Avatar-Based Advertising in Second Life: The Role of Presence and Attractiveness of Virtual Spokespersons

Seung-A Annie Jin and Justin Bolebruch

Avatar-based, three-dimensional, virtual environments such as Second Life, the most popular and fastest growing environment, offer a promising corporate communication channel for brand marketing, advergaming, and interactive advertising.

Avatar-Based Advertising in Second Life: The Role of Presence and Attractiveness of Virtual Spokespersons

Seung-A Annie JinDepartment of Communication at Boston College

Justin BolebruchBoston College

Abstract:Avatar-based, three-dimensional, virtual environments such as Second Life, the most popular and fastest growing environment, offer a promising corporate communication channel for brand marketing, advergaming, and interactive advertising. Drawing on presence literature, this study examines the effects of the presence (versus absence) of spokes-avatars that provide product information and consumers' multimodal interactions with these spokes-avatars on improvements in the consumers' product involvement, attitude toward the product, and enjoyment of the online shopping...

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