Does Appearance Matter? Building Digital Brand Image Through Brand Ambassador on Instagram

Public Relations Department, Faculty of Digital Communication and Hotel & Tourism, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

^* Corresponding author: adhimurti.amalia@binus.ac.id

Abstract

The increasingly high demands of modernization make people pay attention to their physical appearance to achieve the applicable beauty standards. Many people are dissatisfied with their physical appearance, even though their beauty standards differ. Various beauty brands are competing fiercely by making a breakthrough, namely using Brand Ambassadors who have unique and different appearances to enhance their image in the eyes of consumers. Instagram is used to build a brand image digitally, so it can more easily reach the public. This study aims to measure how the appearance of a different comedian’s Brand Ambassador influences the digital image of a cosmetic brand on Instagram. The research method uses quantitative questionnaires distributed to 110 respondents who are consumers of a beauty brand. The results of this study show that the appearance of a Brand Ambassador has a positive and significant effect on brand image by 71.77%. The test results for the coefficient of determination are only 65.2%, while 34.8% are influenced by other variables. It can be concluded that attractiveness must support another variable to strengthen the effect on brand image, such as visibility, credibility, and power. This research has limitations on the effect of brand ambassador appearance on brand image.