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As more destinations jump on the bandwagon of branding, their marketing organizations increasingly employ the Internet as a convenient medium for promotion. This chapter argues that instead of extending their brand communications to the Web by simply digitizing the logos, taglines, and other elements, destinations can build brands virtually in an internet-mediated environment where virtual experience takes place. The study examines how branding can be achieved through building virtualized destination image. It adopts the concepts of telepresence, virtual experience, and integrated informational response and explains how online and offline communication stimuli can affect various components of virtualized image. This expands and modifies the conventional image constructs by specifying information sources as antecedents through telepresence and integrated behavioral responses as consequences. The relationships between the image, its antecedents, and consequences, and among the image constructs are illustrated through 14 propositions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the net community in which residents and other stakeholders of communities actively participate in virtually building a strong destination brand.

The purpose of this paper is to compare real fabric drape images and virtual fabric drape images created by a commercial software. To achieve an in-depth comparison, actual and virtual drape shape properties were considered under three categories: drape area, number of nodes and shape of folds. The results of this research are expected to be useful to improve the reality and accuracy of fabric and garment.

Five different fabrics were selected for this study. Fabrics’ mechanical properties were tested by fabric assurance for simple testing method, while drape properties were measured by a Cusick drape meter. A commercial garment simulation was used to generate virtual fabric drapes. Real fabric drape images and virtual fabric drape images were analyzed by an image analysis software and results were used to calculate drape properties. Regression analysis was performed to compare real fabric drape and virtual fabric drape properties.

Differences between real fabric drape and virtual fabric drape were stated clearly. Simulation software was found to be insufficient to reflect drape area. However, simulations were quite successful corresponding to the number of nodes. Only one simulation had +2 nodes than its actual counterpart. This study showed that area and node shape representations of simulation software should be improved while node numbers are sufficiently represented.

There are alternative 3D garment simulation software available to the fashion business. All these companies are working on to improve their simulation reality and accuracy. Some of them are also offering various equipment to measure the fabric properties. In this study, Optitex 3D Suite was selected as the simulation software due to several reasons as explained in this paper. However, other simulation programs might also be employed to perform virtual fabric drapes. Furthermore, in this study, the drape images of five woven fabrics were compared. The fabric selection was done according to a pre-test and consequently similar fabrics were determined to be the subject of the study. However, the more the number of the fabrics, the better the comparison and eventually the better the assessment of simulation success. Therefore, it is prospected to test more fabrics with versatile fabric properties for further studies.

Drape shape was observed from three perspectives: drape area, node numbers, and node shapes. Dealing the problem from these perspectives provided an in-depth comparison of real and virtual drapes. In this study, standard deviation of peak angles was used to explain node distribution that is new to the literature to the authors’ knowledge.

This study aims to investigate the effect of the virtual spokesperson type on the consumers' preference for new products. To meet the consumer needs of Generation Z, virtual spokespeople have become new assistants in brand marketing. However, how virtual spokespersons drive consumer preference for new products is minimally understood.

This research conducts three experiments to investigate the influence of virtual spokesperson type on consumers' preference for new products.

The research shows that, for radically new products, competent virtual spokespersons improve consumers' perception of self-efficacy and thus consumers' preference; for incrementally new products, warm virtual spokespersons improve consumers' perception of social connection and thus consumers' willingness to buy.

This study broadens research on brand spokespersons and virtual spokespersons. This research also enriches and expands research on the consideration of new product types in brand spokespersons.

The paper aims to transfer the item image of a given clothing product to a corresponding area of the user image. Existing classical methods suffer from unconstrained deformation of clothing and occlusion caused by hair or poses, which leads to loss of details in the try-on results. In this paper, the authors present a details-oriented virtual try-on network (DO-VTON), which allows synthesizing high-fidelity try-on images with preserved characteristics of target clothing.

The proposed try-on network consists of three modules. The fashion parsing module (FPM) is designed to generate the parsing map of a reference person image. The geometric matching module (GMM) warps the input clothing and matches it with the torso area of the reference person guided by the parsing map. The try-on module (TOM) generates the final try-on image. In both FPM and TOM, attention mechanism is introduced to obtain sufficient features, which enhances the performance of characteristics preservation. In GMM, a two-stage coarse-to-fine training strategy with a grid regularization loss (GR loss) is employed to optimize the clothing warping.

In this paper, the authors propose a three-stage image-based virtual try-on network, DO-VTON, that aims to generate realistic try-on images with extensive characteristics preserved.

The authors’ proposed algorithm can provide a promising tool for image based virtual try-on.

The authors’ proposed method is a technology for consumers to purchase favored clothes online and to reduce the return rate in e-commerce.

Therefore, the authors’ proposed algorithm can provide a promising tool for image based virtual try-on.

This study aims to investigate potential tourists’ behaviour regarding visiting and recommending a destination based on an image derived from a virtual reality (VR) model, including motivations for travel and place attachment.

The study had two phases and used both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. The qualitative approach consisted of a focus group conducted to obtain the most important attributes of the destination image. The quantitative approach, which consisted of a self-administered questionnaire, was distributed to all the participants following a VR experience to provide data to empirically test the hypotheses proposed in the conceptual model.

