INSIGHTS FOR ADVERTISERS ON IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES: THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING USING VR, AR AND THE METAVERSE
Immersive technologies that are creating extended realities (XR) — i.e., augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed realities (MR) — are currently seen as increasingly important elements of advertisers’ promotional campaigns to connect with existing and potential customers. Moreover, a continuously stronger integration of immersive technologies with the physical world is giving rise to the metaverse, outlined by Mark Zuckerberg as the future of social media (see https://youtu.be/Rncz85tVt5I). Although a fully immersive and integrated metaverse has yet to be realized, we are observing numerous predecessors, such as collaborative virtual environments and various touchpoints in which consumers connect the physical reality with the virtual one. These developments have tremendous implications for marketers and advertisers; recent research has highlighted the power of these technologies to affect advertisement recall, attitudes, and purchase intentions.
Effectively deploying immersive technologies within marketing and communication strategies remains a challenge. First, there is a limited knowledge about how to use specific technologies or combinations of technologies to achieve different promotional objectives. XR applications vary from the very simple forms (e.g., 360 degree images on Facebook) to the more complex (e.g., Cave Automatic Virtual Environment [CAVE]), used in popular digitally augmented simulations such as “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.” And although there is some fragmented research on these technologies, relevant insights for advertisers are scarce.
Second, much of the scholarship that investigates AR and VR applications in advertising and marketing remains siloed, thus failing to account for the potential to combine them in complementary ways. Existing research that explores virtual worlds offers an incomplete perspective of the potential value of the envisioned metaverse, leaving advertising practitioners and scholars to grapple with key questions. Among them: How can the strategic implementation and integration of immersive technologies impact consumers’ attitudes and behaviors?
Third, given that these research areas are in their infancy, advertisers have limited understanding about how these technologies can be combined with traditional communication channels to create consumer, company, and social value. As consumers do not experience immersive technologies as a single touchpoint but rather as part of an integrated interaction with other communications, advertisers need further insights into how the immersive technologies fit into the traditional promotional mix.
Building on recent contributions focused on marketing applications of immersive technologies (e.g., JBR: Virtual Reality in Marketing; P&M: Disrupting Marketing Realities), this special issue of JAR aims to inspire investigation into the future of advertising applications within immersive technologies. Moreover, the Guest Editorial Team encourages submissions that focus on the integration of various channels or technologies with immersive technologies, such as various forms of XR or even XR with other media.
Submissions are welcome on an ongoing basis up to July 3, 2023.
We suggest the following topics but are welcome to other relevant advertising focuses within the theme of the special section:
- Identifying cognitive processes triggered by immersive technologies, leading to increased advertising recall.
- Understanding, creating, and influencing consumer persuasion through integrating two or more immersive technologies.
- Evaluating the potential of mixing social media with various immersive technologies to change attitudes, behaviors, or customer relationships.
- Examining how spatial-, social-, or self-presence affects the consumer experience and engagement with immersive advertisements.
- Investigating sensory simulation methods that communicate non-audiovisual sensory information (e.g., smells, textures, temperatures, tastes) using immersive technologies leading to enhanced consumer experiences and increased advertising engagement.
- Assessing how the ability to personalize avatars within immersive advertising affects consumers’ attention, attitude formation, and behavior.
- Mapping the consequences of consumer interactions with advertising-centered content in immersive technologies, also in relation to future interactions with non-immersive advertising.
- Developing effective methods of how advertising can be embedded within immersive games to optimize consumer outcomes.
- Identifying the “new rules of engagement” in collaborative virtual environments, where content is frequently co-created among the online community members.
- Investigating strategic advertising approaches to address challenges posed by immersive technologies in managing privacy concerns, dealing with social equality and fairness, and addressing harassment, and bullying.
- Exploring best practices to manage the consumer data captured with immersive technologies (e.g., within the virtual spaces — text, image capture, video capture, body movement or outside of the virtual spaces — bodily movement, neurological measures).
