Decryption: Lil Miquela, the influencer who does not exist but that brands are snapping up

Selfies, parties, idyllic vacations... On Instagram, Miquela Sousa stages herself like anyone else. Except that it doesn't exist. In any case, not physically, since Miquela, better known as Lil Miquela, is a virtual influencer who had 2.9 million subscribers at the end of 2020. The young woman, of Brazilian, Spanish and American origin, is a star on the social network, where she deploys her talents as a model (for Calvin Klein, UGG or even Pat McGrath) and as a singer.

Born on April 23, 2016, it was created from scratch by Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou, members of Brud, a Californian company specializing in robotics and artificial intelligence. She has everything of a modern young woman, with a few exceptions: she does not age, condemned to have forever (until her parents decide otherwise) the appearance of a twenty-something.

Thick eyebrows, freckles, happy teeth: Lil Miquela's face cannot be forgotten, and was designed to correspond to current beauty standards, where character prevails over perfection. Her personality is also in tune with the times: her Instagram biography displays the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and the young woman claims to be very committed against police violence, sexism and racism, in addition to supporting the LGBT community, of which she has declared to be part.

Listed in 2018 in the list of the 25 most influential personalities on the Internet according to Time, Lil Miquela earned around 10 million euros in 2020 according to OnBuy. The British virtual market place, associated with the Influencer Marketing Hub platform, compiled in August 2020 the list of “influencer robots” earning the most on Instagram. In first place, therefore, Lil Miquela, with around 7,000 euros per Instagram post. The second most profitable avatar of the social network, Noonoouri, has "only" 370,000 subscribers and pockets 1,517 euros per publication.

While these personalities did not wait until 2020 to be popular, covid-19 allowed them to hold their own for good. At a time when the whole world was confined and influencers were unable to travel , Lil Miquela and his cronies could teleport to the streets of the world without fear of a fine or contamination. This is their true power: to live both in a physical world and a digital world where the notion of border no longer exists. Enough to attract brands lacking in new products which, according to Business Insider Intelligence, should spend some 12 billion euros annually in influence marketing by 2022, against 7 billion in 2019. In these 12 billion, a large part would be devoted to virtual influencers, who have not finished seeing their ratings climb.