Co-branding with Instagram Influencers: Perception of Generations Y and Z

This thesis aims to understand the perception that Generation Y and Z have of co-branding with Instagram influencers. For this purpose, a literary review is carried out in order to give the reader a good overview of the concepts related to this issue. We then carried out a quantitative and qualitative study to explore the perception of these two generations most anchored in the digital world. The interviews conducted for our qualitative study showed that the product co-created with a well-known brand is perceived as being of higher quality than when the product is co-created with a less well-known brand or with the influence’s brand. Moreover, it has also demonstrated that the larger the influencer's community, the more he/she is perceived as an expert through his experience. Furthermore, the smaller the influencer is perceived as the most authentic one compared to bigger influencers. Finally, our results also showed that the influencer could create a product in any field. The results of our online questionnaire analysed with SPSS software showed that the co- creation of a product by an influencer and his/her own brand is perceived as the most congruent. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that people from Generation Y and Z perceive a product co-created with a known brand and an influencer as the highest quality compared to a collaboration between a smaller brand, or the brand of the influencer. We also discovered from our results that when the expertise of an influencer increases, the purchase intention of the co- created product increases and increases further when it is created with the influencer's brand. Furthermore, the product that generates the most purchase intention is the product co-created with a known brand. Additionally, purchase intention is the lowest when the product is co- created with the influencer's brand.