The Rise of Virtual Influencers and Global Engagement

Doug Downs (00:03):

Sometimes to be effective, you got to think outside the box. I mean really, really outside the box. In 2022, the UN was holding COP 27 with the climate conference in Sharm, el Sheikh, Egypt. And by the time you get to COP 27, the message has been heard a few times before, at least 26 times. So they decided to shake things up. A few days before the conference started, the UN Development Program posted a video online. The scene of the video was inside the conference with delegates waiting for the next speaker. Dramatic music played underneath, and an ever increasing thump was getting closer to the door. As the doors swung open, it walked up velociraptor raptor, and the special effects there were really good. As the dinosaur walked up to the podium, it had prepared remarks.

Frankie the Dinosaur (01:05):

Listen up, people I know a thing or two about extinction, and let me tell you, and you'd kind of think this would be obvious, going extinct is a bad thing.

Doug Downs (01:18):

Frankie, the Dinosaur and Frankie had a hashtag too. Don't Choose Extinction. That video alone was seen by 2.2 billion people worldwide. But the campaign was just getting started to get to numbers like that. They first translated the video into 38 languages. Events were held with a life-sized puppet of Frankie and the UN led panel discussions at these events on fossil fuel subsidies and climate change. They tapped into influencers, developed a children's book, launched a social media campaign, held industry events, policy events, media events, protest events, developed an awards program, sold memorabilia, and devised a research program. All from this one video of Frankie today on stories and strategies, content repurposing. If your great content ignites a spark, repurpose, don't choose extinction.

(02:26):

My name is Doug Downs. My guest this week is Nicholas Bruneau, joining again from Cascais Portugal, where if you don't know, it's kind of like a Riviera suburb of Lisbon in Portugal where life is just kind of one big holiday, right? Nicholas? It is kind of a relaxed place to be. Nicholas, you're a communications consultant. You've worked for intergovernmental agencies from the United Nations World Bank and the European Union, as well as nonprofits, various associations, media groups and political organizations. You've led digital advocacy campaigns on issues such as international development, education, sustainability, and climate change. So Frankie, the dinosaur, and by the way, you've got to watch the video. We played some of the audio. This is a study in both content repurposing as well as the concept of having a virtual influencer or virtual mascot. Amazing, amazing program.

Nicholas Bruneau (03:27):

Yeah, I mean, the UNDP wanted to do something completely different, and I was amazed. It was just before than the UN Climate Change Conference, and then it come out with this dinosaur and it's the un like, what's going on? And at the end of the day, they wanted to really shock people and to really help people to see things differently. So the dinosaur helps to do that, helps to sort of take you out of your comfort zone and think, wait a sec, there's a dinosaur speaking and what's he talking about? And then so what they did, which was really cool, is it wasn't just the video. So the video was just a teaser to this whole campaign, which lasted for more than a year, which has all these little elements. And so it was really smart because I think very often we're all guilty. Sometimes we do this campaign and we're like, oh, thank God it's over. And then we haven't really thought about all the time that we spent that we could actually extend that much more and do much more with it. Yeah. What

Doug Downs (04:28):

Did they do? What were some of those legs to that campaign?

Nicholas Bruneau (04:31):

Yeah, exactly. So basically the call to action was to go to the website, and then after that, from the website was to really get people involved to learn about what's going on for the climate change negotiations, and then as well to get people to sort of see it in a different way. So they even created a children's book. They even did protests, they did merchante, they had

Doug Downs (05:07):

Marches that Frankie was at

Nicholas Bruneau (05:10):

Exactly. So they even created a dinosaur where the dinosaur would go to events. And then, so what they also used was the video was a starting point for discussions at events, so policy events, business events, tech events. So what it does, it really opened the conversation. So there was all these different kind elements to it. And so I think that we all have a short amount of time, and so repurposing and having a repurposing mindset is really essential. So that's what I kind say in the book is that you really have to think about not only maximizing your time, because we all have limited resources, but also different people want to see content in different ways at different times and in different places. So not only, for example, you at the Stories and Strategies podcast, you're expanding now on YouTube because you realize that a lot of your audience is there, but you're able to reach them in a different way when they're perhaps more open to seeing things in a different way and more visually.

