If 2021 is the first year of the rise of virtual idols, then 2022 can be called an explosive period. On the one hand, the number of virtual idols who are positioned as national style, fashion bloggers, models, and singers has surged, and they have been dubbed "first", New faces with titles such as "Industry No. 1" are debuting in turn; secondly, the frequency of commercial linkage between virtual humans and brands is increasing, ranging from international luxury products to local new consumer brands, and the boundaries and forms of cooperation between the two parties are constantly expanding; at the same time , the popularity of public discussions on the topic of virtual idols has also continued to rise, and the volume of voices has far exceeded the sum of the previous two years. With the help of public opinion, multiple digital virtual people have achieved circles.
◎The first ultra-realistic Chinese style male avatar--Qin Youzhi
There are more and more virtual idols, but there are very few who really have "vitality". A large number of new virtual idols lack memorable characteristics. What are the characteristics of the current virtual puppet's character creation? What are the characteristics of content operation? The " AI Virtual Idol Lab" jointly established by Shushuo Story and the Sun Yat-sen University Brand Strategy Research Center aims at the current operating status of virtual idols, focusing on content such as character design, operation content, and fan interaction intimacy. Conducted research with 200+ virtual idols on the Xiaohongshu platform, and launched the "2022 Virtual Idol Operation Analysis Report". The following is an excerpt of this report.
Get the full version of "2022 Virtual Idol Operation Analysis Report"
01 The gender ratio in the virtual world is also unbalanced
According to the survey of this report, more than 90% of the current virtual idols on the market are female images, high-value, multi-talented female virtual idols occupy the mainstream of the market, and the "top stream" idols with millions of fans are basically Monopolized by female characters. At the same time, the new generation of male faces who focus on good looks are gradually becoming popular. Qin Youzhi, avatar Vince, and CELIX Sai made their debuts as national styles, singers, and models respectively. Their growth speed has accelerated, and their commercial potential has begun to emerge. .
02 Three types of virtual idols, fashion trend, performing arts, and national style, have become the mainstream of the market
Fashion, can not be defined, can break the rules, can be free and changeable, fashion-oriented virtual idols do not need talents and specialties, as long as they have a good skin, they can be created infinitely. In this research report, positioning There are a total of 58 fashion virtual idols, mainly female characters (49 people). They play roles such as hipsters, artists, supermodels, etc., and share cutting-edge fashion trends, becoming the most popular track in the virtual idol circle. However, due to the low barriers to entry, most accounts are already in a state of silence, and most of the tail IPs have less than 10,000 fans, and business cooperation resources are also concentrated on the middle IPs, such as the super-realistic digital person AYAYI, the virtual China Skateboard Classic Star pusher Rae et al.
There are a total of 57 performing arts virtual idols, mainly female characters (39 people). The types of characters mainly include singers, actors, anchors, bands, etc. They can not only create original songs, but also shoot unique themes and stories. At the same time, they can interact with the audience Live interaction, firmly bound fan economy, more long-tail effect. For example, Noah, the virtual idol who is positioned as a singer, has fully communicated with fans since his debut, and left it to fans to vote on personal talent, style positioning, and MBTI personality setting, which makes fans more sticky.
In recent years, traditional cultural programs have returned to the field of vision, a large number of domestic products have risen, and national style has become a new generation of traffic codes. Virtual idols with traditional culture as their personality, play inherited artists, historical roles, promotion ambassadors, etc., and continue to promote China's excellent traditions Culture is leading the "new national trend" of the Metaverse. Among the millions of head IPs, in addition to female characters such as Ling_Ling and Tianyu, a male virtual idol-Qin Youzhi has also been cultivated. They all follow the elements of national style in content operation, including national style and ancient rhyme , cross-border national trends, ancient painting treasures, etc., have found a good way to interpret traditional culture, promote national style innovation, and build cultural confidence.
