Fake Personalities, Real Impact: The Rise of Virtual Influencers

Merely two decades ago, the word influencer had yet to enter the marketing lexicon. These days, influencers command a significant portion of advertising efforts around the world, and current projections indicate that brands will spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. Influencers possess a unique ability to appear authentic while simultaneously generating aspirational feelings, allowing their advertisements to operate similarly to word-of-mouth marketing, but on a significantly larger scale. However, while relying on an individual's authenticity enables brands to more efficiently target consumers, it also leaves them vulnerable to their collaborators' unpredictable behaviour. Recently, fashion blogger Arielle Charnas received backlash for flaunting her trip to the Hamptons amidst COVID-19, and companies like Nordstrom that had previously worked with her acted quickly to distance themselves. Within the past few years, technology has created a new solution for companies that want to avoid such situations and explore more flexible work opportunities: virtual influencers.

These digital avatars have distinct personalities, carefully curated aesthetics, and most importantly, they can work anytime, anywhere to fit a brand's marketing needs. Back in April 2016, a 19-year-old Brazilian-Spanish model with blunt bangs, a freckled-faced, and a somewhat uncanny appearance burst onto the Instagram scene: Lil Miquela. In opposition to her carefree demeanour lies the fact that everything Miquela says and does, the self-proclaimed “change-seeking robot,” comes from the minds of the team at Brud, a California-based “transmedia studio.” However, her computer-based origins have had little impact on her popularity and influence. Unsurprisingly, as a GCI creation, Miquela holds the capacity to do everything a human influencer can and more. She regularly collaborates with celebrities, both virtual and otherwise, garners over 500,000 monthly streams on Spotify, models, attends music festivals, visits foreign countries, answers interviews, and even replies to her own Instagram comments. Miquela's long list of achievements speaks to the versatility of digital personalities, their entertainment value, and their ability to engage with an audience. With 2.8 million Instagram followers and counting, Miquela certainly presents an attractive option to attentive advertisers. Last year, designer fashion house Calvin Klein debuted an unorthodox advertisement featuring model Bella Hadid and Miquela kissing. Although controversial, the campaign generated a flurry of media attention and brought virtual influencers into the mainstream gaze.

As the lines between the digital and the human become increasingly ambiguous, virtual influencers continue to make real money. According to a Bloomberg article, Miquela charges approximately $8,500 per sponsored post. The same piece features statistics from the U.K-based online marketplace, OnBuy, which predicts that Miquela will make around $11.7 million for Brud this year alone. In addition to marketing revenue, virtual influencers have also captured the attention of investors. In 2019, TechCrunch reported that Brud has a net worth of over $125 million after rounds of financing. From big tech to high fashion everyone wants a stake in the ever-growing virtual influencer industry.

While Miquela holds the position of highest-earning virtual influencer, others are closely following in her footsteps. In a July 2019 article on the topic of virtual influencers, news outlet VOX predicted, “There aren't really that many virtual influencers — yet.” Now, less than two years later, over 125 virtual influencers exist across major social media platforms, and creative agencies continue to create more every month. According to Christopher Travers, founder of virtualhumans.org, “[virtual influencers] are cheaper to work with than humans in the long term, are 100% controllable, can appear in many places at once, and, most importantly, they never age or die.”

Unlike their flesh and blood counterparts, virtual influencers pose less of an ethical dilemma. Ultimately, no matter how real they look and how existential their Instagram captions may be, their insentient nature allows companies to modify their behaviour and look to their liking. In 2018, Balmain launched a fashion campaign that championed diversity through their ‘virtual icons’ and commissioned the creation of digital models with different ethnic backgrounds. Outside of the fashion world, the World Health Organization partnered with virtual personal wellbeing and health influencer Knox Frost to raise awareness for its COVID-19 prevention campaign. Although for different industries, both campaigns speak to how companies look to customize their brand ambassadors to suit their specific needs. Furthermore, concerns over brand safety are negligible when enlisting help from the likes of Knox Frost, simply because he lacks the capacity to act insubordinately or unexpectedly.

COVID-19 has only further highlighted the need for influencer flexibility. Most social media stars must remain at home in adherence to local health guidelines. Meanwhile, their digital counterparts can continue globetrotting and cafe hopping without consequences while continuing to create engaging, eye-catching content. They continue to speak to the part of consumers and viewers that look towards influencers, not for a glimpse of actual reality, but rather for an augmented and aspirational version of it.

Whether a fad or a breakthrough in marketing, digital avatar brand ambassadors represent a new convergence of art, commerce, and technology. Furthermore, influencers ultimately have a common goal, whether digital or human, they aim to market both themselves and the brands that sponsor them, a task which is neither hindered nor improved by one's physical composition or lack thereof. Ultimately, like a CGI creation, the hallmarks of successful human influencers: relatability, taste, style, and personality, all require some degree of manufacturing.