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With Broadband becoming the standard access to the Internet in all four corners of the world, the benefits possibilities utilizing rich media and interactivity in marketing are starting to become a reality if not the norm. One of the most active areas is in the so-called Animated Avatars know by many names such as: Talking Web Characters, Virtual Representatives, Virtual Characters and Web Compares. Their popularity growing every day, it's not by accident, one critical reason is... "they work" ..
It so much easier to put over complex product and service information using the spoken word, a thirty second narration is infinitely more effective and memorable than 2 pages of text and images. it's what the media industry calls "lean back marketing", where the viewer or visitor just relaxes and absorbs the information. Not only does the visitor get a concise and exacting media narration but it helps your site stand out from the crowd, become more memorable.
Training and educational establishments have demonstrated and proven that compelling media content used within the delivery of information gives great results, information retention is dramatically improved and its easier for the participant to concentrate on the information being presented. When it comes down to choosing your ideal animated web character there are a number of areas you should consider.
The Avatar Look: Is your talking web characters "attractive", or does it look as though it has fallen out of the ugly tree, is it well crafted and generally compelling, or amateurish and poorly animated. Does it suit your image ... is the quality something you are comfortable associating with.
Automated Lip-Syncing: Is the avatar lip-sync accurate? there is nothing worse than watching a virtual representative that resembles a badly dubbed movie, it is critical, our brains react in micro-seconds when faced with something that doesn't look right! It seems bizarre but most animated talking character offerings have less than convincing lip-syncing to say the least. Simple tests include; Does the virtual representatives lips stop moving when silent? Does it shape the phonemes correctly or is it just a random selection of gibberish?
Virtual Character Ambient animation, Less is more: Animations during the narration should be kept to a minimum and be subtle, almost invisible. When watching a news broadcast you would feel uncomfortable is the compares eyes rolled from side to side and they exhibited strange and seemingly uncontrollable head movements. It is the content being delivered by the speaking avatar that is important, and all animations should be kept to a minimum to avoid distraction. Less is definitely more.
Talking Web Character - Not a robot! The quality of the narration is a key element in any media production, people would generally prefer an obvious amateur talking that the dreaded text to speech (TTS). Sometime in life a little care and attention to quality cannot be addressed with technology, and TTS is a prime example, what may seem like a great technology leave a great deal to be desired when you are the listener not the creator. Synthesized voices are great if you are using a Robot talking web character, but a definite no no if you are not. You will be surprised how inexpensive it can be to get professional voice over's done, and in this day of high speed connections, there is a myriad of resources on the web to get them done. Most of us don't like the sound of our own voice, so use a friend, or just bite the bullet and give it a go, at least you have full control of the delivery.
Avatar Tailoring: You want your visitor to start building a rapport with your virtual web character, changing its looks continually does not offer continuity to your visitor, most of us like familiarity. Changing the complete character works better. Try and restrict tailoring to clothing and backgrounds for the best effect.
Talking Avatar Integration & Hosting: Try to avoid, 3rd party hosting you have no control over their hosting facility, if you rely on your web compare and your service suppliers servers go down you have lost your "voice", you are better off loosing your complete website that a single part. Try to avoid, monthly retainers and Pay-for-view contracts, again you have little to no control of the number of visitors that will come to your site, If you are on a Pay-for-view contract and suddenly get a higher level of visitation the costs of maintaining an virtual web character could be very expensive. . Ideally you want a solution that gives you total control of the final composition in an industry standard format; Flash, Flash Video or conventional Video, you can integrate it within your own media or web solution with no hidden charges or service risks.
Flexibility gives your choice: Is flexibility important, would it be nice to have access to the native output of your efforts in an industry standard format such as Flash, Flash Video, AVI etc so you could integrate your work into other environments such as Powerpoint, Camtasia, youTube, eBay etc. Are there any other services that can assist you from the supplier such as Voice-Overs, integration and bespoke services. Can your composition work off-line, can you create them off-line. Flexibility adds to the return on your investment.
Summary: Don't fall into the trap of believing that by integrating any old talking web character or avatar into your page will help your cause, on the contrary, if you integrate a bad one, it could reflect dramatically on your business, it's your future.
A new face on Education Delivery: Avatars are excellent for online education. They provide the human interaction that is natural in classrooms and in the traditional learning environment. Virtual Teaching Avatars provide a face to the students. They also provide the human element to online teaching. It's a proven fact that rich media education delivery and in particular that produced using an animated virtual teacher has a higher level of retention, complex information is much easier to convey and absorb when delivered using the spoken word, add into the mix a compelling animated tutor significantly enhances the compelling nature of the subject material. Un-attended education across the web or operated locally makes virtual education delivery highly effective and manageable, available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It's no coincidence that the uptake and adoption of virtual teaching methods can be found in all corners of the education field, from the junior and pre-school nursery to the marble corridors of the corporate giants, they have all seen and experienced the power of compelling media delivery. Education creators can concentrate on the subject matter and choose the ideal Virtual Tutor to assist in the process. Virtual Teachers can be available in different forms. Technology at its best, with a face and a purpose. Take a PowerPoint presentation, graphs, facts, figures and images, nice enough, add a virtual full animated teacher into the mix and you now have a new breed of educational delivery. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, with the same happy disposition; virtual, animated, automated lip-syncing and compelling content combined with contextual delivery brings a new voice to education.
