Lu from Magalu is not just a pretty 3D face. She was born as a virtual assistant in 2003 and today is the face of Magalu, one of the biggest retail companies in Brazil – valued at US$31.5B. Her transformation to creator turned her into the biggest virtual influencer in the world, beating global pop culture icons, like Barbie. Lu from Magalu put a retail store in social and cultural contexts that had never been explored by this category. Hence, she became a pop culture celebrity. Her visibility and engagement exploded exponentially, creating new sources of revenue for Magalu.

It's well known the impact the pandemic had on social media usage. Magalu’s e-commerce had a historic growth. And as the relevance of e-commerce grew, so did the relevance of social media. Brazil is the 3rd largest user of social media in the world. 71% of Brazilians follow an influencer online. The result of this behavior is also true to retail, in the sense that 70.7% have bought a product influenced by a content creator. In January 2021, Lu from Magalu was already well known and had millions of followers but Magalu understood that accelerating Lu’s influencing potential to consolidate her as a creator, a virtual influencer would bring more revenue to the business and brand awareness to Magalu.

Magalu knew that brands that didn’t become creators would be at a disadvantage compared to creators that became brands. That’s why Magalu wanted to transform Lu, their virtual assistant into a powerful influencer. They understood that the more Lu’s profile grew on social media, the more the sales on their e-commerce would increase, too. The idea was to turn Lu into a pop culture celebrity and a fashion icon by strengthening her connection with her followers through a more humanized approach that included taking part in conversations, supporting social causes, participating on TV shows and fashion magazines and also through a series of brand partnership deals and collaboration with famous artists.

In the last years Lu had created a strong bond with her community of followers through a more humanized approach, like being part of conversations, supporting social causes and “hanging out” with celebrities. As a result, she reached millions of Brazilians. But to turn Lu into a real influencer Magalu needed to transform her into an online diva, a pop culture celebrity and create her own “statements”. The strategy was to turn Lu into a trendsetter and manage her career, making her virtual face famous online and offline. Part of this challenge was to evolve the 3D renderings to raise her ability to interact with her followers and promote new experiences with consumers. To increase her digital presence Magalu developed a calendar of activations on all major social channels. On top of that, Lu co-created with big fashion figures and was the first virtual influencer to appear on live TV.

Virtual assistant, tech guru, activist, model. Lu was always where Magalu needed to connect with its consumers, to sell or build its brand. In 2021 Magalu accelerated Lu’s career as virtual influencer creating custom projects with pop culture icons. Lu starred in music videos with Spotify’s #1, Anitta and the global famous DJ Alok. She made live performances in reality shows, and in the Brazilian version of “Strictly Come Dancing” at Globo TV, the biggest free-to-air TV channel in Latin America. She created a Tik Tok profile and surpassed 1B in views. She commentated on a live soccer streaming. She was hired and co-created with global brands like Apple and McDonald’s and was the first virtual character to be featured as a Red Bull official caricature. She was featured on Vogue Magazine’s cover and became a fashion icon. Lu also promoted women’s, LGBTQIA+ and racial causes.

More than millions of fans, Lu do Magalu has also captured millions of dollars. Lu brought the engagement with the Magalu brand to another level. In 2022, Lu reached 31MM followers, becoming the world's biggest virtual influencer (virtualhumans.org). Overcoming Barbie, Minnie Mouse, Lil Miquela. With a growth above competitors, the sum of its social networks (Facebook 14.6MM, TikTok 6.8MM, Instagram 5.9MM, Youtube 2.6MM and Twitter 1.3MM) reached impressive numbers: 1.3BN impressions, 60MM interactions, 2.3BN views, 1BN total reach and more than 5MM of hours watched on the channel (Magalu data, sprinklr from 01/21 until 04/22). Lu is now one of the most powerful and profitable assets of the brand: she has 99% brand link with Magalu (Magalu data). She has yearly earnings of $17MM, which is 17x higher than the second place, Barbie.