DefinePK

Abstract

The increasing use of augmented reality (AR) applications provides an exciting opportunity to improve brand experiences and build deeper consumer-brand relationships, especially with digital-native audiences. In this context, this study aims to investigate how brand experience drives brand advocacy while also considering the mediating role of hedonic benefits from AR experiences, using Pakistan and Snapchat's newly emerging digital landscape as the backdrop. This study examined Snapchat users in Pakistan from a quantitative perspective to consider the interrelationships of the experiential and technological features of AR. The independent variable was brand experience, and hedonic experience was employed as a mediating variable in the study of brand advocacy. The research model was guided by established behavioral models to understand better how users engage with AR in a socially and technologically changing market. Overall, the findings suggest that a positive brand experience can significantly contribute to the opportunity to experience hedonic benefits through AR applications. These hedonic benefits subsequently mediate whether consumers intend to advocate for the brand. The research demonstrates how emotionally rich and easy-to-engage-with digital experiences can stimulate loyal and passionate consumer behaviors (in these cases, within immersive AR environments). Even as AR devices, technologies, and applications become increasingly integrated into global digital marketing strategies, empirical research in developing economies remains scarce. The study contributes to this context by being the first to focus on Pakistan and highlights new perspectives on how AR-enabling hedonic value can allow for brand advocacy. It builds upon the literature by capturing the experiential aspects of AR in an emerging market context. It offers strategic implications about how brands can create advocacy through immersive technology.