Motivations for travel positively influence the image of a destination in both its cognitive and affective dimensions. Also, the cognitive dimension of destination image influences affective dimension of destination image and both dimensions affect overall destination image. Moreover, destination image, cognitive dimension and affective dimensions influence place dependence and identity. In turn, place dependence and place identity positively influence intention to visit the destination, but not intention to recommend it. Finally, intention to recommend the destination is positively influenced by the intention to visit the destination.

Due to the complexity of the overall experience, the sample was selected purposefully, and all participants belong to Generation Z. Extending this study to other generations would also be valuable.

Although the utility of VR for tourism marketing purposes has been one of the most researched areas during recent years, factors that could encourage tourists to visit destinations previously displayed in VR are not yet identified.

A dissertation study combined four case studies that examined school‐museum partnerships for virtual museum projects in which students did virtual reality imaging of museum objects related to their cultures. Students also researched their selected objects with the help of museum professionals, anthropologists, and community members. Project plans also specified that students would write essays to accompany the virtual museum exhibits, but that was not always accomplished. Each case is discussed, giving a brief sampling of some of the themes that emerged from them. A composite picture of the cases provided a more comprehensive description of the innovation through nine theme categories derived from the four cases. Three of the theme categories are discussed. The four cases were also examined to see what they revealed about culturally responsive teaching. Four of the ten culturally responsive elements identified in the study are discussed.

Advances in technology and the popularity of social media influencers have sparked a rise of “virtual influencers (VIs).” This study examines consumer attitudes toward VIs in social networking services and explores factors that enhance or dampen these attitudes. In three experiments, it was explored how contextual factors (background and companion) interact with human (HIs) and VIs, influencing attitudes through trustworthiness.

Three experiments were conducted using an online panel (N = 894). All experiments were based on the comparison between HIs and VI with mediating role of trustworthiness. In Studies 2 and 3, moderated mediation analyses were conducted to test hypotheses.

The results revealed that human-like VI was less trusted than animi-like VI or HIs. However, the perceived trustworthiness toward VI was enhanced when the VI was in a virtual (vs. real) environment (Study 2) or accompanied by a virtual (vs. human) companion (Study 3), leading to positive attitudes.

This research not only enriches relevant literature (avatars and SMIs) but also provides actionable insight for practitioners who design and utilize VIs. This paper proposes novel and handy tactics to enhance consumers' trustworthiness in and attitudes toward VIs.

This paper aims to explore the ethical and social impact of augmented visual field devices (AVFDs), identifying issues that AVFDs share with existing devices and suggesting new ethical and social issues that arise with the adoption of AVFDs.

This essay incorporates both a philosophical and an ethical analysis approach. It is based on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, philosophical notions of transparency and presence and human values including psychological well-being, physical well-being, privacy, deception, informed consent, ownership and property and trust.

The paper concludes that the interactions among developers, users and non-users via AVFDs have implications for autonomy. It also identifies issues of ownership that arise because of the blending of physical and virtual space and important ways that these devices impact, identity and trust.

Developers ought to take time to design and implement an easy-to-use informed consent system with these devices. There is a strong need for consent protocols among developers, users and non-users of AVFDs.

There is a social benefit to users sharing what is visible on their devices with those who are in close physical proximity, but this introduces tension between notions of personal privacy and the establishment and maintenance of social norms.

There is new analysis of how AVFDs impact individual identity and the attendant ties to notions of ownership of the space between an object and someone’s eyes and control over perception.

Place identity refers to the combination of physical setting, social interactions, emotions and associated meanings. This research paper aims to broaden knowledge about boutique concepts and to examine the role of advertisement types suited to generate a heightened sense of place for customers. The design and delivery of tangible and intangible components of the boutique service experience are investigated to better understand business-relevant customer outcomes.

An introductory qualitative study explores the key features and managerial relevance of the boutique appeal as a means to communicate personalization and a sense of place. Interviews with managers of a boutique catering service are conducted and thematically analyzed. A quantitative follow-up study examines the effect of the boutique appeal on hotel image, purchase intention and willingness to pay.

A boutique hotel appeal is more attractive to customers (compared to traditional luxury appeals) when it is advertised using visually engaging virtual tours because it augments customers’ sensation of place identity. The mediating psychological mechanism, place identity, represents the essential emotional component evoked by boutique concepts and its positive effect on managerially relevant customer outcomes.

This paper provides insight for the design and management of boutique concepts to better shape and predict consumer responses in various luxury hospitality industries. The process by which customers identify with the location where the service is provided, socialize with staff and attach meaning to these settings evokes a sense of place identity, a critical resource in the process of value co-creation.

Virtual Reality (VR) refers to the computer generation of realistic three‐dimensional artificial worlds in which humans, typically equipped with head‐mounted 3D displays, interactive gloves and even whole‐body suits, can be ‘immersed’, and are free to explore and interact with graphical objects in real time, using such natural skills as looking from different angles, moving, pointing, grasping, listening and talking. The early history behind the emergence of VR is short and incredibly intense and characterized by a small group of familiar names. As one of the key figures, Myron Krueger has described it, ‘…Like particles in a fission reaction, personnel from one project disband and reappear with new affiliations’. That reaction continues today, with a reproduction of the American experience in Europe.