Jef I. Richards (2000), Chairman of the Advertising Department at The University of Texas-Austin.

Interactive advertising will enable the further 'anthropomorphizing' of brands. In the coming years we will be giving businesses a very human persona. What consumers see will, in a very real sense, seem like a living and breathing human being. Many companies will create virtual bodies -- male, female, young or old -- as well as virtual personalities. One business may, by all appearances, be a laid-back, calm, fatherly figure, while another will have the personality of an energetic, young, party-animal. To achieve this we will start to look seriously at what makes some people uniquely popular and likable, in the hope of capturing that essence for our brand.