Conversational Mobile Marketing – Interesting Bits from the Week

March 25, 2011 By

Fascinating week here.  We wrapped  the http://ESLai.com conversational apps into Android with the http://appsgeyser.com online platform.

We’re anxiously awaiting AppsGeyser to tweak their platform so that the apps can be submitted into the new AMAZON Android App Store (whatever it will be called???).  Word is “about 2 weeks.”  In the meantime, the apps are already on the main Android Market, GetJar and a few others.

The news that BLACKBERRY’S tablet will be compatible with Android apps was a fascinating development in terms of some level of standardization emerging.  We hope more OS’s will allow x-platform app access.  We still highly believe in mobile web and a build-once strategy; but, the AppsGeyser solution allows us to leverage our single build but be found in multiple locations.

Finally, we were impressed with the Vid.ly “universal URL” offering to deliver optimized video across all mobile (and desktop) devices and platforms.  Very cool.  It also has an embed feature which is the first we’ve seen for mobile (though we’ve talked about it endlessly).

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, mLearning, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Web First, But Apps as Backup – Single Build Practice

March 18, 2011 By

We are proponents of pushing mobile web builds and delivery.  Most content and user experiences don’t require Apps — the bells and whistles they offer are often hollow.  Plus, mobile web is increasingly capable of delivering those same bells and whistles, ideally, used well.

That said, a whole lot of people Search for Apps and with the emerging tools and platforms that can wrap a well constructed mobile web site in an App-Shell, there is no reason not to offer the single-build content through App stores as well, in native formats.

We undertook the first “wrapping” of our ESLai.com conversational apps and porting to Android by using the http://AppsGeyser.com platform.  It was a breeze. It’s a push button operation and a download (plus distribution through their App Store); this allowed adding the Apps to the Android Store as well as GetJar; where they get secondary pick-up through their affiliates.  Yes, we’ll do an iOS version too; but, we really like Android here, so it was first on the list.

Here’s where you can pick up the Android version of the two ESL conversational simulations (plus, it’s still on mobile web, where any WAP or HTML browser can access them):

ANDROID MARKET:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Pizza

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Picnic

 

APPSGEYSER MARKET (with QR Code for Download):

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Pizza

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Picnic

 

 

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, iPad, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Virtual Agents, Mobile and Visual Avatars…

March 10, 2011 By

Over at Forrester, Diana Clarkson’s blog brought up an interesting topic – What should avatars look like for virtual agents?

http://blogs.forrester.com/diane_clarkson/11-03-09-what_should_a_virtual_agent_look_like

As you can see, or not see, we don’t incorporate visual avatars with our contentAI virtual agents, characters or mLearning applications (See:  ESLai.com)

Why not?  Especially since the Principals of the company come from a deep motion picture and CGI background?

Basically, the technology isn’t good enough right now for real-time, on the fly,  virtual avatars.  Yes, we could pre-render much of them and pull off some fancy tricks to cover text-to-speech realtime adjustments — But, we don’t find this to be satisfying for the end user.  Frequently, the end user doesn’t want to turn up the volume and listen – Nor do they want to watch…when reading allows them to quickly scan/read or look away and return to the content on their own schedule.

As one comment on the Forrester blog mentions, using the dialogue itself to paint the picture for the end user is consistent with our approach.  The end user’s imagination fills in many blanks.  As we review the (anonymous) chat logs and see 10-20 minute sessions, we know the end user is “buying into” the experience without the aid of a cartoonish animation.

Our preference is for incorporating a video, audio or still image within the first step of a chat session to “establish” the experience, then, let the User create their own “vision” from there.  This also personalizes the user experience more than if we provided a simplistic visual.

We did like the follow up COMMENT from Clarkson on the post:

“I think we’ll see a lot of interesting developments in the virtual agent space with mobile in the coming year.”

In our opinion, that’s starting today!  Right here.

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents, writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Intelligent Packaging — Extending Engagement to Mobile

February 8, 2011 By

The buzz words “intelligent packaging” are bandied about a bit.  Typically, what we see is that “intelligent packaging” means giving the User/Consumer additional information.  In some cases, it also includes a social recommendation engine.

However, our approach is that “intelligent packaging” should include, but be more than, just additional information – It should engage the User at a conversational level; allowing the User/Consumer to become part of the brand story itself.

Information informs.

Story sells.

This is where the 3-dimensional narrative engine we’ve built comes into play — User/consumers are always “driven forward,” however there are many paths “forward.”  And, Users can access “information” through our “backstory” engine, before returning to the progressive conversation.

“Intelligent packaging” truly connects when it does so on an emotional level, not just data/information.  This is where personalization and contextual relevance and “understanding” come into play.

OK — Just wanted to define “intelligence packaging” from our perspective — it’s bigger than “more information.”

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Cereal Aisle: Flashing Lights or Conversation?

February 1, 2011 By

This post caught our attention:

http://calorielab.com/news/2011/01/13/fulton-innovation-and-ecoupled-ces-2011/

Specifically, the “light up cereal boxes” of the “future!” — This envisions (delivers) a future where visual, digital triggers are even more all-pervasive than the vision of BLADE RUNNER.

