Abstract:
The internet has fundamentally changed how brands interact with their customers. However, luxury watch brands in particular have been slow to adapt to this new reality. Initially, fear of brand dilution and a loss of exclusivity were posited as reasons for the sluggish uptake. Yet previous research has found that the brand image of a luxury brand is not negatively influenced when conducting business online. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on global business, and has led to a substantial increase in e-commerce, with the emergence of a new type of customer: one who is digitally adept and more selective than ever before. This trend has necessitated businesses to rapidly transform their operations. Yet, despite the disruption brought about by COVID-19, 2021 proved to be the Swiss watch industry’s best year ever, indicating the resilience of the luxury watch industry. A gap in the current literature calls for further research into the social media marketing of luxury brands to better understand their brand building activities online. The purpose of this study is to explore how the Swiss luxury watch brand, Omega, creates brand advocacy on Instagram by analysing their strategic brand initiatives through the lenses of Transient Competitive Advantage and Narrative Transportation Theory. To understand Omega’s brand strategies and motivations, the researcher chose an exploratory, qualitative case study as his research method. His research sample was all of Omega’s Instagram posts from the 2019 calendar year, and the unit of analysis a single Instagram post. The researcher used qualitative content analysis and qualitative counts analysis to interpret the data. Four prominent themes with subthemes emerged from the raw data, which were interpreted through a unique conceptual framework that includes the lenses of Narrative Transportation Theory and Transient Competitive Advantage. The findings emphasise the importance of executing brand building strategies that are both consistent yet agile enough to embrace Transient Competitive Advantage. The study concludes with a model for brand strategists in the luxury goods industry to understand how to elicit brand advocacy on social media.
