Brud, the company that reportedly created them<\/a>, but Miquela describes herself as a \u201cfree agent.\u201d<\/li>\n
\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
Digital supermodel Shudu also received backlash when she posted an image wearing orange lipstick from Rihanna\u2019s beauty line, Fenty Beauty, and tagging the brand. The post gained her close to 90,000 followers on Instagram. Once her true identity was revealed, followers asked why not pay an human model of color instead of creating a digital one. Shudu\u2019s perfectly sculpted abs and arm muscles are a topic for another conversation.
\n
\nWilson defends he never intended to be deceptive about Shudu, but instead sees her as a \u201c\u2019virtual\u2019 celebration of beautiful, dark-skinned women,\u201d according to BBC. Shudu became an influencer despite his artistic intentions \u2013 though he was controlling her account. As a result, Wilson decided transparency was the best policy.
\n
\nThese negative reactions act as marketing tools for the CG\u2026humans? If you will.
\n
\nThe social media production surrounding the Brud influencers garnered increased engagement on their social posts. Comments were calling them out for being fake and expressing emotions that, as we all know, robots do not feel. The drama pushed Miquela\u2019s and Bermuda\u2019s accounts to over 1 million followers. Brud is now using the two accounts to help Blawko to 1 million.
\n
\nThe more followers, the more marketing opportunities. Brands like Fear of God, Supreme as well as supportive LGTBQ movements are utilizing these \u201cbots\u201d to post content that resonates with their audience \u2013 without having to worry about a human-based schedule or already strategized \u201cbrand.\u201d
\n
\nFashion news editor for The Cut, Emilia Pertrarca found these CGI-bots are not difficult to make. The Cut\u2019s motion graphics creator mirrored Miquela in 48 hours using Fuse, 4D and Photoshop.
\n
\nKnowing these secrets, Pertrarca said, \u201cyou can make a whole army of them.\u201d
\n
\nAnd you can.<\/strong>
\n
\nBrands have the freedom to develop these personas and ultimately use them to their marketing and influencer advantage. Additionally, Quantum Capture, a Toronto-based company focused on VR and AR, believes it might soon become commonplace for Instagram influencers to have CGI alter egos or to create digital doubles.
\n
\nLEAP has created a similar \u201cpersona\u201d for one of our clients. Through a marketing campaign brainstorm, we characterized a Blue Solo Cup, giving it a personality to act as a mascot for a brand.
\n
\nThe difference: People know that a Blue Solo Cup cannot come to life. They didn\u2019t know Shudu wasn\u2019t real.
\n
\nIf a brand were to curate a CGI bot to use it as a promotion for their brand, director of (amp), Ruby DeWitt believes the brand must be transparent, or it wouldn\u2019t be ethical.
\n
\nAdditionally, The Cut points out the Federal Trade Commission requires influencers to disclose when they\u2019re paid to tout a product. So far, none of the CGI-bots have included \u201c#ad\u201d or \u201c#sponsored\u201d in their posts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Authenticity<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThough CGI-rendered bots may seem more convenient at face-value, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re right for every brand. Dewitt said brands should be prepared to rely on CGI influencers, but \u201cit\u2019ll end up being all about audiences.\u201d Before buying in, companies need to determine if it needs or wants to reach Miquela\u2019s followers.
\n
\nAdditionally, Millennials value authentic and transparent content. How authentic can a brand or product promotion actually be considered if they are using a fake influencer to promote their products or services.
\n
\nIn a May 2018 article by Adweek, Richard Wong writes \u201cThe future of influencer marketing is going to be driven by technological advancements to make the process of brands working with influencers more efficient, to provide better matches and to improve ways to measure its impact.\u201d
\n
\nIn today\u2019s quick-moving and ever-adapting digital world, it\u2019s easy to be trigger happy when it comes to new technological toys. And these bots are certainly \u201cWestworld\u201d-inspired pieces of technology. But that doesn\u2019t mean using a bot is ultimately easier.
\n
\nThe uncanny valley exists, authenticity exists, and your brand has to determine the line between staying on top of trends and risking a core business value. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scroll a few images through her Instagram feed, or listen to her tracks on Spotify, and @lilmiquela may appear like a normal model\/singer\/influencer\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":2296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,46],"issue":[23],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-2291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-experiential","tag-social","issue-humans-vs-robots"],"acf":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}