The First Place at ‘Media in the Modern World’ Conference

The student of the educational program "Advertising and public relations" took the first place in the section "Advertising as a tool for transforming society".

Last month, a conference entitled Media in the Modern World took place in St. Petersburg . The aim of the conference was to exchange experiences, ideas and research results as well as discussing issues in the field of media and mass communications.

Ekaterina Nikolaeva (3rd year student of the Bachelor's programme in Advertising and PR) came first in the Advertising as a Tool for Transforming Society category with a report entitled "Features of Perception of Advertising in VR Format (using the example of IKEA and PEPSI brands)". Ekaterina’s research advisor was Nikita Savin (Senior Lecturer at the School of Integrated Communications).

In her work, Ekaterina studied the perception of advertising via the format of virtual reality and the public’s relationship to those brands that use this technology in advertising. Her study was based on a qualitative method which involved two focus groups. The participants of the study interacted with IKEA and PEPSI advertising using VR-glasses.

As a result of her analysis, Ekaterina confirmed the hypothesis that the interaction of consumers through interactive advertising of goods in virtual reality is more conducive to the formation of a positive attitude to the brand than traditional advertising.

The paper describes in detail how attitudes towards the brand change after watching both videos in a VR format, leading to recommendations for what purposes direct and native advertising in VR format is suitable.

We would like to offer our congratulations to Ekaterina and wish her every success in her studies and future profession!