While deepfakes have created a wave of negative publicity, synthetic media in business and consumer marketing is also rising. And this is not a new phenomenon. As early as 2009, synthetic avatars appeared on YouTube, with Lu Do Magalu being one of the most famous virtual influencers. In the end, don’t expect this trend to end anytime soon.

“Synthetic or CGI influencers are computer-generated-imaging (CGI) models with identities just as three-dimensional as their appearance.  Synthetic influencers not only have millions of followers on Instagram, but also have hobbies, insecurities, stances on social issues, friends, enemies, and more.”
Synthetic Influencers, Media-Nxt Editors, Oct 13, 2020

What is Synthetic Media

According to Wikipedia, Synthetic media “refers to any media created or modified by algorithmic means, especially through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms.”  One of the better synthetic media companies, Synthesia, closed a 50 million dollar round led by Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures. We like them so much that they are our go-to vendor for digital avatars.

CGI-generated avatars can look like human or even cartoon characters. Some avatars use human models, while others generate them using only their computers. At Vocinity, we support multiple vendors, and the type of avatar is customer-driven. Today, we did a video shoot for our avatar that will launch shortly.

Text To Speech Is Also Supported

Yet, synthetic media goes beyond just video avatars. Synthetic voice creation is also becoming very popular. Text to speech (also called TTS for short) technology is almost sixty years old. Still, Kurzweil was an early provider with initial commercial deployment in the 1980s. The industry has come a long way since the robotic-sounding voices, and dozens of new companies launched last two years. In the meantime, the major technology vendors, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others, have launched hundreds of new voices. Several companies can create synthetic TTS from any voice, but this technology still needs to mature a bit. In our research to date, we like WellSaid the best, and we recommend them to our clients – while still supporting many others.

Synthetic media is enabling next-gen customer engagement and personalization at scale…Synthetic media offers a scalable, affordable, and rapid solution for digital content production, which could greatly benefit brands and retailers.  This technology is positioned to have a profound impact on the production of digital content and the way brands and retailers engage with consumers at large.
CB Insights, Should Brands And Retailers Adopt Synthetic Media — The AI For Digital Content?
June 30, 2021

Synthetic Media For Conversational Brand Assistants

While there are many use cases for synthetic media, Vocinity has taken its use to the next level. We integrate CGI avatars and custom TTS voices with a combination of open-source, commercial, and proprietary technologies. This enables our multilingual conversational brand assistants to engage users at near-human levels. This includes interruptions while also sharing documents, images and videos, and text messages with actionable links. Users can engage Vocinity conversational brand assistants on PCs, tablets, smartphones, or digital Signs with no software to download. So users are always a click, snap or call away.

Vocinity conversational brand assistants also help automate business processes. The platform seamlessly integrates with back-office applications, including e-commerce, ERP, CRM, SFA, medical records, and POS. Above all, you can improve the productivity and effectiveness of existing staff.

You can quickly create and maintain your own fully custom CGI-based Conversational Brand Assistant. The Vocinity video engagement platform is a full-duplex, natural conversation, including interruptions. In addition, using WebRTC and our unique multimedia gateway, we incorporate proprietary error correction, noise reduction, adaptive bandwidth throttling, and other algorithms. But we did not stop there. The platform also supports live video chats, streaming broadcasts, and voice calls.

Don’t Worry About Deepfakes, Take Advantage of The Latest Technology

While nefarious uses of synthetic media have been front-page news, the technology has many benefits for consumers and brands alike. Contact Vocinity to see how this approach addresses the cost, coverage, and consistency challenges of retaining quality staff to perform critical business processes.