UK Faculty Win Best Paper Award from AAA

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 15, 2015)  University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information faculty members Tae Hyun Baek and Chan Yun Yoo co-authored a paper with a Bryant University faculty member that won the Best Paper Award at the 2015 American Academy of Advertising National Conference in Chicago March 26-29, 2015.

The paper titled “The Impact of Augmented Reality on Self-Brand Connections and Purchase Intentions” was selected as Best Paper from the 148 papers submitted for review.

Yoo is an associate professor and Baek is an assistant professor at UK. Both are in the Integrated Strategic Communication program in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications. They collaborated with Sukki Yoon, an associate professor of marketing at Bryant University.

The research explored augmented reality, allowing consumers to virtually try on products, and the effect it has on purchasing decisions and brand perceptions.

“We poured our heart and energy into this research project,” Baek said.

The efforts paid off.  The research is, in fact, the first of its kind.

“To our best knowledge, the current research is the first to apply self-referencing effects to the augmented reality environment and to shed light on a boundary condition for the augmented reality self-viewing effect,” Baek said.

Results showed that when consumers see themselves wearing the product, they feel a stronger brand connection and stronger purchase intention, as opposed to seeing the product on an unknown model.

These results have the potential to impact future advertising strategies.

“Practically, as augmented reality technologies allow consumers to remotely, yet pseudo-directly, experience products, advertisers could explore additional avenues for effective digitally strategic communication campaigns,” Baek said.

Baek is the only person to win the AAA Best Paper Award twice.  He won previously in 2010 with a paper co-authored by Lijiang Shen.  It is titled “The Effects of Message Framing and Counterfactual Thinking in Anti-Binge Drinking PSAs."

The American Academy of Advertising is an organization of advertising scholars and professionals with an interest in advertising education. The academy fosters research that is relevant to the field and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas among its academic and professional members.

The AAA hosts an annual national conference and a global conference every odd-numbered year.  The 2015 global conference will be held in Auckland, New Zealand July 9-12, 2015.

MEDIA CONTACT: Blair Hoover, blair.hoover@uky.edu, 859-323-2395