• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.152-161
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• 2023

Modern people live a life connected with the real world and the virtual world by relying on the new media of enterprises and social consumption led by innovative technologies. In this environment, virtual influencers actively communicate with consumers and build relationships through social media, which is a new marketing tool that has attracted widespread attention. From a business perspective, it is necessary to have a solid understanding of this phenomenon, and then explore communication strategies to effectively develop virtual influencers. To investigate followers' preference for virtual influencers, this study employs the Q-method, which studies human subjective attributes, an empirical research effort to uncover complex issues in human subjectivity. To determine the factors that trigger people's voluntary and active practice and the preference degree of virtual influencers, the Q method is implemented to examine human subjectivity, thoughts and attitudes. According to the results of this study, virtual influencers are a new group of idols full of vitality. The interviews found that there are still many virtual influencers who do not know about followers, but each type can be clearly understood through the intuitive understanding of the interviewees. Divided out, type 1 one egoideal virtual influencers aim to represent an idealized version of the creator or target audience. Embodies ideal physical characteristics, personality or lifestyle desired by the audience. Type 2 is charismatic and attractive, and has the characteristics of most virtual influencers. It is suggested that it can be developed into a potential type, doing brand cooperation, and content production on social media platforms. Type 3: Game animation, derived from the image of characters in games or comics, with stylized features and energetic personalities, which can be integrated into games or entertainment experiences. Type 4 development potential type is the most successful type among virtual imagers, and it is also the purpose of marketing virtual influencers. It is essential that brand endorsement on social media platforms, integrated marketing, and driving advertising traffic. It is recommended to improve production technology to reduce investment costs.

• 한국의류산업학회지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2024

Virtual influencers, who are emerging as new players in digital marketing, impact consumers' purchase intentions. They promote positive perceptions and mimetic consumption of specific brands or products through interactions with followers. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of the characteristics of virtual influencers on the purchase intention for fashion products through the consumers' mimetic desire. As characteristics of virtual influencers, five factors were set: reality, attractiveness, professionalism, trustworthiness, and curiosity. Data for analysis were collected through an online questionnaire from the 8th to the 15th of August 2023, and 268 data points in total were analyzed using SPSS and Process Macro 4.3. The results of the study showed that the characteristics of virtual influencers all positively affected mimetic desire and purchase intention for fashion products. Moreover, it was found that mimetic desire has a mediating effect between the five characteristics of virtual influencers and the purchase intention for fashion products. Mimetic desire fully mediates the relationship between reality and the intention to purchase fashion products, and partially mediates the relationship between attractiveness, professionalism, trustworthiness, and curiosity and the purchase intention for fashion products. These findings further enhance the understanding of the relationship between virtual influencers and consumer behavior and identify the relationship between virtual influencers, mimetic desire, and fashion product purchase intentions. Consequently, leveraging virtual influencers strategically in digital marketing, the fashion industry can amplify positive brand perceptions, drive consumer engagement, and ultimately foster increased purchase intent.

• 한국정보시스템학회지:정보시스템연구
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.75-100
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• 2022

Purpose Recently, hyper-realistic virtual influencers have received much attention in the field of corporate marketing. However, there is a lack of research that suggests specific processes affecting behavioral intentions through trust and attachment between virtual influencers and consumers. In addition, previous studies have failed to consider the characteristics of hyper-realistic virtual influencers. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of trust and attachment to hyper-realistic virtual influencers on consumers' behavioral intentions based on the trust-building model. Design/methodology/approach Based on the previous research, seven antecedent factors for trust-building were derived: Reality, Attractiveness, Awareness, Interactivity, Professionalism, Social Presence, and Predictability. Next, the survey was conducted on Chinese people who had experienced interacting with hyper-realistic virtual influencers on social network services within the last 3 months at the time of data collection. A total of 326 respondents were used for the final analysis and hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model technique. Findings The results of this study are as follows. First, this study confirmed that reality, attractiveness, awareness, social presence, and predictability as antecedent factors for trust-building of hyper-realistic virtual influencers have a positive effect on trust. Second, this study confirmed that trust in hyper-realistic virtual influencers has a significant positive effect on attachment. Lastly, this study confirmed that trust and attachment to the hyper-realistic virtual influencer significantly and positively affect relationship retention and purchase intentions.

