Consumers Reaction to Artification

This paper considers the perception of young consumers face to the latest luxury brand art-based strategies recently named artification. These strategies consist in exploiting visual arts’ positive associations as an external source to strengthen their value from a consumer-based perspective. The Measurement Scale of Aesthetic Style is applied to test the main changes in consumers’ perceptions when luxury products are visually changed in collaboration with a contemporary artist. The scale is tested on the basis of the art-based strategy implemented by Louis Vuitton, the world’s first luxury brand. As main result, Louis Vuitton’s most iconic bags stimulate consumers’ perceptions differently, depending on whether consumers observe a standard design or the design an artist collaborated on. The results offer interesting guidelines to companies conducting art-based strategies, not only those belonging to luxury sector. The Measurement Scale of Aesthetic style model is also tested for the first time on a real luxury product.