Journal of Interactive Advertising

The metaverse, an interoperable network of virtual environments that allow users to synchronously interact with each other as avatars at a massive scale, is anticipated to disrupt multiple aspects of traditional advertising (Ahn, Kim, & Kim, 2022a). Due to the relative nascence of the concept, the academic discourse on the metaverse to date has focused largely on defining the concept to establish a starting point for many of these discussions (Ahn et al., 2022b; Dwivedi et al., 2022; Kim, 2021). Consequently, relatively little is known about the practical advertising strategies in the interactive and immersive spaces that are anticipated to help form the metaverse. Even less has been discussed regarding new methodological tools and approaches that are necessary to evaluate advertising effectiveness in the metaverse. Parallel progress for both conceptual and methodological approaches is important for theory development (Shoemaker, Tankard, & Lasorsa, 2003).

This special issue will focus on empirical findings and new discoveries, novel strategies, and groundbreaking findings to shed insights on the future of advertising in the metaverse. The concept of the metaverse is still being debated at the moment; therefore, the definition of interactive and immersive virtual environments will be broadly defined for this issue. The following criteria will be used to evaluate the fit and acceptability of the submissions. These criteria are intentionally broad in scope to invite a wide range of submissions and perspectives:

Criteria

• The submission cannot be purely conceptual/theoretical or an essay. The manuscript must include empirical data: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods data are all welcome.
• Must have an advertising orientation. Please note that advertising includes a wide array of dimensions, including the macro advertising industry, companies (brands and agencies), advertising channels, advertising messages, and individual consumers.
• Must include an element of the metaverse. Please note that the definition of the metaverse includes a wide of technologies, companies, and users. For example (list is not exhaustive): virtual environments, interactivity, immersiveness, interoperability, concurrence, and embodied actors as suggested in the literature (e.g., Ahn, Kim, and Kim, 2022) and make theoretical and empirical connections among them in the context of advertising processes and effects.

Potential areas of investigation

• Transformation of Key Performance Indices for advertising in the metaverse
• Integrated Marketing Communications in the metaverse
• Trust and credibility of advertising in the metaverse
• Data privacy and security of advertising in the metaverse
• Children and vulnerable in the era of advertising in the metaverse
• Avatars and identity in the consumer-brand interactions in the metaverse
• Agents as endorsers and influencers in the metaverse
• Effective message elements for advertising in the metaverse
• Methodological and computational tools for analyzing consumer-brand interactions in the metaverse
• Integration of AI technologies for advertising in the metaverse

 

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. Submissions from junior and early career scholars are especially welcome. All submission formatting should follow author guidelines for the Journal of Interactive Advertising. Please send any submission inquiries to the special issue editor, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn ([email protected]).

 

References: Available upon request. Due to the space limitation, the list of cited resources cannot be provided in this announcement.

• Select the special issue title “Interactive Advertising Strategies in the Metaverse” when submitting your paper to ScholarOne.
• Full-length and Rapid Communication manuscripts are welcome.
• Publication schedule: Accepted articles for this Special Issue Article Collection will be published in the Journal of Interactive Advertising’s first available regular issue (i.e., rolling publication); the articles will also be added to a Special Issue Article Collection page upon publication, along with an introduction and editorial from the guest editor.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article