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Digital Humans and the Story Behind Lil Miquela

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/ Stay Updated: * Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z * Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z * Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ * Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Trevor McFedriesguestSteph SmithhostIsaac Bratzelguest

Mar 31, 202347mWatch on YouTube ↗

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EPISODE INFO

Released: March 31, 2023
Duration: 47m
Channel: a16z
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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/
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

SPEAKERS

Trevor McFedries
guest
Co-creator of Lil Miquela and co-founder of Brud, focused on narrative strategy and building virtual influencers.
Steph Smith
host
a16z podcast host and interviewer covering technology and digital culture.
Isaac Bratzel
guest
Digital human/3D VFX creator and technical lead behind virtual human production pipelines, including work on Lil Miquela.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of a16z, featuring Trevor McFedries and Steph Smith, Digital Humans and the Story Behind Lil Miquela explores lil Miquela's creators on building digital humans and scalable celebrity Trevor McFedries says Brud aimed to build a 'Disney on social' by telling fictional stories through a photorealistic character on platforms then seen as nonfiction spaces, in order to spread tolerance and empathy.

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