Avatar influence
The average person thinks influencers sell content to consumers. Those in the industry know that influencers actually sell attention to brands. Yes, this is a simplification of the model, but that fundamental is what drives the industry. There’s a habit in discussion of overcomplicating the model while simplifying the consumer, ironically.
Consumers aren’t zombies who live to buy, they’re people who make both agonising and frivolous purchasing decisions, and often read/watch/engage with marketing content not as a step to buying something but because they enjoy it. It’s really important to remember that the demand that’s increasing is for quality content not product.
There’s a belief that generative AI (gen-AI) will destroy influencer marketing and replace creators with infinitely scalable virtual people who never age, never complain and can produce content 24-hours a day in every language. No one in the industry I speak to believes that but most are concerned about what lies ahead and the challenge of creating more.
Gen-AI will highlight that trust and entertainment are different things. Influencers grow with entertaining content and fall with a loss of trust. Gen-AI will make it easier for influencers to create great content. Brands seem to get this more than influencers do. I think it’s because this transformation is a lot less scary for brands than it is for influencers.
avatarINFLUENCE
At THE AGC AGENCY our focus has been on how gen-AI can help brands and creators meet the demand for quality content. We believe the answer is AI-assisted content creation: gen-AI content that’s been briefed and curated not mass-produced and automated. So we’re launching a service for brands, agencies and creators called AVATAR INFLUENCE.
Avatar Generated Content
Audiences have always accepted half-real and non-real people. Most die-hard reality-TV fans know their favourite celebrity, often their idol, is performing. Hundreds of millions are emotionally attached to VTubers and gaming avatars: real people with synthetic bodies. With gen-AI content the old rule will still apply: if people enjoy it, they will be open to accepting it.
Most advertising doesn’t require deep human connection. If a synthetic avatar can effectively showcase products then consumers will engage - and brands will use avatars in marketing communications. It’s not a case of if, it’s already happening: avatars are already being used to influence purchasing decisions. What comes next is Avatar Generated Content (AGC).
Synthetic avatars must not offer personal testimonial, conveying a real, personal experience would be materially misleading - that’s where you will always need UGC. However a UGC creator can use a synthetic face and/or voice to convey their real opinion, their real experience. It’s fun to imagine how transformative gen-AI will be for creators.
Right now the industry is focused on synthetic avatars: a non-real face with non-real hands and a non-real voice. That will change very soon. Maybe it will happen gradually as tech-savvy creators increasingly add synthetic copies of their own hands to create B-roll shots or decide to use a completely synthetic voice instead of their own. Maybe overnight because Kim has cloned herself.
The formula that will best help most brands serve their customers with marketing will include synthetic avatars: AGC + UGC + influencer. Each brand will have a different amount of each but AGC will become a staple. Don’t think Cynthia Thetic with 1-million on Insta, think animated photos on websites: a synthetic hand opening a face-cream.
When most things became digital we dropped prefixes: e-zine became magazine and we instead started qualifying when something wasn’t online. Eventually we’ll drop the gen-AI prefix: ‘just content, it’s cleaner’. But while gen-AI offers truly transformational potential it doesn’t demand change, there will always be demand for the Real.
AGC will be a tiny part of gen-AI content. It’s what we’ll be about. We will create content for brands that requires briefing and work with creators who want to get the most out of AI tools. We want to show the industry gen-AI is a technology for everyone, a force that will enhance creativity and choice, and supplement not replace traditional content creation.