The Splice 🧬 Instagram Verified 35 Virtual Influencers
Plus why the automotive industry loves to work with virtual influencers and how Tommy Hilfiger is participating in Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland
Good afternoon!
Welcome back to The Splice 🧬 by VirtualHumans.org: a weekly newsletter curating the latest news, developments, and insights in the virtual influencer space.
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🧬 Core Strands from This Week
5 Times the Automotive Industry Put Virtual Influencers Behind the Wheel
🔎 The Synopsis: In today’s article, we reviewed five popular campaigns for automobile companies such as Porsche, Mercedez-Benz, and more. What better way to showcase your car’s new, futuristic technology than through a virtual influencer partnership?
🧬 The Splice: Porsche recently invested in the virtual influencer startup iMaker, which allows them to use popular virtuals such as Ayayi in their recent marketing campaigns.
Instagram Has Verified 35 Virtual Influencers
🔎 The Synopsis: We found every verified virtual influencer on Instagram and compiled them into one article for you. Their Instagram followings range from 8k to 3M+, but one thing is the same: they’re virtual and verified.
🧬 The Splice: We spoke to Becky Owen, the Head of Creator Innovation at Meta, to learn more about the process for getting the coveted blue checkmark on Instagram and why she’s personally fascinated by virtual influencers.
🔭 What We’re Looking at This Week
Tommy Hilfiger to Showcase Spring 2022 Collections and NFT Wearables at Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week
🔑 Key Quote: “On Monday, Tommy Hilfiger has announced the company is joining the inaugural Decentraland Metaverse Fashion Week from March 24th to March 27th, 2022. During the Metaverse Fashion Week, the American fashion design firm said it will showcase its Spring 2022 collections and provide consumers with a “digital retail platform” that features Tommy Hilfiger-crafted NFTs.” — Bitcoin News
Bored Ape Yacht Club creator raises $450 million to build an NFT metaverse
🔑 Key Quote: “Yuga Labs, the owner of three of the biggest NFT brands on the market, has raised $450 million in funding at a $4 billion valuation, the company announced today. The team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club plans to use the money to build a media empire around NFTs, starting with games and its own metaverse project.” — The Verge
How the Game Industry Is Charging Into the Metaverse
🔑 Key Quote: "Today, the metaverse game worlds act as social experiences. For some, that's a story-driven adventure game such as Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft or the battle royale hit Fortnite. For others, it's world-building games like Minecraft. The idea of social games is baked into the metaverse but predates it.” — CNET
Best,
VirtualHumans.org
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Insights by Makena Rasmussen, Christopher Travers, and Astrid Hiort.