6. Consumer Brand Resonance: it concerns the sort of relationship that consumers have with brands and the degree to which they consider themselves in symbiosis with the
11.1 Interview guide
Hello! Thank you for accepting and taking your time to answer to our questions, your help is very much appreciated. This interview is part of our data collection process for our master thesis in Branding. In order not to bias the interview, we cannot tell you more at this stage about the details and goal of the research, but it deals with the impact of Brand Authenticity on the value of a brand. The information you’re going to disclose are confidential, your name will not be included in the thesis and everything will be shared only between us and our two supervisors.
Do you mind if we record the interview?
Let’s start then!
Personal Information
To begin with, I would like to know you a little better, so I’ll ask some personal information:
o Can you please present yourself? Including your name, gender, age, nationality, level of education and current profession
o Can you share with me your main passions and interests?
o Are you interested in fashion and the luxury world?
o Can you tell me something about your shopping habits towards the fashion world?
o Do you shop according to the latest trends?
o How do you describe your style?
o Do you care about other people’s opinions about your style?
o What is the last thing you bought for yourself?
o If you don’t mind me asking, where does your income come from? Do you have some funds/sponsorships?
Luxury
Ok, now I can move forward. As you might have noticed, our primary focal point is the fashion industry, but we specifically focus on luxury brands.
o Can you tell me the first three luxury brands you can think of?
o Can you spot three characteristics you think are fundamental in luxury?
o What makes you buy luxury brands?
o What is the benefit that you feel you get from buying luxury? Also considering a psychological point of view.
Level of experience with the brand
Perfect! So, the brand we are going to discuss in this interview is Louis Vuitton.
o Do you own something from Louis Vuitton?
o If yes, what kind of product do you have? Since when?
§ Have you personally bought it?
o If no, why, if I can ask? Have you ever though to buy something from it?
§ Have you ever entered a Louis Vuitton shop? If yes, where?
o How often do you think you encounter the brand? (social media, people in the streets or that you know, shops, …)
Interaction between Brand Authenticity and Brand Equity in luxury
So, our thesis has a focus on authenticity. Now we will go through the dimensions of authenticity that we chose to analyse in relation to this case and we will ask you some questions for each of them.
Heritage
Firstly, we will talk about heritage. For your information heritage can be described as “a transporter of historical values from the past to the present and future and an element that adds value in the eyes of consumer.”
o LV was founded in 1854. What do you think about it? Do you generally care about the
“since whatever year” for luxury brands?
o How would you describe LV using three adjectives?
o How do you think that the heritage that a brand has could influence its imagery? To make it clearer, imagery refers to the intangible elements of the brand.
o Among LV core values we can find timelessness, travel, being inspiring. For what you know, do you think that these values are transposed to the products?
o How do you think that heritage can influence these values just mentioned?
o You said that you believe that LV has/hasn’t a strong heritage, what type of behaviour are you then likely to engage with LV based on this attribute?
o Would you say that having a strong heritage could create a strong relationship between you as a customer and the brand, in this case LV? Considering that with relationship we mean being more loyal, attached and engage.
Quality
Now we will talk about quality that is the second attribute of authenticity that we considered in our analysis.
o In your opinion, how is quality crucial when judging a luxury brand?
o What is your overall opinion of LV?
o How would you describe the quality of the LV product you own?
o Does the product’s quality meet the expectation that you had? In other words, how is your judgement about the brand in line with the image that you had about it?
o You said that you believe that LV has/hasn’t high quality, what type of behaviour are you then likely to engage with LV based on this attribute?
o Would you say that having a high quality could create a strong relationship between you as a customer and the brand, in this case LV? Considering relationship as above.
Sincerity
Now we will talk about sincerity that is the third attribute of authenticity that we considered in our analysis.
o Earlier we asked you to describe LV with three adjectives and you said … . Another attribute that could describe brands is “sincere”, which refers to the fact that the firm is acting with integrity and driven by its love for the product, instead of a merely economic purpose. Would you feel comfortable using this adjective for LV? Why?
o How do you think that being sincere is an attribute that influence the value of a brand?
How and why?
o How do you think that sincerity could impact the image that you have about LV?
Considering image as above (the intangible elements that you refer to a brand).
o More specifically, how do you think that sincerity could somehow impact the image that you have about LV? Considering image as above (the intangible elements that you refer to a brand).
o So, you said that you appreciate when a brand as LV is/isn’t sincere, what type of behaviour are you then likely to engage with LV based on this attribute?
o Would you say that being sincere could create a strong relationship between you as a customer and the brand, in this case LV? Considering relationship as above.
Craftsmanship
Now we will talk about craftsmanship that is the last attribute of authenticity that we considered in our analysis.
o In the luxury sector, and specifically in LV since it is the example we are taking, how do you think the production process should be? Do you think it should be 100% hand-crafted? Why?
o Does being handcrafted relate with the performance of LV? More specifically, do you feel that craftsmanship could have an impact in the reliability and durability of the brand?
o Now another fact about LV: some pieces of a product, like the bags handles, are actually handmade. How would you judge LV as a brand that uses craftsmanship as a production method for its product?
o So, you said that you appreciate/not appreciate LV as a brand that uses craftsmanship in its production method, what type of behaviour are you likely to engage with it based on this attribute?
o Would you say that being crafted could create a strong relationship between you as a customer and the brand, in this case LV? Considering relationship as above.
Conclusion
Thanks, we are almost done! Just a few conclusive questions.
o In your opinion, how should a (luxury) company behave in order to be authentic and what should it do in order to be perceived as authentic?
o What other attribute about authenticity - that we haven’t touched in this interview - would you consider and how would they influence the value of LV?
o All in all, after what we learned about authenticity, would you say that being authentic could influence the value of the LV brand? Why?
o Current customers: Assuming that LV is an authentic brand, would you say that your current relationship with the brand could grow deeper? With relationship defined as above.
o Prospect customers: Assuming that LV is an authentic brand, do you feel you could create a deep relationship with the brand? With relationship defined as above.
Thank you very much for your time, we really appreciated it. Please take the bag of candy that you prefer :)