How Small Brands Survive the Social Media Firestorm Through Culture Heritage: A Case Study of Irish Fashion Microblogging

Heritage Branding

Heritage branding, defined as a marketing strategy that emphasizes the long-term history and value of a brand to increase product appeal and consumer perception, has recently received more attention in the literature due to its value in maintaining brand competitiveness (Han et al., 2021). Prior studies have focused on the discussion of the advantages of heritage branding. According to research by Balmer (2013), the corporate heritage that affects multiple generations gives brands salience, profitability, and adaptability, and increases stakeholder loyalty. It is considered a key performance driver in marketing management (Wiedmann et al., 2011). These works have further been driven by exploring the factors of corporate heritage, for instance, cultural heritage (Ko & Lee, 2011), historical heritage (Ismagilova et al., 2015), corporate heritage brand identity (Sammour et al., 2020), and more. Among them, cultural heritage turns out to be a differentiation tool. Culture is a system of rules and values that govern the behavior of brands, and it makes people stand out from other people or societies (Fatoki, 2019). Heritage brings culture from the past to the present and connects it to the future. It presents the success of the past and shows the development and continuity of the present (Balmer & Chen, 2017). In this sense, cultural heritage, in the context of brand management, is described as “a composite of the history and coherence and continuity” of defining characteristics (Hakala et al., 2011, p. 450).

Although the past literature has discussed cultural heritage in branding, previous studies have concentrated on heritage branding at the corporate level. For instance, Hudson (2017) gave an example of the Ritz-Carlton’s approach to heritage brand management; Balmer and Chen (2017) analyzed the multiple role identities of the Chinese brand Tong Ren Tang from the perspective of heritage branding; and Sammour et al. (2020) explored insights from John Lewis Partnership’s heritage branding strategies. As is clear from the examples above, there is little research discussing the impact of media communication on brands and consumers in the context of heritage branding. The rise of social media has been shown to improve brand decline and facilitate effective brand communication between marketers and consumers (Ahmad et al., 2018). As such, more research is needed on how social media is evolving current heritage branding.

In a similar vein, prior studies on heritage branding are said not to have implemented Balmer’s findings on the importance of heritage traits for maintaining brand continuity (Sammour et al., 2020). The key traits refer to ownership, organizational type, rationales cultures and ethos, product and service focus, manufacturing processes and the delivery of services, design and style, and corporate communication (Balmer, 2013). As Balmer and Sammour explain, these heritage traits are advised to perform and test their validity on brands. In particular, it is clear from the examples mentioned earlier that previous studies have focused more on large businesses than on small or medium-sized brands. Recent statistics report that 54% of small businesses are failing at an alarming rate due to inadequate marketing strategies in the digital age (Atanassova & Clark, 2015). Despite the boom in social media marketing, the impact on small and medium-sized brands appears to be under-researched in the literature (Odoom et al., 2017). Hence, this study considers these key traits, and asks the following research question: How does cultural heritage achieve brand competitiveness and sustainability of small brand marketing on social media? The research objectives include (1) understanding the role of cultural attributes in heritage branding on social media; (2) exploring heritage branding strategies for small brands on social media; and (3) investigating the cultural heritage of fashion brands.

Fashion Communication on Social Media

To achieve the research objectives, this study locates heritage branding in fashion, as the existing literature on heritage branding focuses on the tourism and heritage industries (Wilson, 2018). To date, few studies have examined heritage branding in the fashion industry (Abrego, 2019). Boccardi et al. (2016) clarify the positive effect of cultural heritage in the value creation of fashion brands, and suggest more research should be conducted in the measurement of heritage in fashion enterprises. Accordingly, this study posits heritage branding in fashion marketing to fill a gap in the relevant literature, and hypothesizes that cultural heritage is a key performance driver for marketing small fashion brands on social media.

