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In a previous post, Artificial Influencers – Miquela & Shudu, I introduced you to these two virtual influencers, Lil Miquela and Shudu, (below)
@LilMequela
@Shudu.gram
I promised to come back and explore how they work and what might be their value to their fans and to their creators and. It seems that Lil’s 1.5m fans don’t mind her not being real. In fact, perhaps the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ allows fans to just enjoy them regardless of reality.
Instant Gratification & Instant Engagement
Brud, the Los Angeles-based start-up that created @LilMiquel, specialises in ‘robotics, artificial intelligence and their applications to media businesses’. Brud are clear about the business they are in and how they let the market decide what works and what doesn’t work – quickly.
‘we create content designed for instant gratification: content to be shared and ‘liked’, not pondered. We have learned to use lens filters and editing apps. Our Instagram feeds have been professionalised. If we fail to get sufficient engagement in the first half an hour, we remove the post.’
So Lil Miquela, Shudu any many other virtual influencers perhaps project say a fashion or style or scene and if their followers don’t like it, its owners delete it and try uploading another post until followers demonstrate they like it. Once this happens they leave the post. So in effect, this is the Magic Marketing Formula (IRD). They identify something people like (a need) , reflect this (leave the post up for others to see) and deliver a reasonable product (whatever the branded clothes are). Is it possible that these artifical influencers are effectively a virtual mirrror reflecting what society wants?
This is the magic marketing formula (identify needs, reflect them (with suitable fashion items) and deliver a reasonable product (wrapped up in a brand).
Celebrity AI Influencers – Brud.fyi is creating a whole suite
Ethical Issues
There are ethical issues of declaring you are a robot or not. And declaring that you are paid to promote these brands. Or perhaps Artificial Influencers are a frightening mirror of our own insecurities which manifest themselves in our declared need for leaders to lead us and influence us. Or for brands to fill the gap between our ‘ideal self’ and our ‘real self’. Either way, it does beg the question: ‘what does it mean to be human in a digital world?’
Warning
Social media endorsements: guide for influencers from the UK Competition and Markets Authority Published 23 January 2019. This report contains information on complying with consumer protection law when endorsing products, brands or services on social media. CMA (Competition and Markets Authority 2019) Social media endorsements: being transparent with your followers, CMA 23 Jan. Essentially: Say when you’ve been paid, given or loaned things. Be clear about your relationship with a brand or business. Don’t be misleading.
Instagram Influencers are Big Business
Brands currently spend $1b approx. p.a. on Instagram influencers (Guthrie 2018). Now let’s see how much LilMiquela might earn. If other influencers can get paid between $2,000 -$3,000 per 500,000 followers, it follows that Miquela (with her 1.5m fans) could charge approximately $10,000 per post. If she did one post per week x 50 weeks equals $500,000 revenue p.a. Miquela also appears on twitter (20,000 followers), facebook 41,000 fans, YouTube 34,000 fans (as per Mar 2019). As multiple non competing brands sponsor Miquela (fashion and bicycles and restaurants and holiday locations and so many more brands could fit into her lifestye. Perhaps multiply this by other family members (Miquela’s brother, blawko222, has now appeared. He already has 136,000 fans on Instagram, 1600 on twitter, and 3,000 fans on YouTube. So perhaps more family members and lots more friends may emerge and make this a billion dollar business, or perhaps a multi-billion dollar business as it scales up and around the world. Brud have raised funds from some serious investors.
See Part 1 Artificial Influencers – Miquela & Shudu
If you liked this you might also enjoy:
Chinese GirlBot With 465m Boyfriends
Here Come The Clever Bots – bursting with artificial intelligence?
Here Come The Really Clever Bots – where AI meets customer needs
Artificial Influencers Use My Magic Marketing Formula (IRD)
SOSTAC® Plan for developing your own ChatBot
Join me in Clubhouse in my club called SOSTAC® Plans any Friday 3.30pm – 4.00pm BST for a chat, Q&A, observations about SOSTAC(r) Plans and any other marketing related issues including AI Driven Bots.
This is a real eye opener on the industry… Was totally gobsmacked by the news!
There’s plenty more of this to come, Francois. One day, I forecast all CRM (Customer Relationship Management) will initially be controlled by AI chat bots and handed over to a human if the issue escalates. We are already seeing friendly chat bots helping visitors and booking appointments with sales people in the b2b space as shown in my Marketing Comms 7th ed. I think I mention it in this 3 minute video
https://prsmith.org/2019/12/02/whats-new-in-marketing-communications-7th-ed-3-min-video/
Delighted to see you cover this so well Paul. As you I am embarking on a Phd to get under the hood of this complex study. What strikes me and intrigues me is whilst this is visually immersive and novel, what is the genuine value delivered to brands that engage in this type of marketing. I also noted on the feed of Lil that there are very few ‘paid’ indicators but plenty of product placement so where is the line. Really enjoyed your article.
Yes Sara a lack of ‘paid posts declaration’ or ‘paid’ indicators is primarily an ethical issue although it is also a legal one since the tax man is interested also! It would be interesting to see what happens if you made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (or similar body in other countries). The problem, of course, is that other countries do not always abide by ASA.
https://www.asa.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/3af39c72-76e1-4a59-b2b47e81a034cd1d.pdf
Keep in touch re your Phd as I’ll be publishing more in this area and doing some workshops & webinars on AI, Data and Creativity in 2021.