You’ve probably heard of Lil Miquela. The 19 year-old Brazilian-American influencer has millions of followers and has partnered with the likes of Samsung and Prada. But despite capturing the hearts of many, she’s not real.
But you probably haven’t heard her origin story. In this episode we take a trip back to 2016, to a world that looked much different to today, together with two of Miquela’s creators – Trevor McFedries and Isaac Bratzel – cofounder and Chief Design and Innovation Officer of Brud at the time.
We learn what inspired the experiment and what early signs indicated that Miquela was not just a novel idea. In a world where spinning up an influencer, we learn what it took to capture mindshare, the pushback they’ve received, what a “scalable influencer” means, and what they think is to come.
Topics Covered:
00:00 – Introduction
02:11 – The key insight
04:09 – A new breed of influencers
06:45 – Miquela’s aesthetic
10:11 – Early signs of success
13:47 – Narrative and fan engagement
17:36 – The technology
1:13 – Expanding past Miquela
23:52 – Traction and generative AI
27:22 – A new reality
33:39 – Early pushback
36:40 – Misunderstanding reality
38:16 – Fear of new technologies
39:40 – New technological unlocks
43:17 – Scalable influencers
Resources:
* Lil Miquela on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/
* Lil Miquela on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWeHb_SrtJbrT8VD-_QQpRA
* Find Trevor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/whatdotcd?lang=en
* Find Isaac on Twitter: https://twitter.com/izykbenjamin
* Find Brud on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brud.fyi
* Isaac’s new avatar company: https://www.avataros.com/
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