For fashion brands, here we focus on intangible cultural heritage, such as traditions, customs, artistic expressions and values, which inspire designers’ creativity and originality in fashion design and bring about the competitiveness of fashion brands. Through social media, marketers can use them to persuade consumers, who in turn perceive brand identity on the basis of similar cultural heritage. That is to say, social media is important in connecting designers, marketers, and consumers in the cultural heritage of fashion branding. The emergence of social media has brought tremendous changes to the communication between fashion marketers and consumers. Previously, fashion consumers received the latest information about brands, styles, and trends through media such as magazines, television programs, and films. Dedicated fashion TV shows, such as Project Runway, and fashion films, such as The Devil Wears Prada, left a lasting impression on fashion consumers, who were eager to emulate the fashion styles featured therein. Today, blogs function as a central platform for the circulation of fashion-related news and information (Rocamora & Smelik, 2015). After the occurrence of blogging, social media began to explode in popularity. Blogging is considered to constitute the backbone of social media (Rettberg, 2014). Previous research confirms that blogs have a direct impact on consumer behavior (Belk & Llamas, 2013).

Recent works support the contribution of social media to brand marketing and consumer behavior. McKinsey & Company’s (2021) latest report on the state of fashion indicates that the primary driver of growth in the coming year will continue to be digital channels, reflecting the fact that people in many countries remain reluctant to gather in crowded environments. As a result, not only fashion companies but also fashion designers start to engage in branding on social media. For instance, Marqui Clothing Collection hired 15 bloggers for writing posts about the company’s website each week (Rettberg, 2014). Diane von Furstenberg, a Belgian-born fashion designer and creator of an important New-York based international brand, increased the online traffic of her brand as a result of the significant presence on social media (Johnston, 2021). As such, both academic research and managerial instances highlight the tendency of social media use in fashion branding. For this reason, this study emphasizes the use of cultural heritage in fashion branding on social media.

The Cultural Heritage of Irish Fashion

In terms of fashion branding, existing literature on Irish fashion branding is underinvestigated, despite its dramatic impact on global fashion (Abrego, 2019; De Cleir, 2011). Irish fashion started with Edward McLysaght’s record of an Irish bride’s wedding in the 17th century (McLysaght, 1979). At that time, wool and linen cloths were believed to form Irish women’s fashion at mass and other public gatherings (Joyce, 2015). The traditions of Irish fashion refer to Aran knits, couture, quality read-to-wear, handwoven textiles, and fashionable cuts. It is reported that there was only traditional Irish fabric instead of traditional Irish clothing (O’Kelly, 1992). In other words, Irish fashion was well-known for its textile rather than a unique design. In the past, each Irish clan had its unique pattern of sweaters in order to distinguish itself from other clans, which is the origin of Aran sweaters. Consequently, Aran hand-knit is a deeply-rooted craft central to post-war fashion offerings. It is regarded as an Irish national costume (King, 2011). Even nowadays, Aran sweaters remain prevalent in the world. Another typical item of Irish fashion is tweeds, which is a traditional Irish fabric. It is documented that O’Máille’s, a Galway shop, helped popularize Irish tweeds in the U.S. by dressing the male cast members of the 1952 film The Quiet Man in tweed (Carden, 2014). By then, jackets were often made of tweeds because they looked more elegant for most occasions. Likewise, there are more instances of Irish fashion combined with its traditions, which keep its impact on current Irish fashion and other fashion in the world.

At present, Irish fashion continues to influence the whole world. Although Ireland is a small landscape, its fashion is incredibly promising (Mclauchlan, 2019). According to Statista’s (2019) annual report, the Irish global revenue ranking in fashion is No. 39. In 2019, the revenue in the fashion segment amounted to €680 m with an annual growth rate of 17.3%. The statistics imply that Irish fashion is not limited to Ireland. Instead, it is international and makes an enormous contribution to social, cultural, and economic development. Sile De Cleir (2011) claims that Ireland is a peripheral fashion center, but one that is influenced and in turn influences larger global fashion centers. Although Irish fashion has potential, unfortunately it lacks academic attention. The number of published papers related to Irish fashion is countable (Abrego, 2019). Recent articles have investigated Irish fashion based on fashion theory, culture, and history (Burke, 2018). These articles failed to investigate Irish fashion on social media, though they examined Irish fashion from the perspective of cultural insights. Furthermore, studies on Irish fashion branding and marketing did not consider cultural aspects (Burke, 2018). As a result, more research on the cultural heritage of Irish fashion branding should be considered.

