The impact of celebrities on generation Z

: hanging out with the kids makes you look younger?

Abstract

The extensive existing literature argues for the benefits of co-creation namely, the connections between brands and consumers and the competitive advantage that can be achieved, with the main objective of creating loyalty and identification with brands. Young consumers (generation Z) are digital natives who are surrounded by information who intend to use it as fuel to be unique and irreverent showing more traditional luxury brands that they need to change their strategies to face this generation. This generation buy products to make a statement and to reflect their individuality and their values. Luxury brands have taken the first steps to develop co-creation strategies that can be perceived as innovative for this generation. However, little is known about the impact of co-creationin the luxury fashion brands with celebrities, the trend that has been setting in the luxury market for the past year. To deepen the knowledge regarding this matter, 223 participants took part on a study to understand whether luxury fashion brands co-creating with cutting-edge celebrities (e.g., Rihanna) are more attractive to younger generations (generation Z) compared to older generations (generationy and generation X). Findings show that co-creating with celebrities increases self-congruency, perceived product innovation which leads to higher purchase intentions among generation Z consumers. Nevertheless, the perceived expertise of the co-creator decreases as product complexity increases, leading to reduced purchase intention towards high complexity products. Also, product category plays such an essential part regarding luxury brands, as product complexity increases, purchase intention decreases, working on the selected celebrity’s confidence in the connection with the product is critical for the collaboration to succeed. Consumers, when faced with such strategy, feel part of an 'elite' who has a unique product embedded with the DNA of a heritage brand wrapped up in a twist that makes it irresistible for this generation.

Date of Award	28 Jan 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)