Chinese Metahuman AYAYI: Redefining the Word Influencer
If you often browse Chinese social media platform RED, you may notice there is a new and buzzed-about metahuman KOL called AYAYI. On May 20, she had her debut on Red and by now, her post has 110k likes and more than 4k comments. After cementing her popularity on RED, she later expanded her existence to Douyin and Weibo.
Why is she so popular? Well people were curious about this perfect-looking girl. AYAYI amazed people with her features and style. People were questioning whether she actually might be a real person. Many people began re-creating AYAYI’s content and imitating her look.
Business Potential of AYAYI
Among AYAYI’s followers, over half of them are the young generation between the ages of 18 to 24. They love chasing after fashion trends and show great interest in different types of art. Working with AYAYI can help brands to become younger and to reach the young consumer group.
Guerlain x AYAYI
Many brands “invited” AYAYI to their offline events, including Louis Vuitton, Guerlain and Disney. On June 15 and 16, Guerlain created a perfume garden in Shanghai, attracting many KOLs to visit.
Even though AYAYI can’t actually attend the event, her designers can create images that make it look like she was there.
What also help the event to generate buzz on social media was that many KOLs and celebrities were learning from AYAYI’s poses and took photos at the same scene with the same gesture. It used to be influencers imitating celebrities, now it’s the other way round, that celebrities are imitating influencers, not even real humans at that!
Principal of Tmall Super Brands Digital (天猫超级品牌数字)
What makes AYAYI different from other virtual avatars is her endorsement with Tmall. She visited Alibaba’s workspace and had her own name card like other employees.
AYAYI is not confined by either time or space, so she can travel anywhere. Because of this, she can be the one who guides people to different art exhibitions in the world and bring engaging visiting experiences for them with technical assistance.
AYAYI is also the representative of the latest trends and fashion. Brands are welcome to have jointly designed products with her. Together with AYAYI’s identity as a metahuman, they can bring novel shopping experiences for consumers.
During this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, she introduced a mooncake gift set, co-designed by AYAYI’s team and Tmall. Consumers not only received a physical set, but also a NFT (Non-fungible Token) mooncake.
The Prospect of Virtual Avatars
In some way, real KOLs are the same as those digital human beings. KOLs have their own online characters set by MCNs or themselves. They are invited to events and post images on social media. They interact with followers in a digital world and followers don’t know if it’s KOLs themselves replying to their messages or someone else replying on the KOL’s behalf.
Virtual avatars are capable of doing the things above. They are created under a series of artistic analysis and their faces are more sophisticated than real people. Since they first show up on social media, they are born with discussion on whether they are real people. That discussion helps them grab attention and grow fan bases.
According to iiMedia Research, the domestic market of virtual idols reached 3.46 billion RMB, and it is expected that by 2021, the scale of the market will grow to 6.22 billion RMB.
However, though virtual avatars can do most of things the same with real human beings, some are not within their capabilities. Not long ago, a virtual influencer Ling (翎) posted on RED to promote a lipstick. The post was criticized for not being honest, because it described the texture of the lipstick. RED users felt that a virtual person can’t feel the texture personally, and it would be better if she recommends apparel instead of makeup or skincare products.
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