Some Antecedents and Outcomes of Brand Love.

01 Why it matters.

Brand love — the emotional analogue to interpersonal love that consumers develop toward brands — was formalised as a research construct by Carroll and Ahuvia in this paper. The finding that drives its relevance for luxury: emotional attachment to a brand directly predicts both brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth, and the effect is strongest in hedonic, self-expressive product categories. Luxury is the extreme case of both.

This paper provides the theoretical foundation for everything we argue about the emotional ROI of luxury. It explains why brands that invest in emotional connection — rather than simply in visibility and product quality — build more durable commercial positions. And it explains the specific mechanism by which luxury consumers become advocates rather than merely buyers.

02 Key takeaways.

1. 01 Brand love predicts brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth with effect sizes significantly larger than satisfaction alone.
2. 02 The effect is strongest in hedonic categories (pleasure, experience, indulgence) and self-expressive categories (identity, values, social positioning) — both defining characteristics of luxury.
3. 03 Brand love is distinct from brand attitude; it has a passion and attachment dimension that attitude lacks.
4. 04 Consumers who love a brand are more forgiving of missteps and more likely to advocate unprompted.
5. 05 The antecedents of brand love are product quality and brand identity congruence — both manageable brand decisions.

03 Used in our research.

1. 01 InsightThe Emotional ROI of Luxury: Why Feeling Matters More Than Owning
2. 02 Case StudyLe Labo: How a Fragrance Brand Built a Cult Without Mass Media
3. 03 Case StudyVestiaire Collective: Making Resale Feel Like Luxury
4. 04 InsightGen Z Is Rewriting the Rules of Luxury