So here’s a chilling thing.

The other day I saw a notice from an avatar-influencer generator.

What’s that, you say?

Well, based on huge amounts of footage of people talking to cameras, plus a dollop of CGI altering/editing to change their faces to be sufficiently unrecognisable, you can create your own influencer.

Once programmed, they can be made to say what you want, when you want, about your products or services.

They look like a real person. They sound like a real person.

No more need, then, for pesky and irritating actual people.

No more need to actually seek out real influencers with a following.

No need to negotiate stiff fees with them.

No need to deal with their mercurial idiosyncrasies and pouty flops.

You create your own.

You build their following.

You remain completely in charge… of message… of content… of just the right coverage of a range of products from different brands… but excluding your most powerful rivals.

It looks like a real person.

It sounds like a real person.

And your team of feedback handlers makes it sound like the messaging exchanges are with a real person.

What would advertising standards have to say about this?

Well, they would say that this has to be labelled as being in the control of a commercial organisation. Labelled as not independent. Labelled as driven by commercial interest.

All well and good.

Then think of the situation where the avatar is not OWNED by your brand, but services a clutch of non-competing brands all round a particular theme – cosmetics, health & wellbeing, fashion, food, etc.

Then the picture becomes more complex. The avatar may be a virtual creation, but once it’s serving many masters – an agency avatar, if you like – then who can easily tell? It’s difficult enough with real influencers to spot abuses of the system. And the notice I saw boasted that the organisation had generated 20 convincing avatars in one day.

And with a real person, in legal terms there’s a sue-able entity… someone who can be pursued by the courts. Virtual entities are almost impossible to track down, never mind bring in front of the law or the regulator..

And finally, think of the complex web and supply chain of media buying. That just obscures the flows of media airtime even more.

It reminds me of data purchasing for direct marketing. It’s obscure, and regulation – to an extent – just doesn’t work. I have so many data providers, even today, advertising their lists to me on a daily basis. I know in my water that there’s a lot of scraping and skulduggery out there.

To paraphrase Henry Ford, I know that half of these data providers are bogus… I just don’t know which half!

So I fear for consumer marketing in a world of avatar-influencers.

I’m not too fussed about B2B, because it simply doesn’t work to mass marketing dynamics. It’s mostly about real, identifiable testimonials.

Maybe I’m naïve.

What do you think?

Are you chilled too?

I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. I’m happy to discuss all relevant engagements – from customer community creation, to directorial mentoring, to strategy development, to thought-leadership content development, to full campaign structuring and management, and more.

Do get in touch!