Abstract

Virtual influencers, generated on the computer, are changing the advertising industry. More and more brands utilize virtual instead of human influencers as endorsers for their marketing campaigns for a variety of reasons, e.g., better control of the influencer’s behavior, cost savings, or zeitgeist motives (desire to be “up to date”). However, there is currently little research on whether significant advertising goals are achieved using virtual influencers. We analyze, in an initial study, whether consumers find such influencers appealing compared to human influencers and whether they are able to identify that the influencer is not real. Our results show that consumers find it difficult to identify virtual influencers as such and that they still have more positive attitudes toward human endorsers in advertising campaigns. However, virtual endorsers can lead to higher perceived ad novelty. In a second study, we further examine whether the advertised product category functions as a moderator. Results show that perceived congruence between virtual influencers and product is dependent on the product category and leads to higher advertising effectiveness. Our studies lead to the implication that marketers should carefully consider the use of virtual influencers in accordance with the aspired advertising goals and brand values.

摘要

计算机上产生的虚拟影响者正在改变广告业。出于多种原因，越来越多的品牌利用虚拟影响者而不是真人影响者作为其营销活动的代言人，例如，更好地控制影响者的行为、节省成本或时代精神动机（希望“与时俱进”）。然而，目前关于使用虚拟影响者是否可以实现重大广告目标的研究很少。在一项初步研究中，我们分析了消费者是否认为此类影响者比人类影响者更有吸引力，以及他们是否能够识别出影响者不是真实的。我们的结果表明，消费者发现很难识别虚拟影响者本身，并且他们对广告活动中的人类代言人仍然抱有更积极的态度。然而，虚拟代言人可以带来更高的广告新颖性。在第二项研究中，我们进一步研究了广告产品类别是否起到了调节作用。结果表明，虚拟影响者和产品之间的感知一致性取决于产品类别，并会带来更高的广告效果。我们的研究表明，营销人员应根据期望的广告目标和品牌价值仔细考虑虚拟影响者的使用。