Meet Hatsune Miku, Huge Virtual Japanese Pop Superstar | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

When Hatsune Miku comes on stage, she can't hear the crowd cheering. Nor can she see her fans swinging their green glowsticks to the beat. That's because Hatsune Miku isn't a person; she's an animated character.


Despite the Japanese superstar's lack of humanity, the crowd reacts to "her" like any of the other (human) acts that come through New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. The audience, a mixture of teenagers and middle-aged men in plaid shorts, sings along, squeals at the first notes of their favorite tunes, and dances to Hatsune Miku's movements, which are about as complex as a bar mitzvah line dance, thanks to the fact that she's projected onto a screen.


The electric-blue pigtailed 16-year-old--yes, she has an official height, weight, and age--can work a crowd, nevertheless. Check out this call and response at a 2011 performance in Tokyo....