Abstract
This chapter was written based on a qualitative methodology with reading reports and current articles at the time of writing. The objective was to highlight what (meta) influence is and how the (meta) influencer phygital can contribute to the brand. In the qualitative research, it was revealed that it is a prosperous field for marketing, mainly for influencer marketing; however, it is a new theme and lacks a lot of research. It was concluded that the metaverse is a reality that cannot be neglected, both in terms of the consumer's experience and the employee's experience, and the (meta)influencers are very familiar with the company's values, products, and services and are capable of making authentic and compelling recommendations.
TopIntroduction
In times when the knowledge society coexists with artificial intelligence in interactions that involve anxiety, fear, insecurity, and fascination and among the not-so-well-formulated questions that have well-structured answers. People look for images with commands and they return images that they do not know the source. The exhibition, on social networks, shows where work is, what people think about work and what contributions work makes to people's lives.
Bulz (2023, p. 19) wrote that the knowledge society is moving towards a still consciousness society. The author demonstrates a social and collective consciousness that tends to be linked to a social identity shared with people from diverse cultures. In the article, it is informed about a (re) research of the past and the future for innovative social change, which consists of conceptual surveys and a praxis proposal, that is, the knowledge society is admitted, however, the society of consciences is evident and that investigations are necessary to know to what extent (meta) influencers are part of these societies and (cyber) societies of knowledge and conscience.
The certainty is that there is a revolution in the history and culture of humanity that includes the phygital transformation, because it includes the physical and the digital concomitantly, and Mengalli, Carvalho and Galvão (2023, p. 40) wrote that digital influencers [phygital transformation] mobilize in consumption, that is, culture and society have new agents [phygital influencers] both in the generation of content authorship and in the presence and phygital representation.
The revolution can be like the evolution of business and the presentation and representation of the brand based on strategies with disruptive technologies that make it possible to work with creativity and competitiveness in the present and future market in contemporary times. The global economy is changing every day with phygital Marketing, artificial intelligence and the metaverse. It is known that natural intelligences transform business and Bulz (2023, p. 20) highlights the planetary, the possible innovative technology revolution and industrial transformations.
The author's approach is (inter), (trans) and (multi) disciplinary in the third millennium and is a challenge to reduce the social gap between humanity's aspirations and everyday social limitations and such confrontation is related to technological expansion and is historical. Creativity shows humanity and the desire for human representation, but it is not enough to generate it computationally.
Vincent (2020) wrote about the Neon project (Samsung) and showed that each avatar can maintain conversations with users and display “emotions and intelligence”. Models that have human likenesses also have expressions, dialogue, and emotions. The customization of each avatar is adapted to different tasks, according to the understanding of the developer and designer.
In the report, the newsperson expresses the possibility of licensing or signing to have a Neon as service representatives and shows that Neons can be financial consultants, health care providers, concierge, news program anchors, spokespersons, or actors of movie theater. In the text, there was mention of companions and friends. Paid human representations are friends or companions by subscription or licensing.
The Unreal Engine makes it possible for people to create realistic characters and informs that the (pre) definitions of metahumans are based on (pre) existing scans of real people with the most different facial, skin, hair, eyes, or body characteristics. It is possible to refine the metahumans created with the most different potentialities offered by the company. Developers or designers, using software, make human representations available in games or immersive worlds for companies or consumers.
Four-dimensional human representation and influence on digital media through drawings or avatars are people's desires and brands are looking for influencers who enable recurring revenue for them. It is known that representations are not only people, but characters. Mengalli, Carvalho and Galvão (2023, p. 37, 40) wrote about immersive retail, luxury shopping platforms in the metaverse, and Ayayi and Timo, digital human influencers, that is, they showed that there are ecosystems in the metaverse, and the representations are researched as trends for immersive experiences, like the Alibaba DAMO Academy, for example.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Metaverse: It is a word created in a work of fiction that had its concept strengthened over the years since the 90s of the 20th century. As a platform, they are new and face technological and recursive problems for insertion into the daily lives of the population, mainly non-(cyber) citizens. They tend to be open source and operationalized via blockchain. There are challenges in the ecosystem and advances under the concept of a phygital universe that transcends the current world wide web [2023]. It can be part of the future imagined for the world wide web with the potential to transform consumption through immersive experiences, because it is a collective phygital environment that allows interaction between meta-humans and between meta-humans and brands. It is used in business, games, events, entertainment, tourism and in the educational area, such as metaversities. The world wide web can stop being a screen that separates the physical world from the digital universe and become a space for immersive experiences.
