Thanks to a new partnership between the two companies, users will now be able to employ the avatar tech firm Genies’ 3D avatars on Giphy, one of the internet’s foremost image images databases and search engines. Giphy users can put together 3D Genies avatars in the Genies app, in order to have their digital identities animate and react just like in popular reaction gifs on the popular gif search engine. The Giphy-Genies team-up is just one of the software development kit (SDK) partnerships that Genies has pursued in the wake of its last successful foray into the big time of avatar tech: its avatar agency. The agency represents the digital lookalikes of Offset, Rihanna, and other tech-savvy personalities. Giphy and Gucci are two of the first companies to hitch their wagons to Genies’ SDK, but are unlikely to be the last. Many companies want to use Genies’ versatile platform to sell digital goods such as virtual clothing for their avatars.
Consumers Create Their Own 3D Avatars for Gifs
Giphy’s 700 million users will be able to upload their own personally designed Genies avatars to the platform, providing huge possibilities for cross-promotion with sports teams, fashion brands, and even political candidates. A user can design a digital version of themselves wearing, for example, an LA Dodgers cap and shirt, and upload a gif to the service cheering for their team in an upcoming playoff, to get the word out about the game, spark interest in supporting the team, or even poke good-natured fun at the opposition. A fashion brand can partner with Genies to sell virtual garments for Genies avatars that can then be flaunted on one of the internet’s largest gif libraries. Imagine selling digital replicas of the iconic wig, robe, and earrings of Jasmine Masters (perhaps better known as the drag queen from the highly popular ‘And I Oop’ gif) so that they can recreate the gif with their own avatars. The viral potential of gifs can also serve to get word out to electorates about policies or events that political candidates or parties want to alert people to. There are limitless applications of this tool, presenting hundreds of millions of people with the means to easily and seamlessly create their own animated gifs. The potential may lead to additional successes for both Genies and Giphy.
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Source: https://venturebeat.com/2021/04/07/genies-brings-customizable-3d-avatars-to-giphy/