It so much easier to put over complex product and service information using the spoken word, a thirty second narration is infinitely more effective and memorable than 2 pages of text and images. it's what the media industry calls "lean back marketing", where the viewer or visitor just relaxes and absorbs the information. Not only does the visitor get a concise and exacting media narration but it helps your site stand out from the crowd, become more memorable.
Training and educational establishments have demonstrated and proven that compelling media content used within the delivery of information gives great results, information retention is dramatically improved and its easier for the participant to concentrate on the information being presented. When it comes down to choosing your ideal animated web character there are a number of areas you should consider.
The Avatar Look: Is your talking web characters "attractive", or does it look as though it has fallen out of the ugly tree, is it well crafted and generally compelling, or amateurish and poorly animated. Does it suit your image ... is the quality something you are comfortable associating with.
Automated Lip-Syncing: Is the avatar lip-sync accurate? there is nothing worse than watching a virtual representative that resembles a badly dubbed movie, it is critical, our brains react in micro-seconds when faced with something that doesn't look right! It seems bizarre but most animated talking character offerings have less than convincing lip-syncing to say the least. Simple tests include; Does the virtual representatives lips stop moving when silent? Does it shape the phonemes correctly or is it just a random selection of gibberish?
Virtual Character Ambient animation, Less is more: Animations during the narration should be kept to a minimum and be subtle, almost invisible. When watching a news broadcast you would feel uncomfortable is the compares eyes rolled from side to side and they exhibited strange and seemingly uncontrollable head movements. It is the content being delivered by the speaking avatar that is important, and all animations should be kept to a minimum to avoid distraction. Less is definitely more.
Talking Web Character - Not a robot! The quality of the narration is a key element in any media production, people would generally prefer an obvious amateur talking that the dreaded text to speech (TTS). Sometime in life a little care and attention to quality cannot be addressed with technology, and TTS is a prime example, what may seem like a great technology leave a great deal to be desired when you are the listener not the creator. Synthesized voices are great if you are using a Robot talking web character, but a definite no no if you are not. You will be surprised how inexpensive it can be to get professional voice over's done, and in this day of high speed connections, there is a myriad of resources on the web to get them done. Most of us don't like the sound of our own voice, so use a friend, or just bite the bullet and give it a go, at least you have full control of the delivery.
Avatar Tailoring: You want your visitor to start building a rapport with your virtual web character, changing its looks continually does not offer continuity to your visitor, most of us like familiarity. Changing the complete character works better. Try and restrict tailoring to clothing and backgrounds for the best effect.
Talking Avatar Integration & Hosting: Try to avoid, 3rd party hosting you have no control over their hosting facility, if you rely on your web compare and your service suppliers servers go down you have lost your "voice", you are better off loosing your complete website that a single part. Try to avoid, monthly retainers and Pay-for-view contracts, again you have little to no control of the number of visitors that will come to your site, If you are on a Pay-for-view contract and suddenly get a higher level of visitation the costs of maintaining an virtual web character could be very expensive. . Ideally you want a solution that gives you total control of the final composition in an industry standard format; Flash, Flash Video or conventional Video, you can integrate it within your own media or web solution with no hidden charges or service risks.
Flexibility gives your choice: Is flexibility important, would it be nice to have access to the native output of your efforts in an industry standard format such as Flash, Flash Video, AVI etc so you could integrate your work into other environments such as Powerpoint, Camtasia, youTube, eBay etc. Are there any other services that can assist you from the supplier such as Voice-Overs, integration and bespoke services. Can your composition work off-line, can you create them off-line. Flexibility adds to the return on your investment.
Summary: Don't fall into the trap of believing that by integrating any old talking web character or avatar into your page will help your cause, on the contrary, if you integrate a bad one, it could reflect dramatically on your business, it's your future.
A new face on Education Delivery: Avatars are excellent for online education. They provide the human interaction that is natural in classrooms and in the traditional learning environment. Virtual Teaching Avatars provide a face to the students. They also provide the human element to online teaching. It's a proven fact that rich media education delivery and in particular that produced using an animated virtual teacher has a higher level of retention, complex information is much easier to convey and absorb when delivered using the spoken word, add into the mix a compelling animated tutor significantly enhances the compelling nature of the subject material. Un-attended education across the web or operated locally makes virtual education delivery highly effective and manageable, available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It's no coincidence that the uptake and adoption of virtual teaching methods can be found in all corners of the education field, from the junior and pre-school nursery to the marble corridors of the corporate giants, they have all seen and experienced the power of compelling media delivery. Education creators can concentrate on the subject matter and choose the ideal Virtual Tutor to assist in the process. Virtual Teachers can be available in different forms. Technology at its best, with a face and a purpose. Take a PowerPoint presentation, graphs, facts, figures and images, nice enough, add a virtual full animated teacher into the mix and you now have a new breed of educational delivery. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, with the same happy disposition; virtual, animated, automated lip-syncing and compelling content combined with contextual delivery brings a new voice to education.
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Before you commit to any Virtual Avatar technology do your own market research. For a limited period you can download a free version from AlterEgos. Click here
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