India's 1st virtual influencer Kyra: She talks, sings and dance - has thousands of followers on Insta

Kyra's target demographic is 18 to 30 year olds in places such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata. At the moment, 90 percent of her fans are Indian.

 

What's in it for the brand that's collaborating? Himanshu puts it succinctly, "They receive their first virtual ambassador." "Plus, consider this: a company wants to run a vacation promotion. It will be much more expensive to fly an actual influencer around the world than it will be to set a virtual influencer in front of, say, the Hawa Mahal, using an actual photograph or one reproduced in 3D. Kyra has done'shoots' in front of Amer Fort and other locations. Furthermore, virtual influencers will never grow old or become embroiled in conflicts. If a controversy arises, you can quickly resolve it by replacing a copywriter or designer. Kyra's existence is more of a business or artistic decision than an emotional one, which helps."

 

According to Himanshu, Kyra is popular with brands that follow international trends in the realms of technology, leisure, and fashion. Her team, on the other hand, is cautious about partnerships and has yet to announce any, preferring to build a precedent for collaborations from the start.

 

"However, even brand managers acknowledged Kyra appeared to be more real than virtual," he continues. "Given the numerous filters that people use on Instagram, there were remarks like 'aapki asli shakal kaisi hai' and 'filter kyun laga raha hai.' Fortunately, many people are already familiar with the concept of virtual space, particularly after Facebook's name was changed to Meta."

Was there any ambiguity to deal with? There was, without a doubt. 'Is this Black Mirror?' several people wondered. The concept was dubbed "dumb" by others. 'Are you kidding me?' and 'Yeh toh fake hai' were some of the reactions. Himanshu and his team had anticipated and planned for these reactions.

 

Himanshu, a 26-year-old engineer with an MBA from Ahmedabad who has been directing the project from its conception in 2020, has been a part of the influencer marketing field since 2019. Kyra made a soft debut in December 2021, while her official birthday is January 28, 2022.

"We approached it as a whole company." Kyra will eventually be self-sufficient and unaffiliated with any agency. Even now, she doesn't have our brand's name in her profile," he explains. Himanshu created the virtual influencer Kyra.

 

A virtual influencer is a made-up person or character with a social media account who is managed by a content creation team who works with brands. Late last year, Himanshu Goel, business head at Top Social India, launched Kyra, a 21-year-old virtual influencer (@kyraonig with 88.1K followers) who was the idea of Himanshu Goel.