工商管理学院知识库

随着数智化时代的到来，越来越多的计算机生成图像（CGI）与人工智能（AI）技术渗透到我们的生活当中，CGI虚拟代言人这一新事物也应运而生。长期以来，企业多选用真实的人为品牌代言，CGI虚拟代言人的出现改变了以往固有的模式，从此真实代言人不再是企业通过代言人宣传的唯一选择。梳理现有企业实践发现，CGI虚拟代言人应用主要集中在美妆和快消领域，其作为时代新宠为何与真实代言人共存，对消费者品牌认同产生的内在影响机制与真实代言人有何不同？在应用情境上，CGI虚拟代言人与真实代言人是否存在差异？品牌应如何根据不同的消费任务情境在两者之间做出对企业更加有利的选择成为应该关注的焦点。

本文在对以往文献梳理的基础上，聚焦于在不同消费任务情境下，企业应如何选择代言人，基于代言人类型（CGI虚拟代言人和真实代言人）与消费任务情境（客观消费任务情境和主观消费任务情境）的交互视角，研究代言人对消费者品牌认同的影响机制。基于SOR理论和信源特性理论构建模型，提出假设并通过实验法验证消费任务情境类型与代言人类型对消费者品牌认同的交互作用及心理模拟（过程模拟和结果模拟）在上述交互作用中的中介效应机制。研究结果显示，在主观消费任务情境中，采用CGI虚拟代言人更有助于提高消费者品牌认同，结果模拟在上述交互作用中具有中介效应；在客观消费任务情境中，采用真实代言人更有助于提高消费者品牌认同，过程模拟在上述交互作用中具有中介效应。

研究结果丰富了CGI虚拟代言人的相关研究，为数智营销背景下的品牌代言人以及企业如何选择更有益于品牌的代言人提供了新见解，同时也是对以往非仿真虚拟代言人影响机制研究的有力补充；拓展了CGI虚拟代言人在智能营销实践中的价值。目前，企业选择代言人更多是希望通过代言人提高品牌知名度，最终达到塑造独特品牌形象来吸引消费者的目的。因此，企业在选择品牌代言人时，应充分考虑消费任务情境，根据品牌预期选择最能体现预期形象的品牌代言人。

With the advent of the digital age, more and more computer- generated images (CGI) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to penetrate our lives, the CGI virtual spokesman this new thing also came into being. For a long time, enterprises have been using real people to advocate for their brands, and the emergence of CGI virtual spokespersons has changed the inherent pattern of the past, and from now on, real spokespersons are no longer the only choice for enterprises to publicize through spokespersons. Combing through the existing enterprise practice found that the CGI virtual spokesperson application is mainly concentrated in the field of beauty and fast-consuming, as a new darling of the times, why coexist with the real spokesperson, and what is the difference between the intrinsic influence mechanism of consumer brand identity and the real spokesperson? Is there any difference between CGI virtual spokespersons and real spokespersons in terms of application scenarios? How brands should make a more favorable choice between the two according to different consumer tasks has become the focus of attention.

Based on the review of previous literature, this paper focuses on how companies should choose spokespersons in different consumer task situations and investigates the influence mechanism of spokespersons on consumer brand identity based on the interaction between spokesperson types (CGI virtual spokespersons and real spokespersons) and consumer task situations (objective consumer task situations and subjective consumer task situations). A model is constructed based on SOR theory and source characteristics theory, and hypotheses are proposed and verified by experimental method to investigate the interaction between the type of consumption task context and the type of endorser on consumer brand identity and the mediating effect mechanism of mental simulation (process simulation and outcome simulation) in the above interaction. The results of the study show that in subjective consumer task situations, the use of CGI virtual spokespersons helps to improve consumer brand identity, and outcome simulation has a mediating effect in the above interactions; in objective consumer task situations, the use of real spokespersons helps to improve consumer brand identity, and process simulation has a mediating effect in the above interactions.

The results of the study enriched the relevant research on CGI virtual spokespersons, providing new insights into brand spokespersons in the context of digital intelligence marketing and how enterprises can choose more beneficial spokespersons for their brands, as well as a powerful supplement to previous research on the influence mechanism of non-simulated virtual spokespersons, expanding the value of CGI virtual spokespersons in intelligent marketing practice. At present, enterprises choose spokespersons with the hope that they will more often at present, enterprises choose spokespersons more to hope that through spokespersons to improve brand awareness, and ultimately achieve the purpose of shaping a unique brand image to attract consumers. Therefore, when choosing a brand spokesperson, enterprises should fully consider the consumer task situation and choose the brand spokesperson who can best reflect the expected image according to the brand expectation.