(06:25):

So perhaps you'll be changing the way that you're on YouTube than you would if it was just a podcast, but then some people, maybe they want to read something. So then after that, you supply the show notes. And also there's all these different ways in which you can sort of help your audience to basically consume your content in different ways. But then also, if you want to reach different audiences, then that's where you can look at repurposing. So for example, if you wanted to reach a younger segment, then perhaps you could repurpose some of your videos for TikTok or for example, and do things in different platforms that will reach different audiences. So I think the repurposing is not just basically just copy and pasting, it's really sort of taking your content and then adapting it to different audiences and different platforms.

Doug Downs (07:24):

Perfect. And the book you're referring to is your amazing book, engage with Impact, which by the way, there's a link to it in the show note as well as the workshop, the worksheets that go with it a little bit more on virtual influencers. We live in a world where we talk about authenticity. So person to person be real social media posts. Now, we don't want them as slick anymore. We just want someone holding up their phone and talking to their phone to record a reel. But at the same time, now a virtual influencer is very credible, can have power. Frankie's a perfect example of a virtual influencer that took off. How does that place that for me and with whom does a virtual influencer work more?

Nicholas Bruneau (08:15):

Absolutely. I mean, I think that if we're looking at Gen Z, gen Z is now growing up, and so very, very soon you already have, I think the Prime Minister of France who's Gen Y. And Gen Z is now up and coming and they're consuming information differently. And they're used to seeing the virtual world is something that is part of them, not like you and I that grew up with newspapers and didn't grow up necessarily. Were not necessarily digitally native, whereas they are. So they will see sort of a digital influencer as something that compliments what their experiences online and on social media. They don't see it as something that is completely against, or they'll see it as something that's interesting as part of a new trend or different things like that. So what I suggested, and this is an example of Frankie, but you're also seeing it in other organizations, is if for example, let's say your CEO or your C-suite doesn't want to be on camera and you want to run a campaign, then you could create something that is a virtual influencer that allows you to reach a different audience and have a specific message.

(09:49):

One example was the WWF, the World Wildlife Foundation in Germany. They created these sort of non fungible tokens of animals. So these animals were by themselves sort of symbols of the organization, but they were virtual. There were virtual pieces. I think there's plenty of ways, if you're creative about it, of trying to use AI and different virtual creators to push your message and engage online with new audiences.

Doug Downs (10:28):

I think it allows people to see themselves within the influencer as well, because it's not necessarily a white male or a white female or a black male or a black female or someone people think is Jewish or whatever. Because the reality is we try to place ourselves with is the influencer just like me? And if it's a virtual influencer, it's just like no one. So it could be just like me kind of thing.

Nicholas Bruneau (10:57):

Yeah, yeah. I think that you have to be careful. However, that, the example that I gave as well of a virtual influencer that went wrong in the book was Italy's going to Vidia campaign. And so they created a virtual influencer, but then that virtual influencer was so fake that in the end people were like, this doesn't respond to the reality of what Italy is. She's there in Venice eating pizza and taking selfies. There's a lot more to Italy that we should be promoting a lot more of the authentic experience. So to a certain extent, you have to be careful. So I take it with a grain of salt and to really try to find a way in which it's creating a constructive discussion, it's opening to have something that is authentic, and at the same time you, you're building on that creative element of the virtual influencer.

Doug Downs (12:14):

That's a good example. Back to repurposing content. When I do that, am I trying to drive people back to an anchor, which of course I think of my website. Are we trying to drive them to the website or to a YouTube channel, or in some cases a podcast can be anchor content. What am I trying to do?

