Virtual influencers set to change the future of influencer marketing

TimesofIndia: The landscape of marketing is immensely creative and constantly evolving. We are entering a phase where human and business transactions are increasingly happening in a virtual space, thanks to technological development and predicted shifts in socialisation. During the pandemic, several digital trends evolved and expanded at a rapid pace, which leads us to see avatars and virtual characters becoming a critical, in-demand element of virtual spaces in the post-pandemic era.

The world of Fashion differentiates itself constantly, and is super dynamic in nature. The Fashion industry transforms every day, hand-in-glove with the rapid growth of technology. An industry that is very adept at mapping and adopting to ever-changing online behaviours. Just as trends and style evolve in short bursts, marketing practices and business models are re-invented constantly. 

As consumers, there is noticeable change in our purchase behaviour, as digital and social technology continues to transform the way we shop, track trends, and share ideas. The future of fashion marketing is clearly personalized, but that hyper-personalization is set to hit a further new level – one that needs preparation. Preparation to adopt new practices and technologies into a brand’s marketing strategy and pivot to changing consumer expectations. This is where marketing and advertising is at today…and will continue to be, where we’re headed for in the near future.

The Fashion space’s excitement for virtual influencers is increasingly real and it is so, for good reason. They seem to have an incrementally higher engagement rate, while holding the quick-scrolling attention spans of younger consumers. The evolution in the digital space allows brands to be specific and precise when it comes to reaching out to their ideal consumer. Brands have been using their virtual assets in various ways – GIFs, Stickers, Memes, and Avatars to just scratch the surface. These are extremely personalized ways of raising brand awareness. 

Recent circumstances have made us, as a collective, realize why we would be grateful for evolution in technology. As the pandemic led to social distancing and work from home norms, AI-generated avatars became increasingly popular as digital influencers going mainstream in the world of marketing.

Luxury brands are embracing the digital way forward. A number of high-profile campaigns and digital models wearing virtual clothing are becoming commonplace. Each collaboration seems to open eyes to the possibilities of what a virtual influencer model can bring to the Fashion industry and beyond!

So far, virtual fashion has been largely popular in the gamerverse. However, as more and more people get on to the metaverse – whether to shop, work or socialize – digital avatars will become the spine of this ecosystem. Digital avatars today can find different use cases too – to digitally represent a physical identity of users, as a virtual friend and as influencers who carry the identity and ideologies of brands and make them popular – making the consumer experience niche and super-personalised. 

Consumers are now also beginning to shun “fast fashion” and demand sustainability from brands across industries as we try to reverse repercussions of the climate crisis as a collective community. This leads to younger consumers demanding their favourite brands for ethical sourcing and sustainable practices. Sustainability is at an all-time high for consumer consideration and fashion brands will do well to market their efforts towards this shift. 

Brand innovative in their marketing approach leveraging personalised digital experiences to produce highly interactive, novel content will see the better ROI’s and drive maximum conversions from their campaigns. As the world prepares to use the unmatched potential of metaverse – marketing methodologies and business dynamics will undergo a seismic change. The idea of Digital Avatars has already been winning hearts and seeing a steep rise in popularity around the world, so why not make full use of it?