In the age of AI, can the concept of virtual influencers be that far behind? For the uninitiated, they have already been ruling the advertising world, influencing buyer choices and driving sales.

Virtual influencers Lil Miquela, Guggimon and Lu Do Magalu have millions of followers and have worked with some of the biggest global brands. To further cement their relevance in the ad world, Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this June will feature virtual influencer Rae as one of the speakers for the event.

Created by CGI technology and powered by AI, Rae is a Singaporean digital artist who treads the lines between fantasy, technology and reality.

Rae is one of Asia's top virtual influencers. Her fanbase on Instagram and Weibo has crossed one million since her debut in 2019, media reports say. Her collaborations range from cult music labels to fashion designers to global brands like ASUS.

Rae shot to the limelight recently by launching an NFT collection to raise funds for more girls to pursue careers in tech. This is her second NFT project after she sold out her first collectable animated NFT series, Take a Byte, in 2021.

The topic of her session and time slot at Cannes Lions is still unclear. It is also not known whether she would hold a question-answer session post her speech. E4m has asked Cannes Lions to share details in this regard. Their response is awaited.

Rae is among a group of virtual influencers across the globe who are redefining influencer marketing. While Singapore itself has a lot of virtual influencers, Rae’s contemporaries like Lil Miquela, Barbie, Guggimon, Any Malu, Noonoouri and bee_nfluencer are spread worldwide.

Some like Lu do Magalu have millions of followers on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms. A few of them have attended global events as well. For instance, Miquela attended the Prada FW18 fashion show in Milan in 2018.

India has its own meta avatars such as Kyra who describes herself as “India’s first meta influencer, Dream chaser, model and traveller”. She has more than two lakh followers on Instagram and has partnered with top brands like MG Motors and Budweiser.

While virtual influencers are not a typical approach to influencer marketing yet, they can help your brand to stand out among all the other real influencers. Most importantly, they can transform themselves quickly to represent any brand or product, experts say.

Potential being recognised: Niraj Ruparel

Niraj Ruparel, Head Of Mobile and Emerging Tech, GroupM, considers the move as a sign that the industry is starting to recognize the potential of virtual influencers as powerful marketing tools.

“Rae, like other virtual influencers, is able to engage with audiences on a highly personalized level, thanks to the power of AI and machine learning algorithms that enable her to understand and respond to user interactions. This could be especially useful for brands looking to target younger demographics or to experiment with new, more immersive forms of marketing,” he added.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity kickstarts on Monday, 19 June 2023. The list of speakers from India this year includes Talented's PG Aditya and Gautam Reghunath, Ogilvy’s Sukesh Nayak, L'Oréal's Asmita Dubey and Mastercard's Raja Rajamannar.