Digital Savage

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 How The Genies App is Spreading Across the Appsphere

The Genies app is a growing enterprise accumulating funding and confidence as its influence spreads across different apps. While the tech giants are ponderously putting their own digital avatar efforts into play, to compete with market leader SnapChat-owned Bitmoji, Genies has been attracting a lot of attention with a series of high-profile campaigns and partnerships involving household name brands and personalities. Millions of users have taken advantage of Genies to create digital clones of themselves, with over a million clothing and facial options on offer.

Why Genies’ Avatars Are Taking Off

Genies’ initial strategy was a misstep: the Genies avatars were simply responding to weekly news stories and seasonal events. The app pivoted to creating multiple reactions for users to employ in social media conversations on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and other App Store staples. The company has gone from strength to strength since this change in strategy. By reaching out to celebrities such as Carmelo Anthony, A$AP Rocky, Rihanna, and Shawn Mendes, and making them custom personal avatars, Genies was able to create and manage a talent pool of digital likenesses: an Avatar Agency for companies to approach about incorporating into their marketing campaigns. The personalities make money for including their avatars in sponsored posts, the companies get the cachet of a celebrity endorsement, and Genies gets a cut of the money. Another positive result is that Genies also receive interest from many more potential users, fans who see their favorite celebrities with some of the most dynamic avatars on the market and want to create a Genie of their own.

The Future of Genies

Two other new angles of the Genies strategy are the partnerships with big brands such as Gucci and Bird, and the creation of the Genies SDK. For a licensing fee, other companies can incorporate Genies assets into their own apps, for use as stickers, chat, games, animations, or even augmented reality. Meanwhile, brands such as Gucci can benefit from having their own assets (attire and accessories) incorporated into the personalization options available. With these revenue streams being introduced by CEO Akash Nigam and co-founder Evan Rosenbaum, it seems that the $15 million in startup capital that was invested will be paying off in abundance before long.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/19/genies-avatars/

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Genies App

Apps typically have to run for several years, building their userbase and credentials before they turn a profit. But in the case of Genies, the digital avatar app, the growth has been unusually fast, cementing the independent company’s relevance in a marketplace where tech giants like Facebook and Apple are grappling for the largest slice of the digital likeness pie. Brands like Bird and Gucci have been partnering with the youthful team at Genies, led by 26-year old CEO Akash Nigam. Genies’ avatars have an advantage over rivals such as Snap Inc’s Bitmojis or Apple’s Memojis because of their large stable of talent. Influencers, musicians, and athletes have pinned their colors to the Genies mast, including Shawn Mendes, A$AP Rocky, Rihanna, and Pink. These celebrities and more have let the team at Genies build them custom avatars to represent them on social media. These digital clones can then be requested by brands who want the cachet of a celebrity endorsement but perhaps lack the time or money to shoot a promotional video with the individual themselves.  

 Genies Avatars

Genies allow users to build their digital representations, selecting from over a million clothing and facial options, including Gucci-branded products, thanks to the Italian fashion designer’s partnership with the app. While the partnership between a luxury fashion brand and an app mainly used by Gen Z, a generation not known for its high spending power, may seem a peculiar one, it’s all part of Nigam’s strategy. “Because [Gucci are] accessing that generation so young, as soon as that 13- or 14-year-old is able to afford it, they’re going to have a higher propensity to choose Gucci,” he said.

The app’s potential to straddle the lucrative lines between social media, entertainment, and pop culture has made it a point of significant interest to wealthy investors. The billionaires Thomas Tull and Jim Breyer have put money into Genies’ latest funding round, which puts Genies’ total funding at $40 million, and its valuation over $100 million. Breyer’s involvement lends the Genies app additional legitimacy because of Breyer’s previous tenure on Facebook’s board, noteworthy because of the Instagram acquisition that occurred during that same period. This endorsement may be why Nigam is sanguine about the competition in the market. He has said, "Seeing people play in the avatar space is cool because obviously it shows that it is a trend right now. People are trying to figure out who is going to own identity."

Breyer intends for Genies to preserve its independence in a pool of small fish and giant sharks. “There’s a reason why I believe they’ve emerged as a leader in this space already. When it comes to identity and personal avatars that last one or two percent of quality matters, and that will have to continue to be the focus of Genies in a very competitive space."

