In the growing richness of the cyber world, dressing up has never been so much fun.

On Yahoo and QQ.com's messaging services, for instance, Internet users can not only outfit their avatars in funky outfits, they can also select eyes, noses, expressions — even the skin color that best matches their concept of self.

If that's not enough, they can also select from an array of settings, from the office, to the beach to a snow mountain to complement their incarnation on the Web.

Avatars allow users to live vicariously through their ideal alter-ego and create a compelling "spokesperson" to address others in the cyber realm.

In its original definition, an avatar is the manifestation of a Hindu deity in human, superhuman or animal form. In today's cyber space, avatars are animated human characters that represent individual net users.

Regular updates

Put a voice to the doe-eyed images, and they can be a DJ, a news reader and even make money for you.

As New York-based avatar creator and distributor Oddcast.com found, avatars are rapidly becoming a hit for companies seeking innovative ways to market their products.

Sports channel ESPN, for instance, has avatars modeled after its commentators and giving regular updates on its Website.

Bratz Dolls, a series of urban-styled rivals of the demure Barbie, decided to give the otherwise plastic figurines some attitude with an online salon and closet.

Established in 1999, Oddcast.com currently has 4,000 clients that reach an estimated 50 millions users on the Internet.

"We make more than US $1 million every quarter," said Oren Levy, senior vice president of Oddcast.com's strategic alliances.

The company is increasingly looking East. Levy, who was in Shanghai to participate in the online advertising expo AD:TECH 2005, told Shanghai Daily that the company is already in talks with Japan and Korea to use its talking heads, and China will be next.

After all, his avatars already "speak" 13 languages, including Mandarin.

Great potential

In South Korea, Internet service providers began partnering with leading manufacturers of clothing and fashion accessories to generate new revenue streams at least two years ago.

But the idea of using them as a marketing tool is relatively new in China.

Marketers see great potential in China, where a huge online community is already accustomed to purchasing virtual accessories for their role-playing characters in cyber games.

"Our clients have been telling us they are looking for more interesting ways to market their products," said Richard Lin, president of Celestone Systems International, a China-based IT company looking to venture into digital advertising.

"Avatars can be created using flash technology, which would be suitable to the China market as the bandwidth speed is not very big."

Derrick Chiang, client services manager of Profero, a digital marketing firm, said, "The idea of avatar marketing would work with a 'cool' brand.

"We can imagine an avatar carrying a fashionable MP3 player or wearing the latest designer outfit."