Conversational Apps on Mobile — Expanding Channels and Reach

May 16, 2011 By

Mobile web is our core and base delivery.

But, we understand that people are using app stores for Search at a level nearly equal to mobile web search.

So, about two months ago, we added Android delivery to the mix.

In the past week, we’ve now tested and are pleased to add Windows/Mobile and MeeGo — and, Barnes and Noble’s NOOK, to our mix of delivery channels; for both Tablets as well as phones. And, we’ve undertaken a fascinating test to delivery our mobile web pages through a mobile chat Client — Not merely the chat, but, the full page experience, including animation and graphics; providing a wide reach to low-level data plan users.

So, where’s iOS in all this? Well, iOS users can always reach us via mobile web. But, we’re also working on a solution specifically for iOS that doesn’t require a full rebuild simply to reach a couple of devices.

More to follow…

Filed Under: AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Products, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“People want that two-way conversation…” – Conversational Mobile in a Nutshell

May 3, 2011 By

There’s a terrific post over at Mobile Commerce Daily HERE that extracts quotes and  a video from Herman Nell, VP/CIO of PETCO as well as Katie Grisko from PETCO with regard to mobile engagement and consumers.

Some key quotes:

“Customers want to have a conversation with you and they want you to provide them with the content they’re looking for…”

“People want that two-way conversation and they want to carry on with that conversation when it’s right for them.”

“…companies looking to extend to mobile should think of unique content for the specific channel, as opposed to copying and pasting from their Web site.”

It’s nice to hear others articulating the need for conversational mobile marketing.

Enjoy the read.

 

 

 

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

Conversational Mobile Apps – Defining Products

April 30, 2011 By

Having been down this path before with developing emerging media technologies, it’s always a terrific moment when the business makes the transition from “defining technology” to “defining applications” to then “defining products.”

contentAI studios have been developing it’s technology for over a year while testing in various applications and seeing market response and adoption — Over the past month, the “product definitions” have become far more clear (at least, the initial product offerings, as there are others which will follow).

- Conversational Mobile Campaigns — Motivated, directed conversational engagement with a purpose:  enter a contest, acquire a contextual mCoupon, engage in an entertaining interactive story. . .i.e. drive the User to take a specific action in an enjoyable exchange.

- Mobile FAQs — This is the economical version of the platform that allows a Brands mobile web site to deliver deep information and graphics without a complex user navigation or dense, unreadable text.

-  Conversational mLearning with emphasis on ESL — Our http://ESLai.com initiative is roaring along; the consumer-facing Beta apps are now accessed in over 100 Countries from both mobile web and Android app stores.  We’re keen to engage in partnership opportunities with ESL curriculum providers, schools and regional mobile content portals.

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What are the future products?

Interactive eBooks with a focus on children’s entertainment and mLearning is high on our list.  And, beyond campaign/marketing apps, we see the platform serving as a complementary story-platform for motion pictures and television — widgetized TV is a space that is fascinating to consider.

Stay tuned.

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

MIT, Intelligent Retail and Cereal Boxes…Where’s the Emotional Impact?

April 2, 2011 By

It’s remarkable how many new technology efforts are focused on the cereal aisle.  We’ve posted about the “light up” cereal boxes (from CES) before.

And, as you see, on our site, we use cereal boxes as our leading example of where interactive conversational engagement is a natural.

Today, we were looking at the YouTube video featured here:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/videoblogging/2011/04/02/youtube-retail-aisle-of-the-future-demos-mit-qr-codes-and-intelligent-inductive-ink/

While it’s great to see MIT thinking about cereal boxes, they seem to forget that the cereal boxes (except those on the upper shelves, out of sight of most kids and parents, are supposed to be fun!

It’s time to figure out how to get into the door at Kelloggs and suggest that these characters come to life and start interacting conversationally with us via mobile.   We can provide all of the passive data acquisition too (nutrition information, etc.), but, we can also create fun and memorable conversational experiences.

After all, it’s a cereal box.  It should be fun!

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mCoupons, mobile marketing, QR TAgs, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s in a Name? Just don’t call me a Chatbot.

March 28, 2011 By

We’ve haggled with the issue of “what to call our end product” since our initial launch.  Generally, we use “virtual characters” though we mix up our naming system and add Tags for a variety of terms that are applied to “virtual agents, brand agents, chatbots, etc.”

