Brand influencers are one of the fastest growing tools for brands, agencies, and marketers around the world. People tend to trust people in what are good products or services to consume. From personal testimonials in commercials to word of mouth recommendations, influencer marketing draws on the same human behavior only in the context of newer technology.

Virtual influencers have blurred the line between reality and synthetic. While audiences have proven they can willingly develop trust with synthetic characters (i.e. cartoon characters on cereal boxes), there is still a wide range of character types. While some audiences will gravitate more towards photo-realistic or humanoid characters, other audiences may enjoy the detachment from reality or weirdness of non-human, cartoonish characters.

To show examples of this range, here are some of the most famous virtual influencers, starting with the most human-looking to the least.