A Study on the Impact of Exhibition Brand Authenticity on Visitors’ Brand Engagement and Usage Intentions - Focused on Visitors of the 2024 Café Show

This study aims to identify how the perception of exhibition brand authenticity influences consumer behavior and to propose strategic directions for building a competitive exhibition brand. The survey was conducted with visitors of the "23rd Seoul Café Show 2024," held at COEX in Seoul from November 6 to 9, 2024. The results of the study classified brand authenticity into four dimensions— genuineness, continuity, symbolism, and credibility—and consumer brand engagement into two dimensions—cognitive-affective engagement and activation. First, the findings revealed that brand authenticity partially influences consumer engagement, indicating that authenticity plays a role in forming the relationship between the brand and consumers, serving as an emotional and cognitive foundation for encouraging engagement. Second, genuineness as a dimension of brand authenticity was shown to positively impact consumers’ intentions to use the brand in the future, highlighting its importance as a key driver of brand strength Lastly, all dimensions of brand engagement significantly influenced behavioral intentions. This implies that the more consumers cognitively and emotionally immerse themselves in a brand and actively engage with it, the higher their intention to reuse or recommend the brand. This study provides empirical evidence that brand engagement goes beyond a mere emotional reaction or brand attitude and significantly impacts actual behavioral intentions. It thus offers a theoretical basis for positioning brand engagement as a key predictor of consumer behavior.