The luxury industry plays a distinct part of the market and has experienced significant growth and transformation in recent years. The emergence of hard luxury as a separate market segment plays a crucial role in the luxury market. Hard luxury is characterized by high-quality, long-lasting products such as jewelry, watches, and precious accessories. These qualities capture the attention of consumers and marketers have to leverage this interest in order to obtain the best possible results and the desired goal in the market. In this context, understanding the motivation of current and potential customers plays a crucial role. The drivers leading the customers to make a purchase may vary. In terms of justification of the regular purchase of common goods customers tend to rationally justify trier purchase however with luxury goods, especially among hard luxury the motivation seems to be more emotionally based. Therefore the emotional drivers that influence consumer behavior and purchase decisions for hard luxury products are of paramount importance. This bachelor´s thesis dives into these drivers and explains their importance. The main focus is on the Czech and Slovak current and potential hard luxury customers and this thesis has an objective of the correct assigning of these drivers in order to leverage them for the theoretical and practical implications. Once these emotinal drivers are correctly assigned their potential integration will be examined mainly in the brand storytelling to effectively emerge the customer, creating the emotional interest in owning such goods and leveraging these drivers into the hard luxury brands marketing wit the focus on rising online marketing especially trough social media channels. To achieve this main goal, the thesis is divided into several subgoals. First, the thesis comprehensively explains the concept of luxury, luxury industry and the concept of the hard luxury itself. Next, it explores the emotional drivers in hard luxury, focusing on specific emotional variables that play a significant role among Czech and Slovak custommers as well as providing a comprehensive ranking from the most important emotional drivers to the ones of the less significance. The emotional drivers has been dividend into individual and social dimension in order to provide comprehensive understanding of the emotional drivers emergeing from the individual perspective as well as provide understanding of the influence of the society and peoples surroundings on their preferences, brand loyalty, and purchasing decisions. With the understanding of these emotional drivers the recommendations for leveraging them in social media marketing are also provided, which includes the use of narrative transportation, emotional engagement, and other storytelling techniques to create compelling content with a focus on social media marketing that resonates with hard luxury consumers. This thesis aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the emotional drivers in hard luxury and provide valuable insights for marketers and brand managers in the luxury industry. By identifying and analyzing these emotional drivers, the research hopes to help develop more targeted and effective marketing strategies for hard luxury brands, ultimately driving growth and success among Czech and Slovak customers in this competitive market segment. In order to guarantee the relevancy of the research and support its goals, a quantitative approach was employed. In order to obtain the desired goal the form of structured questionnaire has been chosen and distributed to a sample of current and potential hard luxury customers in the Czech Republic. The questionnaire is composed of questions related to demographics, peoples interest in hard luxury products, as well as a series of statements or questions that measure the importance of different emotional drivers influencing the importance of hard luxury goods on a Likert scale. Problem statement: Despite the significant growth and transformation of the hard luxury market segment in recent years, there is a lack of understanding regarding the emotional drivers that influence consumer behavior and purchase decisions for hard luxury products. The current marketing strategies focus on the general public with the lack of personal approach among Czech and Slovak hard luxury customers. This knowledge gap may be a limiting factor in the ability of marketers and brand managers to develop targeted and effective marketing strategies that resonate with the emotional needs and preferences of Czech and Slovak consumers. Situation: The luxury industry in the Czech and Slovak Republic is highly competitive, with a growing demand for hard luxury products among consumers. However, the emotional drivers that influence purchasing decisions for hard luxury products are not well understood, creating challenges for marketers and brand managers in effectively targeting and engaging with potential customers. Main objective: The main objective is to understand the emotional importance of hard luxury products to Czech potential customers in order to effectively apply marketing narrative transportation on social media. Subobjectives: Provide a definition of luxury with a focus on hard luxury industry Determine the key emotional drivers of purchasing hard luxury Determine which emotional drivers are the most important ones among Czech customers (Findings) Provide the understanding of brand storytelling on social media on hard luxury brand preferences (discussion) Examine how emotional drivers can be effectively integrated into brand storytelling and social media marketing (Implications) |