As well as its digital talent agency which manages celebrities’ Genies and secures licensing fees for sponsored posts on Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms, the Genies business model is based on building a solid mobile app designed for wowing the app stores, and lastly on building a robust software developer kit so other app makers can integrate Genies into their own projects. For example, a mobile game compatible with Genies could potentially use an individual’s Genie avatar as a representation of their character. Many messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger already support Genies’ avatars. Nigam and co-founder/CPO Evan Rosenbaum’s quest to convince the Internet that Genies are the most intelligent and dynamic avatars on the market has gotten off to a strong start, but there is plenty of work still to be done. 

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/06/11/jim-breyer-thomas-tull-genies-funding/#2ef5cd4e600a

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How Celebrities Are Using Animated Avatars 

https://www.genies.com/talent.html

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Avatars In Asia

Everyone is trying to get a piece of the digital avatar pie these days, from Facebook Messenger to Apple, but what’s the situation with avatars in Asia? Genies is one company trying to capitalize on a highly lucrative market by bringing its distinctive product to the Asian market. CEO Akash Nigam and Evan Rosenbaum, co-founders, have recruited executive talent with proven track records of success: Peter Loehr, former head of Creative Artists Agency in China, and John Possman, experienced music exec. Genies Avatars The Genies platform uses proprietary avatar technology to provide an alternative to communicating via text, audio, and video. Genies, and the numerous messaging apps and other platforms that it is compatible with, such as SnapChat, make available an extensive library of visual customizations for personal avatars, and animations for them to perform. Users can search using keywords, emotions, or even browse topical action packs. Genies Avatar Agency There is a second string to Genies’ bow, however. The technology is also put to use to offer opportunities to artists such as Rihanna and J-Lo. When celebrities can’t be in two places at once, their custom-designed avatars can fulfil branding and marketing obligations, appearing in sponsored posts and other social media. Genies operates an Avatar Agency to both provide this service to celebrities, and court opportunities from brands receptive to the idea. Aside from the previously mentioned stars, other personalities represented by the agency include A$AP Rocky, Blink 182, Pink, and Carmelo Anthony. Both Loehr and Possman are well-situated to advocate for the Genies app in Eastern markets, thanks to their backgrounds in the Asian entertainment industry, from Legendary East to Jive Records Japan and V2 Japan. Based in Venice, California, the Genies app hit the App Store after the company’s founding in 2015. It’s raised $40 million from a combination of angel investors and venture capital firms, who have been rewarded for their faith by the app’s continued expansion. Genies avatars continue to expand into new platforms, from Instagram and WhatsApp to popular Asian social platforms such as WeChat, Line, and Kakao. Loehr has been monitoring Genies’ success for some time and picked a ripe moment to hop on the train. “I’ve kept a close eye on all their celebrity deals and brand partnerships such as Gucci and am excited about bringing Asian brands and talent into the mix,” he said. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author. Source: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/peter-loehr-to-spearhead-asia-expansion-genies-avatar-venture-1203311798/

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Genies Brand Partnerships

Genies, the avatar app billing itself as the facilitators of ‘the world’s first digital human race’, is earning significant marketing spend from companies such as Gucci, Bird, and New Balance. Brands are seeking novel ways to engage with the Gen Z audience, and Genies offers a unique digital touchpoint. The avatar platform, co-founded by Evan Rosenbaum and CEO Akash Nigam, allows users to build digital representations of themselves. Thanks to the Gucci partnership, users can outfit their digital selves in a whole closet-full of Gucci fashions and show them off to their friends using the thousands of animations the app offers. The app is integrated with social networks and messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.

Genies Avatars

With the majority of Genies users being between the ages of 18-25, Gucci’s partnership with the digital avatar company is an element of their outreach to the Gen Z audience that designer brands often struggle to appeal to. The branded ‘wheels’ of clothing options showcase Gucci’s products while inserting the brand into the conversations of younger demographics.

Fashion and luxury brands are striving to evolve with the pace of developing technology. Companies like Gucci find value in connecting with the elements of self-expression avatars offer to the younger generations. By building a long-term relationship with these consumers, they will be far easier to convert into online customers when their spending power reaches the necessary level. Gucci is not alone in taking bold steps into new forms of digital marketing and brand relationship building. Burberry is also investing, not in online sales boosting gambits, but in a broad strokes embracing of the digital space. Other fashion houses are proving sluggish to adapt their creative visions to incorporate a digital dimension. However, they all recognize that compared to previous generations, millennials and Gen Z do not establish significant categorizations between digital and non-digital touchpoints for the brands with which they interact. They are the likeliest to expect seamless integration between a brand’s offline and online messaging. Genies has raised the profile of multiple brands on social media platforms

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.

Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/08/08/inside-gucci-s-gen-z-bet-avatars-the-latest-chapter-luxury-s-digital-epiphany