• 한국인터넷방송통신학회논문지
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.55-61
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• 2023

본 연구는 가상 인플루언서에 대한 감성반응이 광고효과에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 확인하고자 하였다. 기존 연구들이 인플루언서의 속성에 주목한 것에 반해, 가상 인플루언서를 경험하면서 나타나는 소비자의 심리적 반응이 의사결정에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 연구결과, 가상 인플루언서를 경험하면서 소비자들은 구체적인 감성반응을 나타내고 있었으며, 당당함, 청초함, 은은함, 트렌디함, 화려함, 단순함, 소탈함이 대표감성으로 추출되었다. 또한 이러한 감성반응들이 브랜드태도와 구매의도, 추천의도에 영향을 미치는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 이러한 연구결과는 가상 인플루언서를 활용한 마케팅 커뮤니케이션에 실무적 함의를 제공하고 있다.

• 한국의류학회지
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.295-310
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• 2023

The current virtual fashion influencers are a hyper-real prototype in that it has a higher presence than the virtual humans in the past. Also, they are leading fashion trend with more than tens of thousands of followers on social media. This study investigated the physical and social presence of virtual fashion influencer perceived by consumer and verified effects on evaluation attributes of influencers and the relationship maintenance behavior. A total of 321 Korean women in their 20s and 30s who have Instagram account participated in the online survey. The data was analyzed using AMOS 23.0. The results revealed that the physical presence had a significant impact on attractiveness of virtual fashion influencers. In case of social presence had a positive effect on friendliness and reliability of virtual fashion influencers. In addition, evaluation attributes of virtual fashion influencers' friendliness, attractiveness and reliability in the order of influence on relationship maintenance behavior. This study suggested that the development of social presence of virtual fashion influencers with friendliness and attractiveness is more important than the physical presence that has already reached a high level.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.59-70
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• 2022

Recently, in platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, virtual characters resembling human life become the main characters, produce various contents, breathe with the public, and create the era of virtual humans. For example, existing game characters appear as virtual characters with unique AUs, or AI characters created by reflecting the public's preferences are actively communicating with the public through advertisements and SNS activities. As the consumption of video content through smart devices increases significantly in the post-corona era, virtual influencers are being used as all-round entertainers because there is little risk of personality controversy or production cost. there is a trend In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the case of being active as an influencer among the activities of a virtual character, and how the interactive aspect of the influencer appears by identifying the current situation through major cases. Combining this, based on the analysis of the influence of virtual influencers, the parts that producers should recognize are derived, and the differentiated characteristics of interactive virtual influencers are summarized. In addition, the difficulties of virtual influencers were investigated and problems were identified, and for the development of the content industry, a more favorable method for interaction was presented and suggestions were made to secure inner sincerity.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.130-139
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• 2023

With the increasing popularity of computer-generated virtual influencers, the trend is rising especially on social media. Famous virtual influencer characters Lil Miquela and Imma were all created by CGI graphics workflows. The process is typically a linear affair. Iteration is challenging and costly. Development efforts are frequently siloed off from one another. Moreover, it does not provide a real-time interactive experience. In the previous study, a real-time graphic workflow was proposed for the Digital Actor Hologram project while the output graphic quality is less than the results obtained from the CGI graphic workflow. Therefore, a real-time engine graphic workflow for Virtual Influencers is proposed in this paper to facilitate the creation of real-time interactive functions and realistic graphic quality. The real-time graphic workflow is obtained from four processes: Facial Modeling, Facial Texture, Material Shader, and Look-Development. The analysis of performance with real-time graphical workflow for Digital Actor Hologram demonstrates the usefulness of this research result. Our research will be efficient in producing virtual influencers.

