. While consumer exploits brands to maintain and construct their identity, however, the brand personality is an inanimate object that leads to the interactions of consumer with marketing communication. A well-established brand personality has the potential to influence consumer patronage and preference. It also makes consumer to develop a strong emotional trust, ties, and attachment with the brand. "Consumers' emotional attachments to a brand might predict their commitment to the brand and their willingness to make financial sacrifices in order to obtain it." (Bouhlel et al. 2009 P. 703). To reach consumers with promotional message, consumers are increasingly shifting from mass marketing to one-to-one marketing which involves reaching consumer individually. Funder, (2001) defines brand personality as series of attributes that evoke behavior and feeling. The brand can be friendly, extrovert, extrovert, and feelings. The Big 5 model of personality is built around five factors: conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, neuroticism and agreeableness. Additionally, the dominance modeling theory underlines "the perception of personality's traits is deduced by any direct or indirect contact that the consumer has with the brand. Brands are inanimate objects which are associated with personality traits through marketing communications ." (Funder, 2001 P. 704).

The variables such as brand logo or symbol, brand name, color, shape, celebrity endorser, price, packaging, and sales promotions have been used to develop brand personality. Brand personality is a vehicle that enhances consumer self-expression. It can also be an instrument to assist consumer to express different aspect of his or herself. Consumers often exploit brands to maintain and construct identities as well as experiencing emotional gratification. Conceptually, brand personality contributes to brand differentiation, which assists a company to differentiate its brand from the brand of competitors. Brand personality contributes to brand expression, brand equity and brand personality is able to enhance formation of consumer-brand relationships as well as enhancing brand trust, and brand attachment. (Fournier, 1997). Brand personality assists consumers to focus on self-concept as well as expressing symbolic benefits from consumption or possession of brands. The brand personality assists in the product differentiation and is an important vehicle that contributes to product category and product preference.

On the other hand, the trait approach views personality as a set of traits that distinguishes a person from another person. Personality is a psychological phenomenon that affects behavior and shows coherent modes of cognition. By relating brands with personality, brands have the same premises with personality, and brand personality assists consumer to express their self-concept, experiment symbolic benefits from consumption and possession of brands. "Marketers attempt to differentiate and build preference for their brands not only on the basis of how consumers perceive them functionally but also on the basis of these brand personality perceptions." (Bouhlel et al. 2009 P. 704).

Chaudhuri, et al. (2001) also develop the commitment and attachment theories that reveal that consumer's trust in brands and this is a critical for the success consumer-brand relationships. Essentially, consumers could form a strong attachment to brands, which could be used to predict their commitment. Compared to the interpersonal relationship, and brand relationships, brand- consumer relationships are the means to form permanent, intimate, and stable relationships between consumer and brands. Typically, consumers differ on the method they perceive brand as well as the way they relate to brands. Some consumers have become attached to brands making them to be emotional developed to specific brands. (Swaminathan et al. 2009).

Thus, Swarovski Company could exploit the benefits of brand personality and emotional brand attachment to promote its brands, which include Swarovski ELEMENTS, and Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED. The company could employ the brand attachment to translate its brands into durable brands that provide the inalienable emotional attachment for consumer. The brand personality will assist consumer to transpose the attachment towards it personal being because of the precise profits that consumers stand to enjoy from it. Swarovski could develop mobile marketing to create meaningful brand relationship. The company could use wireless medium to promote products thereby benefiting all stakeholders. Recently, telecommunication tool has been used as the develop marketing and customer relations. Typically, there is an interactive relationship with mobile phone and cellular phone since cellular phone is within the reach of consumer and being carried everywhere by consumer. Mobile marketing could be used to offer direct communication with consumers, anytime and anywhere. With data services such as SMS (Short Message Services), MMS (Multimedia Message Service) and Mobile Internet, a company could build consumer emotional attachment with the brand.

Ayed, (2012) also support the argument of previous author by pointing out that brand personality is a viable metaphor that could be used to understand consumer emotional perceptions. Typically, brand personality comprises "set of human characteristics associated with a brand." (Ayed, 2012 P. 472). Brand personality is a crucial marketing concept that relates to attitude and behavior. It is a set of human characteristics that could be associated with brands. The characteristics include demographic characteristics which include age, gender, and socio-economic status. Lifestyle characteristics include activities, interests, and opinions. Human personality traits characteristics that include sincerity, warmth, and excitement. Typically, the personality traits are reflected within the marketing mix that include price, packaging, sales promotion, media advertising, and these are used in different phases of brand communication. Packaging plays important role in brand personality, and "packaging components is an antecedent of brand personality and influence brand perception" (Ayed, 2012 P. 472). The design of TV channels also contributes immensely to the brand personality, and brand personality could influence emotions as well as contributing to the growth of company brand. The brand components that could influence consumer preferences are three-color components, which include:

Hue or the chromatic tonality is the attribute of the visual sensation. According to color denominations, it is categorized as green, blue, and red.

"Chroma: refers to the proportion of chromatically pure color contained in the total sensation." Value refers to the degree to which an illuminated surface seems to emit more or less light." (Ayed, 2012 P. 474).

