Digital puppetry is becoming a popular tool for brand marketing campaigns mainly because of its direct interaction with the audience. How else can you blend in the power of entertainment and advertising in just one punch?

In essence, a digital puppet show allows a brand mascot to interact live with a specific audience, and it is controlled by a voice over talent or puppeteer behind it. Just take in for example Disney’s Turtle Talk, a digital puppet performance wherein the audience (composed of young kids) was able to share a bonding moment with a Crush the Turtle from Finding Nemo. At the end of the show, the audience not only got to enjoy their time with the puppet but also maintain brand recall.

But to maximize the potential of digital puppetry, you have to know how to execute it effectively. If you intend to use it as your medium of communication, it is very important that you position it well. This way, you get to attract the right audience at the right place and time.

Some tips that can help you max out the powers of digital puppetry are:

  1. Choose your audience. Who do you intend to host a digital puppet show with? As in our previous example, the audience composed of families and kids. The puppet, Crush, was able to appeal to them due to the fun and cartoonish nature of the puppet. Digital puppetry can cater to a wide variety of audience. But your puppet should appeal to your audience in terms of look and personality.
  2. Information vs. entertainment vs. blatant advertising. Digital puppetry does not actually promote direct advertising. Rather, it builds rapport with the audience by getting to know their interests, engage in live banners, make the brand more real and approachable to the audience, thus from there draw opportunities to introduce the brand. So yes, if you are planning to use this in your brand campaign, then it is a must that you prepare a storyline first for the puppet to build on when interacting with the audience.
  3. Duration. Your puppet is only as effective as the next trending theme arrives, so it is also important to keep tabs on the duration of your brand campaign. You may want to use the same mascot but come up with different storylines that match not only the kind of audience you will be having but also to match the current trends your brand is thriving in. This way, it wouldn’t be difficult to combine information and marketing in your campaign.

Digital puppetry can be designed in 2D and 3D formats, depending on how you want to present your brand. The leading supplier of interactive event executions, Waveplay Interactive, also does custom made digital puppetry. If you’re looking into this kind of gimmick for your event/activation, check our different services from our homepage.