Brand extensions in the experience economy era. The trend of luxury fashion brands entering theHospitality world. How does the brand perception of Bulgari Hotels compare to that of Bulgari stores? / Laura GIUSSANI / 2022

Titre : Brand extensions in the experience economy era. The trend of luxury fashion brands entering theHospitality world. How does the brand perception of Bulgari Hotels compare to that of Bulgari stores? Type de document : Mémoire Auteurs : Laura GIUSSANI, Auteur Année de publication : 2022 Importance : 75 p. Note générale : Pour accéder aux fichiers PDF, merci de vous identifier sur le catalogue avec votre compte office 365 via e bouton connexion en haut de la page. Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Management BULGARIE ; INDUSTRIE DU LUXE SECTEUR ; MARQUE Résumé : The aim of this research is to contribute to studies conducted on luxury brands ’extension which remainlimited both in quantity and scope despite the increasing popularity of such type of brand extension. Asecond reason to conduct a research study on this topic was to offer a new perspective by adding thenotion of experience economy to the theoretical elements reviewed and then linked to the empiricalresearch.The study begins with an in-depth review of literature on the definition of luxury to then offer acomprehensive introduction to the experience economy era to allow the reader to contextualize thephenomenon of luxury goods-luxury hospitality brand extensions. The third section is devoted to a briefand targeted introduction to branding and branding in luxury and it is followed by a section on brandextensions.To tackle the issue on if luxury brands can be able to translate their identities into hotels as an extensioncategory, it was decided to proceed by using a case study example. The choice was to focus on Bulgari, aluxury jewelry brand founded in Rome in 1884. The global expansion of the brand started in the 1970swhile the first announcement of the extension into Bulgari Hotels and Resorts happened in 2001. The firstHotel opened in 2004 and, fast-forward 2021, the company has seven properties around the Worldalready operating in its portfolio and five in the pipeline (Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, 2021; LVMH, 2011:Bulgari, 2021). The reasons for choosing Bulgari as case study for this dissertation find their roots in bothpersonal and objective matters. First, the author of this research has carried out a work experience at theBulgari property in London, which was the source of inspiration behind the research title. This personalconnection to the brand was also considered a facilitator to the conducting of the field research and tothe understanding of the interviews’ results. More importantly, the most objective and compelling reasonis the brand’s relevance in the luxury world as Bulgari is an active brand, constantly searching for newcreative products and services to offer all-round luxury life experiences to its fans. The brand also succeedsat its aim to do so without forgetting its history and heritage (LVMH, 2011). This last point makes Bulgarian example of pure luxury brand that has followed throughout the luxury business strategy even throughextensions (Kapferer, 2015). By looking at what seems to be an extraordinarily successful example ofgoods-to-service brand extension the aim is to find out whether Bulgari Hotels provides a real Bulgariexperience by comparing the brand perception and experiences of customers in store and at the Hotel.To make such comparison, the q ualitative research method was chosen, and it comprises a field researchbased on store and hotel site visits followed by semi-structured interviews conducted by a sampleReproduction et diffusion interdites selected by the researcher based on convenience. The results of the empirical study, combined with thereview of existing literature on the topics involved provided interesting insights regarding Bulgari’s use of the brand extension: an extension aiming at enhancing the customer experience or mere expansion intoa new category under the same brand name. What has been concluded is that the answer cannot be clear- cut. First, a series of limitations to the empirical research must be considered (such as the limited quantityof interviews that could be carried out), but also the lack of study of multiple brand extensions.What was concluded is that it is not clear whether the success of Bulgari Hotels can be attributed to theuse of the Bulgari brand as the Bulgari brand identity is not fully reflected into the properties and thatperhaps Bulgari is missing out on the opportunity to leverage the brand extension to enhance brandloyalty for the parent brand. However, it was suggested by interviewees that Bulgari Hotels is moreattractive to a younger clientele opening a new segment or allowing to recruit new future customers ofBulgari jewels and products. Programme : MSc International Marketing & Brand Management Permalink : https://cataloguelibrary.neoma-bs.fr/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=566728