Virtual influencers: Yay or nay?
Pascal Wabnitz
SOCIAL- & CREATOR-CENTRIC BY HEART ?? Mit über 120 Mitarbeiter:innen an den Standorten K?ln, Berlin und Münster sind wir eine der führenden Independents rund um Content, Social Media, Influencer + Performance Marketing.
Lara, Spyro, Crash, Sonic or Mario. Who doesn't look back to all this beautiful childhood memories of the old game or handheld console when hearing these names? The following names also have something in common with our former childhood heroes: Imma, Shudo, Janky, Bermuda or Lil Miquela. You're probably wondering what kind of games they come from? The only thing the characters have in common is that they were once created on the computer.
But that's exactly where the similarities end. Free from the #gaming industry, more and more #virtualinfluencers have been emerging for more than a year now. They are not only winning over the fashion world, they are also becoming increasingly active for well-known brands, in addition to being mentioned in magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Co. The best-known face of this digital movement is certainly #LilMiquela with her approx. 1.6 million #Instagram followers, who recently put her polygons in the right light for brands such as Prada, Chanel, Diesel or Samsung. The #influencer designed by the tech startup Brud even embellished a campaign for Calvin Klein together with the American top model Bella Hadid (25 million Instagram followers). So it's no surprise that start-ups like Brud now receive millions in funding out of the Silicon Valley.
But what is fascinating about all virtual influencer? Counter-question: What fascinated us at that time about following the adventures of our heroes on Playstation or Gameboy for hours - and for weeks or months? Quite simple: It was the interest to want to know how things would continue and to want to be a part of the story. That's exactly what Brud realized and not only creates digital enemies for Lil Miquela, who later become friends and colleagues in the form of Bermuda, but also other characters like Blawko as the male protagonist.
Top-list:
Political statements and commitment to the LGTB* Community and Black Lives Matter are also part of Lil Miquela's everyday life. Everything to give the #followers a certain authenticity in the otherwise artificial world of virtual stars.
For me the development is ambivalent, because Lil Miquela and her friends support the decay of the authenticity of influencers, who have already suffered from some human colleagues. On the other hand, there are completely new possibilities for brands to convey messages and create ambassadors that fit 100 percent to the company.
"For me the development is ambivalent, because Lil Miquela and her friends support the decay of the authenticity of influencers, who have already suffered from some human colleagues."
But what do others say?
Marius Jansen, Managing Director Social Match: "The opportunities for brands to build their own influencers and thus give the brand an extended identity, are even more attractive than using virtual influencers only as a medium. At the moment it should be easy to generate attention and range with virtual influencers. The challenge, however, is to deliver #video #content for Instagram Stories, which tells a relevant and lasting story. For real influencers, this content is a success factor and can be produced ad hoc in everyday life. For the makers of virtual influencers, the costs for video #production and creative #storytelling are still comparatively high."
Alina Ludwig, Strategic Planner at Denkwerk, Podcaster (Influence!): "Influencer #marketing is at least not a game for attention and currently a virtual influencer guarantees exactly that to a first mover in Germany. Having absolute control over the appearance, personality and reliability of the artificial partner is an additional incentive that will certainly make many hearts beat faster. But the price is high, because the discipline is robbed of its greatest strengths: With the technology currently available, no close ties between man and AI are imaginable. And isn't the magic of #influencermarketing in the unexpected, the hard edges and extravagances?"
Conclusion:
Virtual influencers will also find their place, just like #kidsfluencers, #petfluencers, best ager influencers, etc. have done in their niches. The size of this space will depend on how #AI and #AR developments progress. But why game publishers like Ubisoft, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Blizzard Activision and Co. don't yet play their characters and the stories behind them on #socialmedia remains a mystery to me. But what isn't yet, that can still become.