The Parameters of Fashion Heritage Branding

In analyzing the parameters of heritage branding, John M. T. Balmer (2013) suggests that the factors of actual, communicated, and conceived corporate brand identity can help establish and manage the strategic direction of their corporate brands in the right way. Specifically, the factors of actual corporate brand identity are the traits of corporate brands, such as the strengths of the corporate, the benefits that bring to all stakeholders, the characteristics that make the corporate more unique than others, and the qualities that endure and evolve by continuing to maintain its identity (Balmer, 2013). In this sense, Urde et al. (2007) identified five key elements of brand heritage, which are, track record, history important to identity, use of symbols, core values, and longevity. Among them, culture is considered by Balmer as an important contract that defines the corporate brand, which has an impact on the culture of internal and external stakeholders, as well as the core value of the corporate brand (Sammour et al., 2020). Thus, this study considered designers’ cultural heritage as one of the important core values of fashion brands, and proposed it as a parameter for building and managing heritage branding.

Regarding communicated corporate brand identity, corporate brand communication plays an effective role in the management of corporate brands and their customers and stakeholders. John M. T. Balmer (2013) described that this direction is new in terms of heritage branding, but it is very necessary because it keeps brands sustainable, ensures that customers and stakeholders are on the right track, and guides corporate brands to success. Considering the distinctive features of fashion, this study focused on the parameters of communicated corporate brand identity on fashion design and symbols that reflect the corporate brand communication between designers and customers. Specifically, brand design refers to the brand shapes, fonts, styles, and colors that represent the brand name, symbols, and signs to identify this brand over another (Walsh et al., 2011). In the case of fashion, brand design involves fashion categories, colors, fabrics, and more (Ren et al., 2018). For any corporate brand, brand design is always included in the traits of heritage branding (Balmer, 2013). Scholars such as Aaker (2004) and Lieven and Hildebrand (2016) agree that maintaining the attractiveness and recognizability of brand design is important to establish the identity of the brand. Similarly, symbols are defined as visually appealing communication tools such as signs, words, colors, and shapes that distinguish brands and products from others (Aaker, 2004). The use of symbols is regarded as one of the main dimensions of heritage branding (Urde et al., 2007). Sammour et al. (2020) further explained that symbols should reflect the multi-generational nature of the brand, which shows the past sustaining up-to-date. Therefore, this study defines fashion symbols as visually appealing fashion communication tools that reflect the successful past time and the continuity of the present.

In addition, the factors of conceived corporate brand identity can be measured by understanding what their stakeholders say about the corporate brand, and how they perceive it (Balmer, 2013). Perception is the boundary of how managers and executives give attention to their corporate brand and the development strategies they use to build a good reputation for the future of their corporate brand (Rose et al., 2016). More recently, scholars have argued that heritage branding appears to enhance consumer perception even when the brand is unfamiliar (Han et al., 2021). A study by Pecot et al. (2018) supports that the presence of heritage cues increases the perception of brand credibility and willingness to pay for brand products. As such, heritage branding may involve several different cues for further discussion, all of which generally seem to enhance consumer evaluation and behavior. Finally, brand identity is defined as the foundation that management establishes for its brand to have long-term success and continuity (Urde & Greyser, 2016). It creates a bridge between the brand and its stakeholders by informing the market users and all stakeholders of what they expect from the corporate (Aaker, 2004). Referring to Balmer (2013), corporate brand identity can be archived through a number of sources such as corporate services, brand names, all different types of communication with stakeholders, and stakeholder behavior. Hence, this study describes brand identity as a fundamental parameter to measure consumer perception and behavior in managing fashion heritage branding on social media. The parameters of fashion heritage branding in this study are specified in Table 1.

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Table 1.

The Parameters of Fashion Heritage Branding.

