THESIS PROJECT
DIRECTED THESIS STUDY, EMERSON COLLEGE, 2021
GOAL
BUILD A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUCCESSFUL TACTICS OF CURRENT BEAUTY AND FASHION BRANDS
Titled Human Brand Friendship in a Digitally Social World, this research focuses on the development of a market driven identity becoming a fundamental aspect of the self. It began with a literature review to form understanding of the environment at hand as well as consumer traits. This literature review considers many academic sources, books, and articles. Below I have included some of the most influential quotes I found.
The formation of emotional capital in a “global economy rooted in neither production nor consumption, but in the trading of financial derivatives”
- Stephens, 2015
Social engagement is selective and “primarily engaged when encoding impressions formed intentionally with a social focus, rather than implicitly”
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- Vaish et al., 2008
Consumer brand relationships “may be infused with emotion and involve obsessive thought, or be simply habitual and subsequently less emotionally charged and cognitively based”
- MacInnis, 2009
CASE STUDIES
Through case study of 10 brands in wellness/aesthetic focused beauty and fashion industries, I based overall social relatability percentage on ranking out of 40 points. Brands were scored out of 10 in consideration of each below category.




In conducting the following case studies, a variety of metrics have been used. The following will explain how these have been defined for this study's purpose.
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Average Product Price
In USD, obtained by dividing the total of a randomized selection of 8 of the brand's product offerings with 8 (# of offerings measured).
Ownership
A binary definition of brand ownership, private versus public. Private ownership describes a company that is not publicly traded, and public ownership describes the opposite.
Revenue
The most recently available annual revenue evaluation publicly available.
Engagement Rate
Obtained for each platform by dividing the brand's total number of engagements in October with the brand's total number of followers as of October 15th, 2021.