It’s cool.  It’s clever.  It will get my attention once or twice — But, end of the day, it’s NOISE.  I will learn to filter it out.

“Conversation” is quieter.  It is opt-in.  It is signal, not noise.

It can be like a whisper, where someone must lean-forward and actually engage.

Now, if the conversation could trigger a light-show or indoor fireworks show, perhaps that would be the best of both worlds — but, we continue to believe that in-store (to mobile) should start with a conversation.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Year. . .New Features. . .Conversational Mobile Marketing Evolves

January 28, 2011 By

That was quite a lag in blog posts. The Holidays took over (after an exceptionally busy December, in part, due to the consumer-facing MySantaTalk app); then, CES (yes, lots of tablets and 3D TV, but, in general, not the most exciting CES; some work in mobile health felt pretty substantial and game changing).

What’s up here?

We’ve realized that the perception of our platform is more “how do we compare to apps?” than “how do we compare to text messaging?” — The inclusion of rich media elements in our content, really, remove us from the text-communication space, even though that is the core of our platform.

To that end, we are in the process of enhancing the overall design and user navigation of the mobile web interactive chat experience. Watch for updates throughout Q1.

In the interim, as MySantaTalk prepares to take a rest for the year — There’s a short, mobile web, demo that features our favorite fictional brand character: Capn’ Wag — As a demo of fun, intelligent packaging for kids, we hope you enjoy. Access is found on: http://contentai.com/demos/capnwag Or, just scan the QR code below:

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our Conversational AI Holiday App Gets a Shoutout – My Santa Talk

December 12, 2010 By

We appreciate the post from @textually for our MY SANTA TALK property that’s in the public wild’s for the Holidays.  To clarify, only the URL is sent via SMS.  The interactive chat and story is mobile web only (so that it includes graphics and video)…

Here’s the Link and the write up:

Thanks Emily!

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, holiday mobile marketing, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Near Field Communication (NFC) – Google Rolls into Portland for Retail

December 10, 2010 By

These are the days when being a mobile content technology and service are terrific.

Near Field Communication, which has languished and been plagued by security issues, is taking one giant step forward today with Google’s announcement of rolling out a limited program in Portland, Oregon at the retail level:

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/cross-posted-and-excerpted-from-hotpot.html

Does this sound competitive to QR, 2D and Location Based (GPS) apps?

It is.

Will brands and advertising agencies be attracted to this?

It’s about the User Experience.

How simple and intuitive is the experience?

Being a Portland company, we’ll be trying this out and updating this post.  But, every indication is that NFC could be the next ‘really big thing” with mainstream mobile adoption.  RIM, Apple, Android, Nokia along with the major US carriers have all made announcements in the past month about their commitment to NFC at the OS, device and carrier level.

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Why Mobile Virtual Agents Matter — Shoppers Prefer Smartphones to Store Associates

December 10, 2010 By

The headline from MOBILE COMMERCE – INTERNET RETAILER says it all:

Shoppers would rather use smartphones than consult store associates, survey finds

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/12/06/shoppers-would-rather-use-smartphones-store-associates

This was based on “archive and search” solutions, not our drill-down and deliver contextually relevant information via “conversation.”  Which, we believe will extend this user preference.

It’s an excellent indication for our business that virtual clerks and mobile engagement with contextually relevant conversational experiences will be part of everyone’s typical shopping experience in the very near future.

That said, we feel that Retailers should find a method to balance and use “live” Store associates in an entirely new blend of virtual/smartphone and human engagement.  BEST BUY’S @twelpforce initiative that’s gone on for over a year is an interesting model to consider; however, our position is that the @twelpforce knowledge should be automated and constantly updated, so that an “ultimate” virtual sales associate could handle the online and mobile, and the humans could concentrate on the real world engagements.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, holiday mobile marketing, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational AI – Deep Mobile Engagement

November 24, 2010 By

While the conversations between Users and virtual characters are anonymous on our WAP chat delivery channel, we do review the chat logs (human review) to see how well the application is working and to see where there are areas for improvement.  The conversational logs also provide aggregated analytics.

With our consumer-facing http://mysantatalk.com application just reaching the marketing, one item we’re watching closely is the duration of each Session — MYSANTATALK is potentially much longer than most of our commercial, marketing applications — So, the obvious question is:  Will people engage with interactive mobile entertainment for more than a minute or two?

We are seeing an increasing number of Sessions running in the 8 minute range.  With some as high as 14 minutes.

With the prospect of “hiding” special videos or other valuable elements in conversation and encouraging multiple trips through each story, it’s possible we could increase this number.

Now, we’re all about quality, not quantity.  But, no one is going to hang in there for 10 minutes with something they don’t enjoy; so, we’re pleased to see the Sessions lasting longer than we’d projected.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, holiday mobile marketing, Mobile, mobile marketing, Transmedia Content and AI, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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