Influencers are not born they are created :)

There are top global Insta influencers like Kylie Jenner who makes a speculated USD 1 Million and Selena Gomez a USD 800,000 per post, and the list trickles down to micro-influencers who operate on a local scale. These influencers have a large Insta following and has influencing power over their followers, which brands can leverage on increasing brand voice, and sell their products and services simultaneously.

We’ve all heard of fake followers, bots, fake comments, video views etc. but the developing area in the whole influencer space is…….

Well, Lil Miquela and Bermuda are both Virtual influencers. They are entirely fictional and mimic human influencers in their quest to be human like. They are characters rendered using 3D modeling software but they are added to real photographs with humans to make it look authentic. Shudu Gram, Lil Miquela, Bermuda and Blakwo are four key virtual influencers making waves right now. Shudu Gram was created by British photographer Cameron-James Wilson. Blawko, Bermuda and Lil Miquela are created by Los Angeles based startup “Brud”.

First of all, they seem to be gathering acceptance and momentum among Millenials and Gen Z. Also they have perfectly proportioned physical features, a fun-loving, sociable personality and proactive attitudes towards charitable causes. Brands can determine their entire personality from the point of creation. Also virtual influencers can be trusted to not engage in any activity, behavior or controversy that could tarnish a brand’s image simply by association. If they have strong influencer status they may even prove to be better brand ambassadors than their human counterparts.

The moral ground where influencers are concerned is becoming very vague with the mass scale monetization of personal feeds at all levels. I keep thinking, while influencers like Lil Miquela are purposely made to look virtual, imagine the possibility of virtual influencers that are very human-like and exist in camouflage. My personal take is that most human influencers at the low to mid-tier, live an alter ego on their feed to gain and maintain popularity. So where do we draw the line between fake and real? 🙂

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