Dimensions	Parameters	Definition	References
Actual	Cultural heritage	Intangible cultures, for example, traditions, customs, artistic expressions, and values	Urde et al. (2007); Balmer, 2013; Sammour et al. (2020)
	Irish cultural heritage	Intangible cultures with Irish identity
Communicated	Fashion design	Fashion categories, colors, fabrics, etc. that use cultural heritage to represent brand identity and differentiate it from other brands	Walsh et al. (2011); Lieven and Hildebrand, 2016; Ren et al. (2018)
	Fashion symbols	Visually appealing fashion communication tools that reflect the successful past time and the continuity of the present
Conceived	Consumer perception	The presence of heritage cues that enhance consumer evaluation and behavior	Urde and Greyser, 2016; Pecot et al. (2018); Han et al. (2021)
	Brand identity	The essential bridge that management builds for its brand and stakeholders

Case Selection

In order to select a representative case from the Irish fashion industry, the study examined all Irish designers and their brands, such as Simone Rocha, Louise Kennedy, Paul Costelloe, John Rocha, Richard Malone, and J.W. Anderson. Among them, Louise Kennedy is one of the most influential designers in Irish fashion. She has been called the “uncrowned queen of Irish fashion” (Power, 2019). Briefly, Louise Kennedy was born on June 28, 1960, and studied at Dublin Institute of Technology and Grafton Academy. Initially, she became publicly known in 1990 for designing a purple moire outfit for Mary Robinson, who was the first female president of Ireland. Afterwards, Mary Robinson became a regular client of hers, and wore her clothes during her presidency and in her daily life. Subsequently, her career was developed by joining the British Fashion Council, presenting her collections at London Fashion Week, and designing uniforms for Aer Lingus as well as judge’s robes for the Irish Law Courts. In 2000, she dressed the wives of the British Prime Minister, and was selected to create the wardrobe for the wife of Irish president Sabina Higgins in 2014. Additionally, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Fashion recognition by the Irish Clothing Industry, and was considered to have made exceptional contributions to Ireland. On the grounds of her remarkable achievements, Louise Kennedy can be considered one of the most representative and influential Irish fashion designers. Not only has she contributed to the development of Irish fashion, but she has also taken it to other European countries. Thus, this study selected her designer brand as a typical case to investigate how cultural heritage works and achieves fashion branding on social media.

Research Design

Correspondingly, this study applied social media mining to analyze this case. Social media mining refers to a series of research methods that integrate social theories with computational methods for mining data on social media. It is “the process of representing, analyzing, and extracting actionable patterns from social media data” (Zafarani et al., 2014, p. 16). With the popularity of social media, a large quantity of data is generated online each minute. It is estimated that 2.5 exabytes of data are created every day (1 exabyte = 1,000,000 terabytes; Bello-Orgaz et al., 2016). This incredible growth in data comes primarily from blogging posts (Zhang et al., 2012). It has been reported that 340 million tweets are produced on Twitter every day (Wang et al., 2012). Apart from its enormous size, user-generated data is noisy and unstructured, with abundant social relations (Zafarani et al., 2014). In other words, the research data in this study are quite different from the research data we deal with traditionally. To extract high-quality information, social media mining paves a practical way. It not only helps to handle a massive amount of social media data, but also to discover data patterns (Ramsay, 2016). As a result, this study applied social media mining to analyze these tweets to discover the current pattern of heritage branding in fashion.

Supported by the social media mining methodological framework of Salloum et al. (2017), the analysis steps mainly include information extraction, natural language processing, categorization, summarization, and visualization. Specifically, Louise Kennedy started blogging on Twitter in February 2011. Up to November 29, 2019, there were a total of 2,899 posts. As such, the study collected all of them and extracted text data from Kennedy’s tweets. Among them, the study excluded text data of tweets retweeted by Kennedy without her quotes from the information extraction because they were tweets from others and failed to reveal the influence of cultural heritage on Kennedy directly. Afterwards, these text data were analyzed for natural language processing. Namely, the text data were tokenized and labeled with relative frequencies, which became the basis for subsequent data categorization. Accordingly, the texts were examined by three categories—topics, hashtags, and mentions. Among them, previous research has proven that topics are the first major component of brand content on social media and are useful for detecting identity perception and measuring consumer preference in branding (Lund et al., 2018). Meanwhile, past literature (e.g., Buarki & Alkhateeb, 2018; Pancer & Poole, 2016) supports the use of hashtags and mentions to predict consumer perception of social media communication. Therefore, this study focused on the analysis of these three categories to understand how cultural heritage was performed in fashion design, social media communication and consumer perception, and constructed a strategic framework of heritage branding on social media for data summarization and visualization in the study. The research design is outlined below (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1.