• 한국의류학회지
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.282-299
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• 2024

This study aimed to examine the impact of virtual influencers' characteristics on purchase intentions through attitudes toward the influencer and the brand, and to identify which factors are important depending on involvement. We used a scenario-based online survey of 320 female consumers in their twenties and thirties, and analyzed their responses through structural equation modeling using AMOS 21.0. Virtual influencers' attractiveness, reliability, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' attitudes toward those influencers, while their attractiveness, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' brand attitudes. Notably, in contrast to the other variables, virtuality had a negative effect. In addition, consumers' attitudes toward the virtual influencer significantly affected their brand attitudes and purchase intentions. We also analyzed which characteristics had significant impacts on high- and low-involvement groups. We found that reliability had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the high-involvement group and that familiarity had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the low-involvement group, which confirmed that the variables affecting purchase intentions differ depending on the level of involvement.

• 지식경영연구
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.137-159
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• 2023

본 연구는 최근 많은 기업에서 마케팅을 목적으로 활용하는 가상 인플루언서에 대한 소비자들의 인식에 대해 집중 조명하고 있다. 다양한 외모와 배경 스토리, 세계관 등을 구성요소로 가지고 활동하는 가상 인플루언서에 대해 소비자들은 어떤 인식을 가지고 있는지 Q방법론을 활용하여 도출하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 또한, 연령대별로 가상 인플루언서에 대한 기대 가치가 어떻게 다른지 확인하고자 한다. 이를 위해 사전 인터뷰와 문헌 검토를 통해 34개의 진술문을 제작했다. 연구 결과, 20대 소비자는 가상 인플루언서에 대해 '분야의 전문가인 가상 인플루언서,' '실존 인물 같은 가상 인플루언서,' '가짜는 가짜다운 가상 인플루언서,' '친근하게 소통하는 가상 인플루언서'와 같은 4가지 유형의 모습을 기대했다. 반면에 30대 소비자는 '신뢰할 수 있는 가상 인플루언서,' '모르고 보면 실제 인플루언서,' '트렌드에 민감한 소통 중심 가상 인플루언서,' '광고 모델 가상 인플루언서'와 같은 4가지 유형의 모습을 기대했다. 이러한 연구 결과는 소비자들이 가상 인플루언서에 대해 가상의 인물이라는 것을 인지하고 있음에도 불구하고 외형적으로도 인간과 유사하기를 선호하는 소비자와 가상성을 유지하여 가상의 인물로 느껴지는 것을 선호하는 소비자가 모두 존재한다는 것을 의미한다. 추가로, 소비자들은 가상 인플루언서가 다루는 콘텐츠 분야에 대해서 일관성 있고 전문성을 가지기를 기대하며, 지나치게 상업적인 모습을 보여주는 것을 선호하지 않는 소비자도 존재함을 알 수 있다. 본 연구를 통해 가상 인플루언서를 활용하고자 하는 기업에게 마케팅 활동에 있어서 타겟 고객들을 대상으로 어떤 가상 인플루언서를 활용해야 하는지 고려하는 과정에서 시사점을 제공하기를 기대한다.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.375-385
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• 2024

In the context of contemporary digital media, virtual influencers have become an increasingly important form of socialization and entertainment, in which emotional expression is a key factor in attracting viewers. In this study, we take Luo Tianyi, a Chinese virtual influencer, as an example to explore how emotions are expressed and perceived through facial expressions in different types of videos. Using Paul Ekman's Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and six basic emotion classifications, the study systematically analyzes Luo Tianyi's emotional expressions in three types of videos, namely Music show, Festivals and Brand Cooperation. During the study, Luo Tianyi's facial expressions and emotional expressions were analyzed through rigorous coding and categorization, as well as matching the context of the video content. The results show that Enjoyment is the most frequently expressed emotion by Luo Tianyi, reflecting the centrality of positive emotions in content creation. Meanwhile, the presence of other emotion types reveals the virtual influencer's efforts to create emotionally rich and authentic experiences. The frequency and variety of emotions expressed in different video genres indicate Luo Tianyi's diverse strategies for communicating and connecting with viewers in different contexts. The study provides an empirical basis for understanding and utilizing virtual influencers' emotional expressions, and offers valuable insights for digital media content creators to design emotional expression strategies. Overall, this study is valuable for understanding the complexity of virtual influencer emotional expression and its importance in digital media strategy.