Marketers have always believed that brands have their own personality. Now, as technology has dramatically advanced, they have the appropriate tools to actually bring these brands to life (in a virtual sense).

The developments in artificial intelligence alongside that of animation skills, marketers can create virtual humans. In terms of marketing, this helps to put a human face on a business body. This has the ability to transfer the way we all think about branding.

Taking a look at Mark Sagar, the CEO of Soul Machines, who has recently won Oscars for his work in computer generate faces on films like Avatar and King Kong, he and his company is now looking to move into the commercial world.

By creating virtual humans, businesses can completely alter how personalised services work. These virtual employees will have the ability to remember every detail about a customer. For example, what products they purchased and they will have the ability to resolve issues faster as they come to light.

This technology will ensure businesses have a profile of each customer’s behaviours and personality to allow for an even more highly personalised service.

As more and more consumers are beginning to feel like a number and not like an actual person to businesses, this could be just what the doctor ordered to gain more business and a competitive advantage over other companies.

You may see this technology being used in real situations sooner than you think. This technology is already being used in a trial bases for a number of organisations spread across a variety of different industries including education, healthcare, transport and banking.

But it most definitely has the ability to be beneficial in all industries in every country of the world. The question is how long will it take for this technology to be available to the average customer, and will businesses (and consumers) be open to this dramatic change?

The benefits of this technology are going to be felt far and wide in the near future. It certainly has the ability to drastically change the digital world. We should all be keenly watching the advancements because branding and customer service as well know it is about to change.