- Charting how advertisers can be ready for the metaverse as it develops, and forecasting how this will impact persuasion tactics and brand-consumer relationships.
- Analyzing the transformative potential of advertising to leverage immersive technologies to create, deliver, and enhance experiential events, such as tradeshows or concerts.
We are looking for immediately actionable research findings, and as a result there is preference for submissions that include empirical data (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, or mixed). Conceptual submissions are encouraged only if they contribute major advancements relevant to advertising practice. Given our strong industry readership, please place particular emphasis on practitioner implications of the research findings.
The length for JAR submissions is 7,000 words, excluding references. Authors are encouraged to make use of online appendices for material useful, but not central, to the paper. Submission guidelines can be found here.
The special section editors are Kirsten Cowan (kirsten.cowan@ed.ac.uk), University of Edinburgh, Ana Javornik (ana.javornik@bristol.ac.uk), University of Bristol, and Kirk Plangger (kirk.plangger@kcl.ac.uk), King’s College London. Papers should be submitted via the JAR’s Editorial Manager online platform.
Sample References:
Ahn, S. J., & Bailenson, J. N. (2011). Self-Endorsing versus Other-Endorsing in Virtual Environments. Journal of Advertising, 40(2), 93-106.
Campbell, C., Plangger, K., Sands, S., & Kietzmann, J. (2022). Preparing for an Era of Deepfakes and AI-Generated Ads: A Framework for Understanding Responses to Manipulated Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(1), 22-38.
Campbell, C., Sands, S., Montecchi, M., & Jensen Schau, H. (2022). That’s So Instagrammable! Understanding How Environments Generate Indirect Advertising by Cueing Consumer-Generated Content. Journal of Advertising, 1-19.
Cowan, K., Javornik, A., and Jiang, P. (2021). Privacy Concerns When Using Augmented Reality Face Filters? Explaining Why and When Users Avoid Use. Psychology & Marketing, 1-15.
Cowan, K. & Ketron, S. (2019). A Dual Model of Product Involvement for Effective Virtual Reality: The Roles of Imagination, Co-creation, Telepresence, and Interactivity. Journal of Business Research, 100, 483-492.
Cowan, K. & Ketron, S. (2019). Prioritizing Marketing Research in Virtual Reality: Development of an Immersion/Fantasy Typology. European Journal of Marketing, 53(8), 1585-1611.
Cowan, K., Spielmann, N., Horn, E., & Griffart, C. (2020). Perception is Reality... Haptic Factors and Digital Engagement. Journal of Business Research, 120, 529-538.
De Ruyter, K., Heller, J., Hilken, T., Chylinski, M., Keeling, D. I., & Mahr, D. (2020). Seeing with the Customer’s Eye: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of AR Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 49(2), 109-124.
De Regt, A., Barnes, S. J., & Plangger, K. (2020). The Virtual Reality Value Chain. Business Horizons, 63(6), 737-748.
De Regt, A., Plangger, K., & Barnes, S. J. (2021). Virtual Reality Marketing and Customer Advocacy: Transforming Experiences from Story-telling to Story-doing. Journal of Business Research, 136, 513-522.
Javornik, A., Duffy, K., Rokka, J., Scholz, J., Nobbs, K., Anisa, M., & Adriana, G. (2021). Strategic Approaches to Augmented Reality Deployment by Luxury Brands. Journal of Business Research, 136, 284-292.
Petit, O., Javornik, A., & Velasco, C. (2022). We Eat First with Our (Digital) Eyes: Enhancing Mental Simulation of Eating Experiences via Visual-Enabling Technologies. Journal of Retailing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2021.04.003
Spielmann, N., & Orth, U. R. (2021). Can Advertisers Overcome Consumer Qualms with Virtual Reality? Increasing Operational Transparency through Self-Guided 360-Degree Tours. Journal of Advertising Research, 61(2), 147-163.