• by Aaron Baar , December 8, 2014

Forget simple-message texting, emojis and stickers. Intel is helping usher in a new age of communication using animated avatars, with a little but of pop culture thrown in for oomph.

To promote its Pocket Avatars app, which is available on iTunes and Google Play, Intel has linked with Katy Perry, Sony Pictures Entertainment and other properties to give people a chance to express themselves beyond spoken or written communication with a likeness they might find more relatable. 

“It’s a way for users to send animated messages, using avatars as a proxy,” Richard Hannah, director of business operation and co-general manager of Pocket Avatars, tells Marketing Daily. “[It’s] a fully animated message, that’s fun for people to send messages to each other.”

The app, which launched in June, enables users to create personalized messages that imitate their own facial gestures and voice. The avatars — which also include more generic icons like animals and historical figures — can smile, wink, and stick out their tongues, based on the gestures one makes to a smartphone’s camera. The messages can then be sent via text, e-mail or social media for others to see. 

“Sometimes people send messages [with avatars] that have a specific content about them,” Hannah says, such as someone calling in a debt by using an animated George Washington from the $1 bill. 

In addition to characters from the films "Hotel Transylvania" and "The Lego Movie" (as well as collegiate football characters and the Annoying Orange), Intel recently launched an avatar based on pop star Katy Perry. Perry, who has a strong following with her biggest fans, was a natural fit for the product, he says. 

“The properties we’re working with already have a strong rapport with consumers,” Hannah says. “Katy Perry has a unique perspective on the world. She likes to be a leader and she likes to try new things.”

Using recognizable entertainment properties is a simple way for Intel to get the word out about this new app, he says. “This is a noisy space,” he says. “You have to be out there and try new things, and then hopefully the viral component will take over.”