• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1093-1106
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• 2021

This study attempted to investigate the influence of a beauty influencer's characteristics on makeup behavior and color cosmetics purchase intention against young female consumers in their 20-30s, who are a primary target for beauty influencer marketing. It aimed to provide basic data which are helpful in promoting marketing and expanding markets for color cosmetics through beauty influencers. For this, a questionnaire survey was conducted. Among a total of 563 questionnaires distributed across Seoul and capital region, 531 copies were used for final analysis, and the results found the followings: In terms of age, factors affecting beauty influencers' characteristics differed depending on reliability and expertise. Specifically, reliability and communicative competence had a positive effect(+) on all makeup behavior while expertise revealed a positive influence on base makeup only. In color cosmetics purchase intention, a positive effect was observed in reliability, communicative competence and attractiveness. In particular, reliability showed the largest influence. Therefore, there should be continued efforts to maintain a long-term relationship with consumers through communication based on beauty influencers' characteristics and by delivering more diverse makeup and color cosmetics-related information in an open and honest fashion.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.26-47
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• 2023

In the age of digital media transformation, the rapid rise of social media has changed the paradigm of traditional marketing techniques by leveraging the influence of influencers. However, the influence of influencers cannot be freed from ethical issues that arise as individuals, so virtual influencers are emerging as a countermeasure. This study is a study on how to increase the influencer effect of virtual models with a focus on the MZ generation in medical service. This study investigated whether respondents in their 40s or younger were aware of 'Rosy', a virtual influencer, and then conducted a survey on those who recognized 'Rosy'. As a result of this study, first, both cognitive and emotional motivation had a positive influence on fanship and attractiveness for virtual influencer. In addition, it was found that there was a difference in follow motive according to gender. Second, in order to lead to the intention of visiting hospitals, which is the medical service industry, only the cognitive motives with useful and reliable information and useful information for the virtual influencer were found to be significant in intention to visit.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.41-57
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• 2020

This study investigates the posting strategies of influencers for sales: what kind of contents should the influencers provide and how? Influencers used to have seven days of advertising period before the event date (sales begins) and provide both (or either) commercial and (or) non-commercial contents. Some influencers have large number of followers, while others have very small followers. We empirically investigated whether the sequence of posting the commercial and non-commercial contents influence sales, and whether such effects are susceptible to the size of followers. Through the analysis of 1,153 events of 298 influencers on Instagram, we found that commercial contents are more important than non-commercial contents for both small and large influencers. In more detail, the quantity of commercial contents is very important for the large influencers, while the quality of commercial contents is important for small influencers.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.85-96
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• 2022

The MZ Generation likes watching YouTube videos produced by senior influencers despite the big age gap. In addition, the final goal of collaborative YouTube videos between senior influencers and brands is to increase sales. Accordingly, this study examined this interesting phenomenon and aimed to provide useful insights for creating YouTube videos targeting the MZ generation. This study was divided into two parts. Study 1 explored the viewers' perceived benefits by looking at the YouTube video comments of a senior fashion influencer, and then classified the perceived benefits into informational, psychological, and hedonic benefits. Study 2 analyzed the relationships among the viewers' perceived benefits (informational, psychological, hedonic benefits), attitude toward a brand, and behavior intention. Study 2 found that only informational benefits, among the three perceived benefits, enhanced attitudes toward a brand, thereby affecting behavior intention. Based on the results of two sub-studies, this study highlights the importance of informational benefits to maximize the marketing effects employing the collaborative YouTube videos of senior influencers and brands.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.17-29
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• 2023

