Meta-fluencers: The Future of Fashion Advertising

Fashion is a statement. It is a way to communicate our personality, our mood, certain emotions, our status, and much more. We wear the trendiest and coolest apparel to BE the trendiest and coolest person, and this is not limited to the physical world. Millions of users worldwide are purchasing accessories, clothing, and skins for their digital avatars. Gamers are increasingly interested in improving the look, and this is opening a huge market for clothing brands that are ready to shift strategies and adapt. Brands, such as Ralph Lauren, Nike, Adidas, and Vans World are focusing on their virtual line. The Metaverse is a fashion pot of gold. It is estimated that Customizable Add-ons (fashion) will be the number one ecommerce Business Opportunity in the Metaverse. So, how will advertising work?

Virtual influencers and what they are wearing will be the greatest eye soar. In October, Prada introduced their virtual muse Candy. She can be seen wearing Prada’s hottest items on a series of short films directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and on social platforms such as Twitch, Snapchat and Tiktok. Other brands have begun to do similar things. Yoox, an online luxury discount site, launched its virtual influencer Daisy in 2018, and Puma, a German sportswear firm, created Maya for their South East Asia region advertising. Brands are expected to spend as much as $15 billion annually on virtual influencer marketing by 2022 alone. 

These “meta-influencers” are a powerful tool for brands to wield because they can look and act exactly as brands want them to. In terms of advertising strategy, they are perfect because they can target very specific audiences and elicit certain reactions. Relatable and inclusive meta-influencers have become incredibly popular, which reflects a shift in consumer preferences for advertising to reflect the world. Virtual influencers also cost significantly less than other advertising campaigns. For example, Yoox’s meta-influencer Daisy is meant to communicate diversity and inclusion, and sustainability. The cost of developing Daisy started at £5,000, but scaled up to the millions as the company deployed the avatar in different channels. 

Creating a new virtual influencer comes with challenges as well, such as character management because their background stories must be as realistic and relatable as well. There is a lot to learn, but the future is very unknown and exciting; I guess time will tell…