제 17 호 Virtual Influencer’s Diversified Stage
Kicker: ENTERTAINMENT
Virtual Influencer’s Diversified Stage
by Ji-Min Baek, Reporter
Do you know about an influencer named ROZY? I think you have probably seen her in a TV commercial at least once. ROZY is the first virtual influencer in Korea, working in a variety of fields beyond being an advertising model. The virtual influencer market is growing not only in Korea but also around the world, and virtual influencers are emerging in various fields, so I will cover about this in the article.
About Virtual Influencers
Virtual influencer is a combination of virtual, which means virtual, and influencer, which means celebrity, and is a newly coined word that means virtual celebrity, made by computer graphics. Virtual influencer is mainly set to 10-20 Generations and is first released through Social Network Services. It is not a real human being, but it has a human figure and each has its own characteristics. In addition, like actual influencers, they run SNS and share and communicate their daily lives. Virtual influencer has an image of MZ and is more preferred by companies because they have less risk than ordinary influencers or celebrities who may have problems such as privacy. Accordingly, companies develop their own virtual influencer and promote using them.
Virtual Influencer Is Active
Virtual influencer mainly acts as an advertising model, and marketing using virtual influencers in the distribution industry was the main focus. They are expanding their scope of activities by conducting live broadcasts that communicate with customers in real time beyond just filming advertisements.
The most active virtual influencer in Korea is Lucy, developed by Lotte Home Shopping. Lotte Home Shopping introduces Lucy as a 29-year-old model and car design researcher who majored in industrial design, which is gaining huge popularity by securing many followers on SNS after its release. Lucy made her successful debut as a live commerce host, selling out the luxury fashion brand's merchandise in 25 minutes.
In addition, ROZY mentioned above was a first-generation virtual influencer and served as a model exclusively for various advertisements as well as Shinhan Life. ROZY has a pure Korean name, meaning only one person, and is seen as an image of a unique fashion sense and a free-spirited sociable personality. Accordingly, ROZY's bags and cosmetics and so on are called ROZY Items and are attracting attention.
lottehomeshopping instagram
rozy.gram instagram
Musinsa, a fashion platform, produced a virtual human ambassador, a virtual influencer working with Yoo Ah-in, an advertising model. Virtual influencers are working as youtubers and girl groups beyond simple models and SNS communication. Rui is a virtual youtuber developed by startup company dob studios, singing and running his own channel, RuiCovery. In addition, the recently debuted virtual girl group MAVE is the debut of a character in the netmarble game. MAVE is based on the worldview that four children from the future crash-landed on Earth in 2023 in search of freedom of emotion. In addition, a sound source and music video called Pandora were released. As such, virtual influencers work with quite specific situation settings and characteristics, and their popularity is also growing day by day. In addition, they are gradually moving beyond marketing means and models to the entertainment field and developing their own contents.
Concerns about Virtual Influencers
There are also voices of concern as the location and popularity of virtual influencers grows. Some argue that the more non-human beings resemble humans, the higher their likeability, but according to the theory called Uncanny Valley, which suddenly feels strong rejection when they reach a certain level, there may be a strong rejection of virtual influencers at an instant. In addition, ethical considerations will be needed for comments such as reviews of virtual influencers' experiences that do not exist.
In addition to the foregoing, there are a variety of virtual influencers, and the field is also expanding. With the introduction of virtual influencers, many contents will gradually change, and as new things emerge, side effects are expected, so we should continue to pay attention and see how we will proceed.
Sources:
https://www.viva100.com/main/view.php?key=20230206010001573
https://economist.co.kr/article/view/ecn202302060055
https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/economy/it/1076401.html
https://www.inews24.com/view/1560918
https://post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=31924548&memberNo=30295480&vType=VERTICAL
https://newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20221214_0002123080&cID=13001&pID=13000
https://www.polinews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=601799
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