Nicholas Bruneau (12:38):

One of the things very often is that people will create content and then there's no strong call to action. And so one of the things that was mentioned in some of my interviews for the book was the importance of having that content funnel. So first of course, is a discovery. So you have people to discover your content, and then after that to perhaps to download your report or something like that. But then what's the next step? So you want to keep them engaged, you want to be able to have them to take part in your email newsletter, for example. And ideally, you want to avoid being dependent on social media channels.

(13:23):

There's a great quote in the book, which is don't build your content house on rented land. And that's what a lot of people are doing. We're seeing, for example now with Twitter or X, losing a heck of a lot followers and engagement. And then what happens when, for example, an organization that I'm working with now, their only presence online is on X. And so the first thing that I told them is, you need to diversify. You need to develop an email newsletter that allows you to directly connect with your audience. And then ideally, you want to be able to have something that allows you to get to know them better so that you can send personalized messages as opposed to just mass emails. So it's really trying to find ways that you're building that engagement with your community as opposed to just sort of broadcasting on the top level, but then building that affinity with them with different ways.

Doug Downs (14:32):

And in your book, you talk about the power of personal stories. One of those stories that you tell is World Food Program Chief David Beasley. Can you walk me through that story?

Nicholas Bruneau (14:44):

Yeah, I mean, it was really interesting. What they realized was we have all these businesses, all these big corporations and these billionaires that aren't investing in development. And so what is a strategy or what is a way that we can get them? So they said, okay, let's make it personal.

Doug Downs (15:04):

They want to solve world hunger. That's basically what the world, right? They want to feed starving people. Yeah,

Nicholas Bruneau (15:09):

Yeah, exactly. And so particularly during the pandemic, there was an emergency as far as that people had never seen before. So they said, okay, I interviewed the communications director and she, after they won the Nobel Peace Prize at the World Food Program, she said, okay, let's do something big and let's go after the billionaires and do it specifically online. So to go digital first, they didn't do a press release. They basically had the chief of the World Food Program, Dave Beasley, go on Twitter. So at the time, he was very active on Twitter and say, okay, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, you guys should be participating in the World Food Program with all the billions that you're gaining. And so he continued, it was almost a one year campaign, and what happened was it had a ripple effects. So after that, everybody was talking about, okay, how can billionaires get more involved?

(16:21):

They were interviewed on CNN on Al Jazeera. A lot of people mentioned it. So it started digital and it started as something that looked very small. It was just a tweet, but then it was continuous. And so one of the things I kind of realized was you have to persevere. So a lot of people, they do, they do something once. They do something twice. But the campaigns to Succeed are the ones that have perseverance, the one that have strategy behind it. You've had people on your show saying, you can have great tactics, but if you don't have to have the strategy behind it, and if you don't have a long-term goal, then you're never going to get there. And so I think that is what I take, what I take from your show is really the importance of having that strategy and that perseverance when you develop something online. And

Doug Downs (17:16):

Beasley got a bite from one of the billionaires. One of the billionaires actually nibbled at the hook here.

Nicholas Bruneau (17:21):

He did. He did. So Elon Musk said, if you can show me that we can end world hunger, then that I'll invest and I'll put my money up for a minute.

Doug Downs (17:36):

What was the number? I

Nicholas Bruneau (17:37):

Don't remember. Yeah, I don't remember the number. I think

Doug Downs (17:39):

It was 6.6 billion. Beasley said, and we can solve this problem. And Elon Musk is worth, I think it's 280, 280 billion. And Beasley said, for 6.6 billion, problem solved.

Nicholas Bruneau (17:53):

Exactly. Something

Doug Downs (17:54):

Like

Nicholas Bruneau (17:55):

That. And so of course, this was before the purchase of Twitter, so he had maybe a little bit more money in his pocket, but that he did say that he would get involved. He didn't. I checked afterwards if he had given an anonymous donation, for example. So it wasn't the case

Doug Downs (18:17):

He didn't, but this story's not over right now. This story continues.

