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Digital characters emerge as new development in digital advertising and marketing

July. 19. 2021

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Business & Technology
2021-07-19 16:42

Virtual characters are emerging as a new trend in digital marketing

The girl band aespa from SM Entertainment and their virtual avatars / Courtesy of SM Entertainment
The girl band aespa from SM Entertainment and their virtual avatars / Courtesy of SM Entertainment


From Kim Jae-heun

Virtual characters are emerging as a trend in the digital advertising market because, unlike human commercial models, they run little risk of being drawn into scandals, crimes, and other negative social situations that can damage their image.

The biggest advantage of hiring a virtual character is that their activities are not limited in time or space. Companies can also optimize the image of a digital model to suit their advertising needs. In other words, artificial characters can be turned into any type of entertainer – be it an actor, model or singer – and their talents can be tailored to a brand’s wishes.

Unlike humans, virtual characters are a better choice in terms of cost and risk management. You can work all day all year round and the chance of a scandal is very small.

Because of these advantages, the digital human is becoming an enticing business model for growth and profitability in the entertainment industry. Business insiders claim corporate digital human marketing spending will climb to 16.6 trillion won by next year.

Lil Miquela is the epitome of the digital human model. The character, who was created in 2016 but is believed to be a 19-year-old Brazilian American, has 3.02 million followers on Instagram and her digital single was the eighth most popular on audio streaming service Spotify.

She has modeled for world-famous fashion brands such as Chanel and Prada and signed a contract with the Creative Artists Agency, one of the three leading Hollywood agencies.

In 2020 alone, Miquela made 13 billion won ($ 11.33 million). She makes $ 8,500 per Instagram post.

Virtual characters are also becoming increasingly popular here.

Samsung Electronics unveiled its first virtual character, NEON, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020, and LG Electronics unveiled its first at CES 2021, held online in January.

The existence of the metaverse helps virtual characters advertise as they often appeal to the younger generations. In the near future, more and more companies will be using virtual characters for their advertising instead of human celebrities.

“As the ‘big blur’ phenomenon continues to blur the lines between the virtual and the real world, marketing with virtual characters will become more important,” said Seo Yong-gu, professor of economics at Sookmyung Women’s University.

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