Animated talking heads for your marketing

This blog post could also be called "How to blow an hour on a Friday afternoon" because that is what I just did. Site Pal is a web site which lets you create a customized, animated talking character for your web site or Powerpoint presentations. It uses Flash technology so virtually anyone online can see it without needing to go to any trouble. Some of the characters are a bit disturbing and demented but with some care, you can create a pretty realistic looking character. I actually managed to create one that bore an uncanny resemblance to a (skinnier) me.

You can try out their full fledged demo at SitePal.com - which is how I lost part of my afternoon. Basically, you start by picking a character, and then you can change its hairstyle, add glasses, change clothes, change eye, hair, skin and lip color, add accessories and so on. You can turn things on and off - I prefer not to have the creatures eyes following my cursor, for example.

Then you pick a background for the character. Luckily, as a subscriber, you can create your own - some of the ones they make available are as unnerving as some of the characters.

Adding audio can be done in a number of ways, from type-to-speech (which still sounds a bit robotic) to recording your own, to professional voice over. You can even phone in your audio, if you don't have a microphone!

Publishing, which I haven't tried, can be done with a few easy steps, with the character posted into your web site, ebay auction or Powerpoint presentation. There are multiple levels of service, all cost effective, ranging from $10-$50/month, which dictates how much of this functionality you have, how many characters you can have and how customizable it is.

I could have put the banner ad with the default talking character on this blog page to demonstrate but didn't want to hit anyone over the head with it. All I can say is that if you have a moment, go check this out and make your own character with the demo - it's a lot of fun! This is VERY cool technology - I'm still thinking about how I could use it for myself, but meanwhile, I can think of a few ways and reasons my audience might. For example, I can see trainers using this in their presentations, as well as info gurus using it to deliver content. It's a no-brainer for services professionals making a character that looks like themselves to deliver a personal welcome message on their home page. I like the idea of realtors adding a weekly "market report" on their web site, using a character like this. It could also be used to provide a brief overview of a web site, directing people to areas of particular interest or attenting. I'm sure I'll think of more!

My only concern with this sort of thing is that like with anything, it can be poorly done. Some of the characters I saw in use were terrifying, making me wonder why anyone would inflict such a thing on customers. But usually, their web site was equally poor. Others had professional sites and well integrated characters. So, I think it really is, like all things, just a tool which can be strategically used well - or abused - depending on whose hands it is in. If anyone wants to chat about a particular use they might envison for their business, and want a techie designer to guide them, give me a call - I'm itching to try this!

Now, go forth and play... and let me know what you think!