In the past couple of weeks, I've come across a few viral marketing executions that employ animated avatars and text to speech software. While the technology has been around for a while (see the Achmea Gnome advertising campaign that ran more than 2 years ago), it seems that only recently advertising agencies and brands have discovered it.
How it works ? Users can register a personal message, add it to an animated avatar and then send it around to friends, much like a rich media post card. Some executions like Burger King's Angus Diet and Sun's Super Chants allow you just to change a part of a pre-edited recording. Others like the Virtual Buddy from Bubblicious enable you to add your own voice to a personalized character by phoning in to a special number.
The greatest execution I saw so far is ESPN's Voice of the Fan, because they use the technology for a kind of message board. Instead of using plain text messages, fans can use the avatars to express their opinions and emotions. Voice of the Fan lets you pick an avatar from among a couple dozen animated characters and customize its features, hair, and clothing (like Bubblicious Virtual Buddy). You can record your comments on a PC mike or by calling an 800 number, and your character reads them aloud on ESPN's Message Board.
ESPN thought maybe 10.000 people would sign up in the first months; they got 175.000, according to an article in Wired. In the same article, the Editorial Director of New Media (great title!) predicts the following : ""I see a future where thousands of fans at a virtual tailgate party are talking to each other and watching the game together."
I think he's right. And the future is near ... if we make and raise virtual babies, why wouldn't we virtually watch games together ...
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