The digital environment, which has been rapidly developing since the beginning of the 21^st century, has become more specific due to COVID-19, and marketing strategies are rapidly changing to suit purchasing activities of Generation MZ, whose online purchases are becoming the center of their lives. A public relations agency is generally responsible for all aspects of making a client's product or service visible to the public through various forms of media. Among them, a company that performs only fashion-related tasks is called a "fashion PR agency". Now, the fashion industry is also centered on the e-commerce environment, and various digital marketing strategies have been developed and directly related to sales. This study examined the current status of online media and digital marketing, analyzes the aspects of fashion brand promotion strategies and methods in the e-commerce era, focusing on the work of fashion PR agencies, and suggests the direction of new online and offline promotion methods based on marketing and technological aspects. As a result of the study, first, theories on strategies for online media and digital marketing were examined, and found that the amount of online promotion has recently increased and become more specialized. Second, this study examines the concept of fashion PR agencies and analyzed their main tasks through interviews with fashion PR professionals. Third, based on successful online fashion promotion cases, the study analyzed fashion promotion strategies and methods that are being integrated online and offline in the e-commerce era. The main methods included SNS strategy, content strategy, performance strategy, influencer strategy, and event strategy, and it is suggested that integrated management is necessary for consistent brand image management, and an IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) strategy, which intensively manages all strategies, should be employed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.212-229
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• 2020

'Live + Sale' is actively promoted in China and 'Wang-Hong', also known as Chinese internet celebrities are dominating this format of marketing strategy recently. They introduce products to consumers through live broadcasts, promote online shopping, and frequently evoke impulsive buying. Under this context, it is worth focusing on what factors influence impulse buying during Wang-Hong's live broadcast. This study investigated the impact of Wang-Hong characteristics on impulse buying behavior when watching live sales. Also, the mediating role of flow experience and viewing satisfaction was explored. Furthermore, we expected that the different live broadcast circumstances could have a different impact on flow experience, viewing satisfaction, and impulse purchase. A total of 242 Chinese women who have experience of viewing live sales were recruited through a Chinese research platform. The results revealed that Wang-Hong's trustworthiness and attractiveness positively affected the viewer's impulse buying directly, and indirectly through flow experience and viewing satisfaction, whereas expertise did not have any impact on impulse purchase. However, there were no significant differences between the two live broadcast circumstances. This research can enhance understanding of the impulse buying process during Wang-Hong's live sale and help brands come up with effective influencer marketing strategies using live sales.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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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.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.446-462
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• 2020

The objectives of this study are to explore the information source, assessment, and preferred styles of 3D virtual influencers(VI), to investigate the expected impact of advertisements with 3D VIs on brands, and to explore ways of expanding the use of 3D VIs. In-depth interviews with 40 males and females in their 20s and 30s were conducted and qualitative data were analyzed. The study results are summarized as follows. First, the information source of the 3D VI was SNS, acquaintances, and broadcasting. Second, 3D VIs were considered positively due to their attractive appearance, wide utilization, innovative use, freshness, separation from private identity, and time and cost savings, while considered negatively due to their unrealistic appearance and antipathy against replacing a person's role. Third, the preferred appearance styles of the 3D VI differed according to the level of virtuality although the majority of interviewees preferred similar looks to real people with low virtuality. Fourth, diverse image qualities such as innovative, differentiated, trendy, high-value, professional, and future-oriented were considered as transferred to the brand advertised by 3D VIs. Fifth, advertisements with 3D VIs may help build positive perceptions of advertised brands that may lead to purchase behaviors for some consumers. Lastly, to expand the use of 3D VIs, the specific advantages of virtual models should be maximized with consideration of how to implement a variety of body types and images of models. Findings present an important foundation to generate strategies to better apply 3D VIs to the fashion market.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.31 no.4
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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.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.3169-3181
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• 2015

Nowadays, online word-of-mouth has become a powerful influencer to marketing and sales in business. Opinion mining and sentiment analysis is frequently adopted at market research and business analytics field for analyzing word-of-mouth content. However, there still remain several challengeable areas for 1) sentiment analysis aiming for Korean word-of-mouth content in film market, 2) availability of machine learning models only using linguistic features, 3) effect of the size of the feature set. This study took a sample of 10,000 movie reviews which had posted extremely negative/positive rating in a movie portal site, and conducted sentiment analysis with four machine learning algorithms: naïve Bayesian, decision tree, neural network, and support vector machines. We found neural network and support vector machine produced better accuracy than naïve Bayesian and decision tree on every size of the feature set. Besides, the performance of them was boosting with increasing of the feature set size.