Marketing: It is an area that includes a process for identifying consumers and for creation and (co) creation that includes communication and distribution of a product or service for the best user, client, or consumer experience. It is part of business management as a science and as creation of values for the consumer market by offering services, experiences, or products to the brand's audience. It is an area that provide the energy to the brand's profits.
Sustainable Career: It combines mental health, happiness, time management, productivity, performance, and the possibility of being a company ambassador in a physical or digital way or even in the combination of both, phygitally. Mental health becomes a public health issue when it is not reflected as a center of sustainability. Work activities can show the harm to human life and careers need to be fully sustainable, including the possibility of representing the brand with knowledge about the brand's products or services. Some people are happy to contribute on social networks or in the metaverse. The happiness element is present in studies that have conclusions about the contribution of happiness in the employee's professional life. Neural connections relate to health, well-being, feelings, emotions, actions, and recognition. The represented productivity can be through performance and deliveries, it is related to the management of enjoyment and work time and can also be measured with the presentation of the business on digital or phygital platforms. Sustainable employability is contained in the sustainable career, just as the sustainable career is at the intersection of mental health, happiness, and time management. Personal life influences the professional and the professional trajectory interferes in people's way of life. The employee's experience and the consumer's experience tend to come together, given the classifications given by the global consultancy Great Place to Work, for example.
(Meta) Influencer: An influencer who belongs to the business and represents the organization as an ambassador in accordance with the company's purposes, mission, vision, and values. It is a character that represents the brand. Stories, identity, and resources are branded based on the core values of the business. It includes creativity in the brand’s operations, tactics, and strategy. It can take on a meta-human format and add effects based on artificial intelligence as an editorial and communication strategy. The meta-influencer leads the brand towards a contemporary style of communication on social media and immersive worlds.
Human Varnish: Term brought to the business area and linked to professions that need physical work or continuous use of computational resources that can be supported by artificial intelligence bases. Although there is social interaction to perform functions, professions with these characteristics tend, in the future, to have artificial intelligence to support or to perform most of the human function. The professional in the area tends to be necessary regarding decisions involving elements that only exist in human beings. Communication and creativity are evidence that humans can transform careers sustainably and in immersive worlds with the skills and abilities that can connect business brands with human strategic intelligence to people who want more service tips or of the products that the companies offer. Content from people who work at the companies and generate empathy with people who are not so fluent in using the products or services. The presentation of the working day usually generates empathy with the people who follow the influencers.
Phygital Transformation: It is a term coming from the business world and highlights the combination of the physical and the digital. It is based on interfaces and context to be situated and related to the industry, society, and consumption 5.0. In the user and consumer journey, there are processes that change over time and space, which highlights the dissociation of reality and virtuality. In the integration of physical and digital, emotions, feelings, behaviours, and intelligence, whether artificial or emotional, mix in the consumer's experience with the brand and affect the phygital journey through strategic decisions and meaning.
Future: It is the time that follows the present and has several interconnected sets of facts and phenomena that are related and intersect to create new sets and conjunctures. Time is included, as is expectation and prospecting of scenarios through data culture. This is what did not happen, in Latin, “futurum” (article [the] and noun [future]) and “futurus” (prospect). It is what will be, what was not and what is to come. If the suffix “ism” is added to the noun, there is futurism, which is a state, a doctrine, a principle or even a condition.