The research design.

Design: Category, Color, and Fabric

Fashion category is the strategic management of product groups in the fashion industry. The management of fashion category has been proven to improve sales, customer understanding, and loyalty (Ren et al., 2018). The categories of fashion design in prior studies include romper, hoodie, dress, jacket, skirt, sweater, coat, etc. (Guercini & Runfola, 2012). The study identifies two frequent categories in Irish fashion—cape and dress. In terms of the cape, Burke implies that Irish designers like Peterson were interested in Connolly’s formality, re-appropriations of capes, and Connemara skirts in the 1960s (Burke, 2018). Kennedy designs different capes or cape effect dresses every season and relates to the adaptation of Irish cloak in the past. Irish cloak was a cape-like shape of the outer wrap garment worn in Ireland as far back as 750 BC (Dunlevy, 1989). It was described as a woolen weatherproof and general-purpose outdoor garment fastened by a single hook and eye near the neck (Mulcahy, 1989). Although the Irish cloak is no longer seen on the streets of Ireland, it has inspired fashion designers to create similar designs today.

Also, dress has played a significant role in Irish history. Irish women adapted styles of dresses in England directly to wear long dresses decorated with accessories in the 15th century. Native Gaelic dress for all classes consisted of a yellow linen tunic and a shaggy wool mantle worn long by women, which was eminently practical for the Irish humid climate (Flavin, 2014). As the dress has been proven to create “islands of identity” by the interpretation of global culture in a local communal context, the Irish dress represents the “cultural island” of Irish people (Crualaoich, 2005, p. 6). Emerald and green are common colors in Kennedy’s dresses. Ireland is called the Emerald Isle, after Irish poet William Drennan named it in his poem. Since then, the nickname of Ireland is the Emerald Isle. The color is used on the national flag, and attire for the celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day. Besides, the well-known example that Princess Grace wore a lime-green Givenchy dress for lunch with president Kennedy in 1961 shows that emerald and green signify Irishness because news reports transformed the color into the Hibernian shade of emerald and a gesture for Ireland (Burke, 2018). Therefore, Kennedy’s emerald and green dresses represent Irish cultural identity in design.

In addition, Kennedy’s fashionable dresses show a rich heritage of Irish textiles. Fabric is crucial to the success of Irish fashion since its innate qualities are a direct source of inspiration for designers (Greene, 1997). In the national exhibition named Fabric and Form: Irish Fashion Since 1950, sixty Irish designers demonstrated the continual reinvention of native fabrics—linen, tweed, and wool—that maintained Irish identity in fashion (Helland, 2007). The study finds that Kennedy uses tweed, silk, and wool to elaborate Irishness in design. Tweed is a woolen fabric that has become synonymous with Irish style. It is said that “when you buy a yard of tweed, it’s not just a yard, it’s a lot of Irish history you’re buying” (Haggerty, 2019). Tweed requires a hand-weaving technique that involves entire families to spin, dye, and weave wool. The technique has been passed down through many generations in families for centuries. Hence, tweed carries the history and cultural tradition of Irish families.

Moreover, the popularity of silk can be traced back to the 16th century in Ireland. It became a fashionable fabric among the Gaelic chieftains and their wives who were affected by the Tudor royalty in London (Dunlevy, 1989). Wool is another traditional Irish fabric, which has been exported to Europe since medieval times. For example, the woolen brat or large weatherproof cloak-wrap mantle was issued to the English army posted in Ireland (Helland, 2007). The results exemplify that Kennedy’s adaption of traditional fabrics in design, such as a gentle A-line silk dress in emerald and rich jewel tones, and a tweed dress and coat in emerald. The distinctive designs attest to the use of Irish cultural heritage in fashion.

