Tacobots: Brands Telling Stories, Taking Orders

How well we know this.   See the tags on our approaches.    Chatbots can make it happen.  But carefully applied.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reinventing the creative landscape for marketers. One big leap: Brands are no longer merely seen as objects, but entities with personalities that can interact dynamically with people, according to Winston Binch, chief digital officer for Deutsch North America, the ad agency behind Taco Bell’s award-winning taco-ordering chatbot, the Tacobot. Binch spoke to Catharine Hays, executive director of the Wharton Future of Advertising Program, on the Marketing Matters show, which airs on Wharton Business Radio, SiriusXM channel 111. .... 

An edited transcript of the Podcast conversation follows. .... 

Winston Binch: The first thing I’ll say is that I’m not an expert. I consider myself an explorer of sorts. AI is one of the most exciting things to come around in a long time. It’s just an incredible canvas for creativity and brand storytelling.

“AI is one of the most exciting things to come around in a long time. It’s just an incredible canvas for creativity and brand storytelling.”

In fact, I think we’ll see AI impact media more than anything. I think you are really seeing us now with voice from a brand perspective. There’s over 10 million Alexas (digital assistants) out there. From a brand perspective, we have to start thinking about brands not as these objects but more as humans and entities that you interact with and have conversations with. To me and to our team, that felt amazing in the sense that we can now create content that really, truly interacts dynamically with customers.

Hays: You were the chief creative officer before becoming chief digital officer, correct?

Binch: No, I’ve actually had this title for quite a long time. It’s funny because it’s 2017 and we still use “digital” when everything is digital. But what it means is that I generally focus on everything that doesn’t look like a TV ad. My role is focused on driving innovation and invention on behalf of the agency and our brands, our clients.   .... "