03 The popular track is turbulent, and the cutting-edge route also refuses to lie flat
In the first half of the year, the popularity of "National Health Exercise" swept the entire Internet, rejecting "lying flat" virtual idols, and also trying to grab public attention from the perspective of sports, including the strong baseball player Leah. Since August 3rd, the official Since his debut, he has won many business cooperations one after another. In September, he was officially announced as the promotion ambassador for the 2022 MLB World Series, injecting new vitality into the event. In addition, there are brand-new virtual characters such as positioning knowledge bloggers, car bloggers, and small town girls, trying to find another way to grab the attention of more segmented circles.
04 Enterprises scramble to launch "virtual humans", and many car companies get together to enter the market
Traditional marketing has failed and is rushing towards a new digital model. Virtual humans representing innovative forces are being chosen by more and more companies. They play roles such as brand ambassadors, experience officers, and digital employees to promote companies to achieve digital transformation. The binding between enterprises and virtual people has gradually become a "standard configuration".
Looking at the layout of the industry, while virtual people are still being watched and tested, many car companies have already begun to make drastic moves, deploying virtual people into their brand strategies, and launching their own virtual spokespersons in a high-profile way, such as Lil KiWi, the digital spokesperson of Baojun Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen's virtual image brand officer "Ida", Dongfeng Peugeot's virtual digital human IP "Little Lion Girl Léa", GAC Honda Accord's virtual car owner "Cora", etc., have extended industry-specific technology and trendy concepts to digital spokespersons . In addition, there is Jidu Automobile, which cooperates with external virtual idols to create brand innovation. In November, it was officially announced that the virtual idol Tianyu will be the owner of the limited edition digital human of the car. Tianyi served as the captain of the starry sky of the "Luoshen" and helped the brand complete the concrete expression of new concepts.
◎A case of car company virtual human endorsement
05 The intimate relationship between virtual idols and users can be measured
Virtual idols have gradually become an important part of human society from their birth, growth, and group formation. Just like the intimate relationship between people, the language they use to interact with users on social media is also intimate. Spend. In order to better measure the operation performance of virtual idols, we use machine learning algorithms to identify millions of social media UGC content, and measure the degree of intimacy of interpersonal relationships represented by user comments and main posts. With this indicator, Brands and operators can scientifically quantify the depth of interaction between real people and virtual people, test audience feedback, and create content with more perceived value and a higher degree of fit.
Taking the virtual idol imma as an example, we explored its main post and comment data in the past year. One of the notes comes from Xiaohongshu. Therefore, the proportion of comments with low intimacy is relatively higher. In the comments with medium and high intimacy, users appreciated the content that broke through the conventional gameplay, and received positive feedback on creativity and screen design.
write at the end
Under the background of digital transformation, embracing the frontier of the market and choosing to bind virtual idols seems to be a shortcut for brand innovation. Whether it is creating its own virtual person or cooperating with external virtual IP, the strategy of selection-cultivation-use cannot be avoided main line. How to deepen the brand connotation and create a unique virtual image? How to find a virtual idol that matches the brand tone? To this end, Shushuo Story officially launched the "Virtual Digital Human Marketing Solution" , based on the 500+ virtual idol case library, with AI intelligent algorithm as the engine, integrated into commercial application scenarios covering brand communication and planting marketing, and opened up strategic positioning , IP production, endorsement selection, and operation monitoring of the whole process solution, enabling brands to incubate, identify, and operate virtual digital human assets more efficiently.
- Step.1 Based on the industry database to gain insight into the market, outline the brand DNA from 10+ dimensions , and assist the brand to create a fuller virtual digital human image
- Step.2 Integrate human + scene production technology to provide brand owners with original virtual digital human creation; at the same time, based on Shushuo's unique virtual human VIII comprehensive influence index model , provide comprehensive value evaluation of virtual human in the whole network, and assist in the selection of virtual spokespersons
- Step.3 Provide omni-channel marketing scene monitoring from brand communication to grass planting marketing , assisting the brand to scientifically quantify the performance of virtual digital human marketing communication