As a result, this study reveals that Kennedy applies cultural heritage in design to build an Irish identity. Several academic studies discussed how the brand design was used to create brand identity in the light of cultural heritage (Sammour et al., 2020; Walsh et al., 2011). Brand design is recognized as brand style, color, shape, and type font that represent the brand sign, name, and symbol to identify this brand (Walsh et al., 2011). It represents its heritage meaning and shows the past in a present way (Sammour et al., 2020). From these points of view, this study considers brand design as category, color, and fabric that employ cultural heritage to represent the brand identity and differentiate it from other brands.

Fashion Communication: Topics, Hashtags, and Mentions

Kennedy further uses Irish cultural heritage to communicate with consumers on social media. Branding research is categorized into four perspectives—corporate, consumer, cultural, and critical perspectives (Schroeder et al., 2015). Researchers have argued that branding involves a cultural process, which consists of historical context, consumer response, and ethical concerns (Kornberger, 2010). Scholars suggest that brands should consider the cultural biography of the brand concerning their peak period for exposure (Olson, 2003). Burghausen and Balmer (2015) indicate that cultural heritage always constitutes brand heritage in terms of its relevance for brand identification. Developing the above, heritage branding shows its value in building a unique identity for brands.

With the rise of social media usage, this study confirms that social media has a positive effect on the heritage branding of fashion for building brand identity and consumer perception of brand image. Several researchers have discussed how social media positively influences branding co-creation, brand loyalty, consumer participation, and behavior (Godey et al., 2016). Hajli et al. (2017) suggest developing branding strategies by means of social media because social interactions of consumers in online communities with brands advance relationship quality and brand loyalty. Kamboj et al. (2018) reveal that social media significantly influences consumer participation, which in turn affects brand trust and loyalty, and eventually results in brand identity. Consequently, the research results indicate that Kennedy develops social interaction with consumers online employing topics, hashtags, and mentions, and consequently leads to a positive effect on heritage branding of fashion for building brand identity and affecting consumer behavior.

Theoretical Implications

This study gives a contribution to the existing literature on heritage branding. Previous literature indicates that price, quality, design, symbol, and celebrity endorser are determining factors of heritage branding (Sammour et al., 2020). However, these studies have not yet incorporated cultural attributes and heritage branding on social media. Hence, this study supports that cultural heritage is a key indicator of heritage branding. It introduces the application of cultural heritage to strengthen the sustainable development of brands, and expands the theoretical frameworks of heritage branding on social media.

Moreover, this study contributes to promoting the development of heritage branding in fashion, especially in the Irish context. As mentioned earlier, previous studies concern tourism and heritage industries primarily (Wilson, 2018). In addition, existing literature on Irish fashion are scarce and outdated (Abrego, 2019). With the rise of social media, fashion branding has undergone huge changes. Therefore, this study complements the cultural understanding of fashion branding, which inspires more scholars to further study heritage branding in fashion.

Managerial Implications

Also, this study has several managerial implications. For those small brands that are struggling with brand marketing and facing severe brand decline, this study highlights the importance of linking their brands with cultural heritage, and suggests that small brands should take advantage of cultural heritage to achieve heritage branding in the digital age. This study provides a strategic framework for managers to execute heritage branding in product design and social media communication, thereby achieving the cultural sustainability of brands. Finally, this study emphasizes the importance of social media in managing brands nowadays. It is recommended that managers exploit cultural heritage in tweets to expand brand communication and attract more consumers on social media.

Limitations and Future Research Directions

Naturally, this paper is subject to several limitations for future studies. Firstly, this paper focuses on the case analysis of Louise Kennedy, an Irish prominent but small fashion brand. Future studies may verify this strategic framework in general brands, and develop a more generalized framework. Secondly, this paper mainly investigates text data from Kennedy’s tweets. However, tweets also contain other forms of data, such as photos and short videos. It is interesting for future studies to involve their examination. Further research could consider the application of different techniques to analyze non-text data.