Nicholas Bruneau (18:22):

And also what it did is it opened up the World Food Program to have visibility across the whole business community. So in the end, as far as Share of Voice is concerned, they were able to really have much more visibility where they wanted to have,

Doug Downs (18:41):

And not to pick on billionaires. I do believe in capitalism overall, it's complicated, but I read a great passage from Chip Heath about the difference between a million and a billion, a million in seconds, you would count a million. I think it's in 12 days, if you were to count a billion in seconds, it would take 34 years. Elon Musk is worth 280 billion. So this is why it's fair for communications and marketing programs to appeal to someone at that level and say, Hey, look, there is room. There is room to help. Lastly, in your book, the concept of facilitating a community to feel empowered, the story, and I'm going to mispronounce this, I apologize, but the story of Malala Zi, did I say that? Did I come close?

Nicholas Bruneau (19:39):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, exactly. I think I'm not an expert either, but tell me her story. As you know, Malala was a young girl in Afghanistan who was unfortunately shot in the head by the Taliban because she was an activist for her right to have an education. So after that tragedy, she decided to create the Mala Fund to help girls around the world to have access to an education. And so she's also, she's a young Gen y leader and she believes in, and she uses a lot of digital media and she invests her time. And her communication team is also young, and they, they're always looking for ways to not just broadcast, but engage the community. So that's what they did. They decided, okay, we need to get girls and young women. We need for their stories to be heard. And that is important for policymakers to understand.

(20:53):

So they got together and created Assembly, which was a newsletter. And then with that newsletter, they said, okay, let's open it up. Who wants to talk about what and let's create this forum. And it was so popular that now it's whole community. It's basically its own little media group within the Malala Fund, and it's really helping girls around the world tell their stories. It's helping activists to get the right tools. It's really creating that exchange. And so it's really showing, what I really like to see is it's showing the power, once again of social media when you use it as a community building tool. And then when also you're able to use email newsletters and different platforms to really build that Direct One-on-one engagement. And that's what we should all be after is not just a broadcast, but something like the Malala Fund is done with Assembly to really, really create a community worldwide of activists.

Doug Downs (22:01):

Don't establish an audience, establish a community. That's it. The anchor content of your book is the Agile framework and workbook. There's a link to both your book and the workbook. You broke them down into five pieces. What are those five pieces of the agility framework and how can people get the book in workbook other than just click the link in the show notes to this episode?

Nicholas Bruneau (22:26):

Sure, sure. It was all following the research that I did and I said, okay, what are the key elements here? And so it was really, it's five elements. So the first is, if you look at the Agile acronym, right? First is adopt to startup mentality, right? And the second is go digital first. And then after that, inspire with personal stories, which is what we talked about. And then leverage your content, which is all about repurposing, and then empower your community, which is the example of the Malala Fund. So altogether, what that allows you is to create that ripple effect first internally by having that startup mentality adopting digital tools, and then after that, building up working with influencers and then creating those personal stories, multiplying that content, and then after finally empowering your community. So that's the idea. It's really sort of a bottom up approach. And so that's what the book is all about and hopefully can help some people or inspire them in some way.

Doug Downs (23:37):

Hey, man, great. Get to know you and spending some time with you. I really appreciate your time today.

Nicholas Bruneau (23:42):

Thank you very much. Thank you, Doug.

Doug Downs (23:44):

If you'd like to send a message to my guest, Nicholas Bruno, we've got his contact information in the show notes. Have a look at the book. As I say, I have honestly never read a communications PR marketing strategy book that's better than this one. This felt very 2024, not a book to be read. It's a book to be used stories and strategies as a co-production of JGR Communications and Stories and Strategies podcast. If you like this episode, can I nudge you to check out our YouTube channel? We're new, we're much smaller on YouTube than this podcast. And if you like the podcast and you think meh about the YouTube channel, just send me a private note and let me know why we want to refine it. You are right in whatever you say, and we want to refine it to, we're keen to grow it on YouTube. Lastly, as always, do us a favor share this episode with one friend. Thanks for listening.