{"id":75830,"date":"2026-09-08T11:48:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T03:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/?p=75830"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T03:49:00","slug":"hsuhk-study-reveals-how-social-media-context-shapes-luxury-brands-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/hsuhk-study-reveals-how-social-media-context-shapes-luxury-brands-perception\/","title":{"rendered":"HSUHK study reveals how social media context shapes luxury brands\u2019 perception"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>

8 September 2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

A study by a Marketing scholar at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK) has found that the context in which luxury advertisements appear on social media can significantly influence consumers\u2019 perceptions of a brand, particularly when the brand is unfamiliar. The research, published in the\u00a0Journal of Global Marketing<\/i>\u00a0in June 2026, provides new insights into how luxury brands can strengthen their positioning in today’s digital marketplace.<\/p>

Inspired by a question she encountered during more than 15 years in the luxury fashion marketing industry, Dr Jennifer Lau, Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at HSUHK, conducted the study with 850 female consumers in the United States who were active Instagram users and owned at least two fashion items worth more than US$250 each. Among them, 66.4% had completed a college or postgraduate education, 64.5% identified as White non-Hispanic, 44.6% were aged 18\u201329, and 42.7% were aged 30\u201349.<\/p>

Participants viewed a mock Instagram feed featuring a sponsored luxury fashion advertisement before completing a questionnaire measuring processing fluency and luxury perception. The experiment compared advertisements placed alongside luxury-related content with those surrounded by unrelated content, using Louis Vuitton as a familiar luxury brand and a fictitious brand, \u201cVitus Legrand\u201d, to represent low brand familiarity.<\/p>

The findings showed that advertisements placed within luxury-related content significantly enhanced perceptions of luxury. Brand familiarity proved to be the strongest driver of luxury perception, with familiar brands consistently perceived as luxurious regardless of surrounding content, while unfamiliar brands relied on contextual cues to signal prestige, exclusivity and authenticity. \u201cBrand familiarity overrides the inherent difficulty and barriers of the social media environment,\u201d said Dr Lau, adding that this finding challenged her original expectations.<\/p>

The study also challenges the long-standing assumption that advertisements should be easy to understand. Processing fluency showed a negative relationship with luxury perception, suggesting that abstract storytelling, artistic imagery and symbolic narratives can reinforce exclusivity. \u201cMaking consumers work a little harder to understand an advertisement can actually increase the brand\u2019s perceived value because it reinforces the mystery and exclusivity associated with luxury,\u201d Dr Lau explained.<\/p>

The findings suggest that established luxury brands can advertise on mainstream social media platforms such as Instagram without significantly weakening their prestige, while emerging brands should prioritise luxury-oriented environments to build credibility and strengthen perceptions of exclusivity. \u201cFor emerging luxury brands, building prestige through association with established luxury brands is more effective than relying on social media advertising alone. Established brands, meanwhile, should embrace creative, abstract campaigns that preserve a sense of mystery and exclusivity,\u201d said Dr Lau.<\/p>

Looking ahead, Dr Lau proposes that luxury groups could develop exclusive digital platforms where emerging brands are showcased alongside established labels, allowing newer brands to benefit from the \u201chalo effect\u201d of well-known luxury names.<\/p>

By demonstrating how advertising context, brand familiarity and cognitive processing interact, the study advances understanding of luxury marketing on social media while providing practical guidance for brands seeking to build prestige in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.<\/p>

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A study by a Marketing scholar at HSUHK highlights that luxury advertisements appearing on social media can significantly enhance consumers\u2019 perceptions of luxury. <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":75836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[70,181,10,128],"tags":[],"topics":[229,230],"month":[461],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75830"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75840,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75830\/revisions\/75840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75830"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=75830"},{"taxonomy":"month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsu.edu.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/month?post=75830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}