Introduction

This article explores the concept of artification in the context of luxury brands. Artification involves transforming non-art objects into something that resembles art or is inspired by artistic practices, thereby blurring the lines between art and non-art (Gupta and Joshi, 2022). This research indicates that incorporating visual art into luxury brands' advertisements favorably impacts consumers' perception of brand authenticity. This, in turn, leads to a higher likelihood of purchasing the advertised product.


Literature review

Art has the potential to offer inventive and ingenious strategies for managing the intricate business landscape; therefore, it can be a powerful tool that luxury brands can implement to regain an aura of authenticity. The notion of artification holds a central position within the fields of arts and branding (Gupta and Joshi, 2022). Attempting to link products with art is part of a broader marketing strategy designed to enhance the perceived luxuriousness of these items and to portray the company as a patron of the arts (Peluso et al., 2017).

Previous studies have investigated the use and impact of art in promoting various products, such as wallets (De Angelis et al., 2020), MP3 players (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008b), water and chocolate (Estes et al., 2017), coffee, and wine (Hüttl-Maack, 2018). Moreover, past research has examined the use of art when directly integrated into the design of products, primarily fashion products like bags (Masè et al., 2018), within a store (Vukadin et al., 2018), or in advertising (Peluso et al., 2017).

Artification has been a topic of research exploring different dependent variables that are positively affected by this phenomenon, such as purchase intention (Peluso et al., 2017; De Angelis et al., 2020; Huettl and Gierl, 2012), willingness to pay (Lee et al., 2015; Estes et al., 2017; Hüttl-Maack, 2018), product evaluation (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008b; Peluso et al., 2017), and brand extension (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008a). Besides the perception of luxury, scholars have also investigated other mediators at the base of the artification phenomenon, discovering that perception of prestige (Lee et al., 2015), brand image (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008a; Kim et al., 2012), perception of product durability (De Angelis et al., 2020), perception of rarity (Masè et al., 2018), and brand affect (Estes et al., 2017) mediate the artification phenomenon. Lastly, it was found that desire for distinctiveness (Peluso et al., 2017), desire to signal status (Peluso et al., 2017), familiarity with art (Kim et al., 2012), product type - hedonic vs. utilitarian - (Estes et al., 2017; Hüttl-Maack, 2018), pricing information (Huettl and Gierl, 2012), level of interest in art (Hüttl-Maack, 2018), and art commercialization (Hüttl-Maack, 2018) play roles as moderators of the artification phenomenon.

This study will explore the concept of artification through the lens of signaling theory, which primarily addresses the issue of reducing information asymmetry between two parties (Connelly et al., 2011). This research indicates that art can function as a signal that luxury brands use to convey specific messages to consumers, thereby influencing their perceptions and reducing information asymmetry simultaneously.


Problem Statement

Researchers have explored the artification phenomenon across various dimensions, including the integration of different art forms, and the use of both utilitarian and hedonic products, as well as luxury and mass-market items. They have also examined various mediators and moderators that might influence the relationship between the presence of art and customer evaluation in diverse ways. However, this field of research requires deeper theoretical foundations to support empirical findings and guide future research efforts (Estes et al., 2017). Furthermore, as noted by Hagtvedt and Patrick (2008b), there is a lack of a solid scientific foundation for marketing professionals to rely on when strategically employing visual art, as opposed to relying solely on experience and intuition.

Research Method

This research comprises three experimental studies, conducted through three different online surveys and administered via the software Qualtrics to a pool of Italian students and US-based consumers. The first study is a baseline study aiming to investigate how individuals perceive the authenticity of a brand that decides to implement the artification phenomenon in its advertising for the launch of a new product, as well as their likelihood to purchase that product. This initial study facilitated the development of two subsequent studies. The first of these examines the role of brand authenticity as a mediator in the relationship between artification (art vs. non-art) and the likelihood of purchase. The second investigates the moderating role of skepticism toward advertising in the relationship between artification (art vs. non-art) and brand authenticity. The goal was to determine whether the presence of art in advertisements results in varying consumer behaviors compared to when art is not present.

In the experiments, participants were asked to review two different advertisements where artification (art vs. non-art) was manipulated (see Appendix). Study 1 (n=113) aims to assess the main phenomenon, i.e., the effects of artification on 1) brand authenticity and 2) likelihood of purchase. Study 2 (n=122) tests whether the effect of artification (art vs. non-art) on likelihood of purchase is mediated by brand authenticity. Finally, Study 3 (n=138) examines a moderated mediation relationship that addresses both the mediation of brand authenticity and the moderation of skepticism toward advertising. Skepticism toward advertising was included as a potential boundary condition.

Results

The findings of Study 1 highlighted the significant impact of artification, emphasizing its influence on both consumer perception of brand authenticity and likelihood of purchase, therefore incorporating art into advertisements increases the likelihood of a brand being perceived as authentic and leads to a greater likelihood of purchase the advertised product. Study 2 findings indicated a significant full mediation effect of brand authenticity on the relationship between artification and likelihood of purchase. Study 3 indicated that the relationship between artification and brand authenticity is moderated by skepticism toward advertising. Marketers could use the artification strategy to place art at the forefront of their advertising, which can capture the interest of skeptical consumers who are typically cautious about advertisements. Moreover, marketers can include artistic elements into their advertisings to communicate a sense of authenticity, which has been discovered to be the predictor of a greater likelihood of purchase and it can aid luxury brands to regain the aura of uniqueness that might have been diminished due to the presence of copies and counterfeits products.

References

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