Colors in the context of marketing contribute to esthetical experience and color is the antecedent of brand personality. The Hue color could enhance perception of brand personality and hue color dimension could influence the perception of TV channel.

Li et al. (2002) also relates animation to the brand personality. The authors argue that the animation of the TV channel represents a stimulus of the visual aspect that could trigger cognitive and affective response simultaneously. The main features of animation is the ability to measure and reproduce parts of the human sensorial system and the impact of animation could be linked to the conative, cognitive, and affective measures. "Affective measures are used to refer to the amount of created attitudes from marketing or advertising stimuli. Conative measures involve some type of behavior intention, such as searching for additional information or purchase." (Ayed, 2012 P. 474). The effect could lead to the positive consumer response as well as increasing the brand attitude making animated images to influence personality perception.

However, social media has been identified as critical tool used to promote a company brand in order to achieve market advantages. The emergence of social media has influenced the cultural attitudes of consumers, which eventually influence the way consumers perceive brand. Thus, a social media has become an essential tool that links company product to appropriate cultural group.

Social Media and cultural influences

Social media are the mobile-based technology that people use to communication into interactive dialogue. Example of social media is the Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Chen (2010) defines social media as a virtual community, which is made possible through online community. Social media is an online community that brings people together and the social media has transformed the method people read, discover, and share news around the world.

Templin, (2010) reveals that there were approximately 200 million people using Facebook in 2009. By including Tweeting, Blogging, LinkedIn and YouTube with Facebook, any casual observe will be amazed by the impact of social media on modern culture. The social media provides the avenue for people to interact with customers, friends and social partners. Typically, the social media provides the cost effective method where firms present their products to customers as well as promoting their products to the web community. The social media has accelerated the exchange of messages across different culture where people use social media to communicate to friends, and business partners. The social media has also provided the powerful tool for companies to promote their image as well as disseminating their images to people. The social media has played the significant role in the cultural communication, cultural style & context and behavior of people, which has ultimately altered the cultural value.

Culture in the contemporary modern environment is increasingly audio visual. Typically, media has ability to preserve the memory of previous culture. (Acuna, 2010). Modernization has brought about the cultural changes, and in the modern world, social media and communication have important role in spreading the culture from one geographical region to the other. In the United States, and other countries around the world, social media has altered the culture of many environments. In the 1990s, and early 2000s, traditional advertising played important role in the product and brand promotion. However, the emergence of internet has influenced the culture of many communities. People no longer view traditional adverts as the ultimate avenues to identify company brands. Typically, more than 500 million people across the globe are using social media for communication making more people to turn towards social media in order to identify company products as well as differentiating one product from the other.

Chen, (2012) points out that rapid development of digital communication has brought about the acceleration of the globalization trend where there is a new form of media influencing the social interaction among people. The advancement of internet technology has drastically changed the communication medium and the human perception of the media. The present digital communication age has shortened the distance between people within different geographical locations. The new digital age has altered the cultural aspect of people where there is a change in the way people think, act and live. New technology has changed the traditional designed of media where media no longer appeal to large, homogeneous audience and this has been replaced to individual appeal. Typically, new media has changed the trend of human society.

More importantly, the rapid development of social media has accelerated the trend of human society. It is now possible to integrate traditional interpersonal culture with mass media. The distinctive features of social media now affect the way people understand one another especially from different cultural group. The social media has altered the cultural themes, cultural grammar, and cultural maps to a new form of cultural orientation. There is a now a gradual loss of traditional cultural logic where new social media foster a new culture.

Chen (2010) also points out that international electronic exchanges plays significant role in the cultural change where there is a change in the cultural context leading to the change in people behavior. The application of social media has also altered the cultural aspect of business world. Firms have now realized that the Facebook and Twitter are the cost effective communication and promotion avenue, which could be used to build their brand image. On the other hand, Vitkauskaite (2010) points out that social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Cyworld have attracted million of users across the globe. However, these sites have not been popular across all culture. While MySpace is very popular in the U.S.A. And has ability to influence the cultural pattern of the American people, MySpace only captures 2.9% of Japanese market. The major reason is attributed to the difference between the Japanese and American cultures.

Flook (2006) contributes to the argument by pointing out that the social media has shaped the people perception and culture. In the past, traditional media such as radio and television were the prime movers of product promotion. However, electronic media has led to the formation of social media which ultimately shaping people perception, beliefs and attitudes around the world. In the United States, internet has opened new form of communication as well as reshaping the way people work and perceive products. The internet revolution has allowed individual users to purchase, and communicate through emotional needs and desires. The internet technology has been fully integrated into the virtual social reality, which has greatly shaped the emotion and desires of people. Te internet has altered the cultural communication of people where people now communicate through virtual social media, which has changed the thought and emotion of people. The report from Abrams Research (2011) reveals that social media has altered the method wealthy consumers interact globally. There are now approximately 75% of wealthy people who actively use social media. More importantly, modern consumers have started to use social media to purchase luxury products as well as using the social media to make purchasing decision. "Social media has opened doors to give more consumers access to both information and products previously unavailable to them. With respect to luxury brands, what is desirable or undesirable is no longer the sole purview of the traditional luxury audience." (Abrams Research, 2011 P4).