With the advent of Metabus, the boundary between virtual and reality disappeared, and Virtual influencer appeared more human than humans. Virtual influencer has emerged as a new trend in marketing and advertising as there are relatively fewer physical...
With the advent of Metabus, the boundary between virtual and reality disappeared, and Virtual influencer appeared more human than humans. Virtual influencer has emerged as a new trend in marketing and advertising as there are relatively fewer physical restrictions than influencer because it is a virtual being. In Korea, with the emergence of Korea's first virtual influencer ‘ROZY’ aimed at the MZ generation, not only SNS but also advertisements and photo shoots are receiving a lot of attention on behalf of humans.
Accordingly, this study identified the characteristics of virtual influencer ‘ROZY’ and explored the effects on parasocial interaction and trust formation between virtual influencer ‘ROZY’ and MZ generation based on the charac- teristics. As a result of the study, the characteristics of virtual influencer ‘ROZY’ were curiosity, reality, attractiveness, and communication, and curiosity, reality, and communication had a positive effect on parasocial interaction. In addition, it was confirmed that parasocial interaction had a significant effect on trust. It was found that the interaction through online activities between Virtual influencer and Generation MZ can form an intimate relationship, which leads to trust. Based on this background, it shows that exploring Virtual influencer can contribute to the activation of Virtual influencer marketing.