- Item type
- Study and report
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Publication year
- 2024
- Contributors
- Subjects
- MARKETING
In today’s digital marketing landscape, luxury brands have embraced the rise of virtual influencers, incorporating them into their digital communication strategies and partnerships together with their human counterparts, despite initial reluctancy. This thesis explores luxury consumers’ attitudes towards virtual influencers and investigates whether they trust them more than human creators, as well as the reasons behind their choice. Through a systematic literature review and an online self-administered survey, significant factors impacting trust among consumers in this industry have been identified. While VIs might offer advantages to companies, such as cost-effectiveness, control or reduced risks linked to brand reputation due to scandals in influencers’ personal lives, they could also transmit a negative image to consumers. In fact, persistent concerns exist among luxury buyers regarding VIs' credibility, authenticity, and alignment with luxury values. Their skepticism is mainly due to their perceived limitations, including their incapacity to physically test sponsored products or to transmit genuine emotions. By exploring demographic subgroup differences, this thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ perceptions, enriching existing literature on the topic and providing its limitations for future research. Overall, it contributes to give insights about the complex dynamics between luxury brands, virtual influencers, and consumers in such a hyper-connected world.
