Forever young and without skeletons in the closet. The clean face and picturesque appearance of the virtual influencers bewitched Generation Z in Asia and inevitably offered a glimpse into the metaverse . In a world that increasingly wants to blur the boundaries between the real and the non-real, the avatars created entirely by artificial intelligence represent a perfect spot for the ambitious program of Mark Zuckerberg, who imagines a virtual world in which we will be accompanied by our alter-egos made exclusively of pixels.
The virtual influencers have assumed a considerable weight in the Chinese Gen Z in recent years, an army that in the Country of the Dragon is equivalent to 16% of the total population. But the prospects for imposing itself on a large scale seem to be there: numbers in hand, the data giant Statista believes that the virtual influencer market could reach a value of 13.8 billion of dollars in the period of 2021 alone. And in the opinion of experts in the sector, it will be the metaverse – and the growing interest of users in this particular theme – that will definitively explain the wings of computer-designed avatars, the number of which has already more than tripled in the past two years. Will they, therefore, be the first inhabitants of the metaverse ?
The appreciation of virtual influencers in Asia has several reasons. Apart from the attitude of Generation Z with the web and social media, the clean face of virtual creations has convinced companies above all, in a context unfortunately still dominated by the control of freedom of expression by some Asian nations. According to some comments by experts, the elimination of prejudices on the reputation of the brand constitutes an incentive for the spread of the practice of influencer marketing in Asia: there are no skeletons in the closet in the past of virtual stars, nor even taking a position on political arguments; rather there is a work ethic and total controllability.
The perfect example is represented by Bangkok Naughty Boo , the non-binary character created in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic by the stylist Adisak Kirasakkasem who is part of a real tribe of virtual influencers “Made in Thailand”. The flashy aesthetic dominated by neon hair and flawless skin goes hand in hand with the dissemination of social messages of a certain value on social networks: Naughty Boo wants to be an ambassador of a more open and inclusive society.
The success of the virtual influencers is mainly driven by the fashion field, where a strong investment by big brands is expected: according to some statistics from the Mediakix company, spending on influencer marketing could rise. up to 15 billion dollars by 2022, compared to 8 billion reached in 2019. Numbers that are coupled with the increase in the number of active influencers: over 150, according to the Virtualhumans website, and a third of these debuted on social networks. Like nineteen year old Lil Miquela (the image at the beginning of the article is taken from her channel YouTube ), with her 3.1 million followers on Instagram and a series of images that portray her doing gymnastics on the beach or struggling with food: it was created in 2016 by the artists Trevor McFedries and Sara Decou and has worked with the most important brands of luxury, including Prada, Chanel, Moncler. A gold “nugget” capable of earning around $ 7,000 per post.
Take the case of “ Candy “, the exceptional testimonial of one of Prada's fragrances: she has freckles, pink eyes and is dressed from head to toe by the Italian luxury holding company . Particular signs? It is created with the so-called “CGI” technique (the acronym for Computer Generated Imagery) and lives only in virtual reality. Candy appears in a wide variety of ad formats and on different social platforms such as Twitch, Snapchat and TikTok.
But it is not only the fashion and luxury sectors that are convinced of the goodness of the virtual influencers . The World Health Organization itself used the virtual avatar Knox Frost to inform network users about the things to know about the coronavirus and the practices to be respected during the period of the pandemic emergency: to date his personal profile on Instagram has a million followers. Its aim is to arrive in a direct and simple way to Generation Z, evidently more and more at the center of attention of large companies and beyond.
