Oh God, Is This Beauty Real? I am going to fall in LOVE!
NFTs and Metaverse are just part of the story in digital marketing. The Other Half Belongs to Virtual Idols.
Admittedly, in the past year, the rise of NFTs has had a tremendous impact on digital marketing, especially in luxury brands. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and Gucii have launched their NFTs programs. And this trend even hit the Asian market, with many companies following the suit.
To be honest, I don’t know how a few pixel pictures can sell for such a high price？
In my understanding, the value behind NFTs is more from the monopoly value of the copyright. When consumers buy NFTs works, they can enjoy the product exclusively due to the uniqueness of each product. In other words, the rarity of the product takes precedence over the artistic value of the product.
Therefore, NFTs products are more like an investment financial product for consumers. For brands, the collaboration with NFT artists is a way to swear by the brand’s position in the market while building the brand’s fashion identity in the minds of consumers.
On the other side of the world, Gen Z is reveling in something else — The Virtual Idols
When I searched for Virtual Idol on google, I was surprised by how rare terms were related to the US, and most of them were associated with Japan and China
Unlike physical idols, virtual idols come from ‘the second dimension’. Simply put, they originated in Japanese anime, and one of the most iconic characters from the early days is Hatsune Miku. However, in recent years, due to the maturity of animation technology, CG, VR, AR technology, virtual idols have come into the public eye. The appearance of virtual idols is also getting closer to that of real people. Two of my favorite surreal virtual idols are — Ling and Ayayi.
Go see them and you will sigh that their beauty is real?
The Virtual Idols Have Real Influence
In the past of few year, the growth rate of virtual idol industry is over 70%. According to ARK’s Big Ideas 2021 report, total revenues from the virtual world will exceed $400 billion worldwide by 2025.
How are virtual idols influencing digital marketing? Virtual icons play the same role as KOL (or influencer) in social platforms, sometimes even more powerful. They have a better appearance than real people and are better suited for online communication.
The number of AYAYI’s follower is over 1 million across the five major platforms in China. And virtual idols don’t just exist online, they can even appear in reality thanks to virtual reality technology. Intimate interaction with brands and consumers
The emergence of virtual idols provides more ways for brands to communicate online
AYAYI’s stunning looks and buzz have been favored by many brands — such as Tmall, Porsche, Guerlain, L’Oreal, MAC, etc,. The emergence of virtual icons has helped brands to have more options in their digital promotion strategies. In the online promotion process, brands invite virtual idols to participate in brand visuals, like TVCs or posters. At the same time, due to AYAYI’s unbelievable face, she is much loved by beauty brands. Many beauty brands will create social topics and invite more consumers to participate in the imitation makeup hashtag.
At the same time, the star effect of virtual idol helps brands attract more traffic in the process of live-streaming with goods. Some well-produced virtual idols will even participate in online live streaming to promote the brand with real people.
Is it necessarily a good thing for brands to embrace the latest trends?
Both NFT and MetaHuman (virtual idols) are technologies that are at the forefront of digital marketing right now. Most of the time we, brands and marketers, tend to embrace the latest trends.
However, not all NFTs projects, or the use of virtual idols are successful. Ling was once criticized by many Chinese audience for her less than perfect dynamics and less than polished copy during a live streaming. After that live stream flop, Ling’s hotness fell apart.
In addition, rollovers have been common in the brand’s collaborative projects with NFTs. In the recently concluded Super Bowl, Meta screened their latest ad — Old Friend, New Fun, which heavily incorporates NFTs. But in my mind, it must be the worst ads in the super bowl.The unclear theme of the ad and the twists and turns of the story confused me a lot.
Fancy technology just provides marketers with more ways to play with consumers. But content marketing should not be replaced by fancy outlooks.