There was an interesting post today over at:  http://www.chatbots.org/synonyms/

That lists the 130 + (apparently, it’s being added onto in the Comments) names that these conversational machines are called.

It is a problem.  Both in terms of planning Search Optimization, but, also in terms of how a business is perceived.  Particularly, how each differentiate themselves.

contentAI studios and our sister unit ESLai.com most frequently use:  “virtual characters” to describe our products.

Why?

Our conversational mobile “virtual characters” are more akin to interactive film characters than to passive, data acquisition/response “chatbots.”  While we incorporate access to passive data acquisition within each “virtual character’s” knowledge base, 90% of a conversation is driven and motivated by the virtual character.   The “passive data” can either be practical knowledge (i.e. Brand knowledge) or what we refer to as “backstory” character traits.

Each virtual character has it’s own personality, knowledge and mission.

That’s why they don’t like to be called “chatbots,” which, to us, implies more random or generalized conversational functionality.

It’s fascinating that an industry which is quite old at this point (in internet years) has yet to really standardize itself.  It would be great if there was something short and sweet, and neutral, that we could just stick “mobile” in front of.

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

Is Your Mobile Message “Understood?” – Reading Comprehension & Mobile Devices

March 3, 2011 By

While we’re not big fans of anyone who treats mobile like the shrunken web — where they ignore  the User Experience (location), contextual relevance and personal space unique to mobile — This article and study caught our attention with regard to “reading comprehension” on mobile devices:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-content-comprehension.html

While the study looks like it focused on really dense text, it’s also likely that people “read” content on mobile devices differently than they do online, which in turn is different from print.  The “art” of communicating in order to be “understood” on mobile is not something we hear alot about.

One thing we know — People like short, conversational text messages.

It’s what they do with their device more than any other activity.  Reading a “conversation” and comprehending it — because you then will interactively respond to it — is far different than search/navigate/scan website reading.

Mobile was made for conversations.

Conversational mobile marketing delivers content the End User readily understands.

 

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

New User Interface on Mobile Web Conversational Marketing Channel

February 22, 2011 By

The new graphical elements and user navigation only available on client projects has now been applied to our online demos.

The graphical enhancement allows more branding and user call-to-action features on the Landing Page.  The user navigation revision streamlines the actual chat experience and accelerates the user experience by over 50% — Also, making it more intuitive, as the User now can read and respond from the same page.

Want to take a look?  The mobile web URLs are below — Send them to your phone and enjoy:

SHOPGIRL: http://m.contentAI.com

CAPNWAG: http://cw.contentAI.com

MYSANTATALK: http://m.mysantatalk.com

And, coming soon!  Two mobile web ESL conversational simulations (from:  http://ESLai.com).

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

The Bridges to Mobile Converging – QR, 2D, Image Recognition, and more…

February 17, 2011 By

While we’re  mobile content folks, we always think about how Users get to the mobile experience from the real world.

There’s text messaging (keyword/shortcode), there are short URLs, but, there are the barcodes (competing formats), of QR, 2D, Tag, image recognition and proprietary formats such as JagTag that are readerless solutions.  NFC is on the way, big time.

This past week has seen a flurry of shuffling among some key barcode companies or designers who focus on barcodes:

1.  JAGTAG now offers a QR option for reader or readerless engagement:  LINK

2.  SCANLIFE now offer a readerless option (MMS, much like JagTag have offered in the past; and, I believe SPARQcode offered this first, last year):  LINK

3.  WARBASSE DESIGN, who’ve done really innovative designer QR work have partnered with an image recognition platform that also appears to grab Location Data in the process (very cool):  LINK

When you look at a product like GOOGLE’S “GOGGLES,” which has image recognition and QR reading built into a single application, what we see is the blurring of individual technologies (which have been battling for dominance based on their technology), who are now focusing on making it as easy as possible for the End User to bridge from the real-world to a mobile experience.

This is terrific to see, on all fronts.  These three companies, among others, are expanding the size of the “pie,” not just trying to protect their own niche.  Barcodes, Image Recognition and NFC will all be increasingly major factors in creating seamless and intuitive bridges to mobile engagement.

It’s great to see the focus on increasing the quality and quantity of User Engagements.

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

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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