VR Brand Interactions: How VR Influences the Holistic Brand Experience and the Consumer Decision Journey

Brand experiences are the ‘subjective, internal consumer responses (sensations, feelings and cognitions) as well as behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand’s design and identity, packaging, communications and environments’ (Brakus, Schmitt, & Zarantonello, 2009, p. 53). Occurring across various channels, brand experiences can include direct interactions with a branded product (Hoch, 2002), visits to a store (Eroglu et al., 2003), and indirect interactions, such as advertising (Schmitt et al., 2014). Importantly, consumers tend to process information differently depending on the channel or environment (e.g. indirect communications versus in-store; Lange et al., 2016), such that direct interactions are more impactful. Though, it is uncertain how virtual reality (VR) interactions are experienced (e.g. direct or indirect). For instance, novel technologies, like VR, enable greater multisensory elements, which can heighten the experience (Buhalis et al., 2019; Flavián et al., 2019). As such, scholarship has called for more research to explore how novel technologies affect the brand experience (Agapito, 2020). Still, we know little about how VR interactions alter the more holistic brand experience via senses, emotions, and cognitions. Moreover, we lack an understanding of how these internal consumer responses evoked during the VR experience interacts with prior interactions with a brand as well as influence future intentions and expectations about the brand. Thus, we aim to explore the following. First, how do VR brand interactions engage consumers’ senses, emotions, and cognitions? Second, how do prior interactions with a brand affect the subsequent responses to a VR interactino? Finally, how does the VR interaction impact attitudes, behaviors, and future brand experiences?