Alchemy.Codes for eCommerce Experience

Brought to my attention.  Via Procter & Gamble   Alchemy.codes  Much more at the link.  Note the mention of the Olay Skin Advisor, which I have written about here.  Recall P&G had previously tried startup style initiatives with Tremor, which utilizes consumer networks for brand engagement and efficient marketing.  Also relates to the Mr Clean and stain advisor work based on chatbot style AI systems.  All discussed here.

About Alchmy.codes:  (excerpts)

Our aim is to build disruptive technologies and business models that give our partners an unfair competitive advantage in the marketplace.

TRANSACTIONAL LEARNING EXPERIMENTS (TLES)

Thoughtful experimentation is in our DNA. We help you gauge new business opportunities through rapid prototyping and consumer feedback. Get to experimentation phase in days instead of months.

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER 3.0 (DTC)
From strategy to execution, we provide everything that your brand needs to create a rich eCommerce experience. But we don’t stop at delivery - your Alchemy team will then obsess over growing your online business through constant experimentation, user testing and in-market iterations.

Our tried-and-tested approach enables us to provide strategic direction, data-informed designs, and thoughtful execution.

The voice of the consumer — ensures feature prioritization, roadmap management, and product success through critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Featured Work:    Olay Skin Advisor
Redesigned for excellence and rebuilt for performance, the new skin advisor has redefined the standard for brand engagement. We’re calling it, the gold standard.

Alchemy is reinventing the way that P&G brands connect with and deliver value to consumers.... "   

 i

Google Assistant Providing How-tos

Visual how-to videos, to be delivered by a number of small screen devices.   Similar and competing with the Amazon Show.  Have been testing the Show, Google Home and Echos for how to's for time. 
Google already has this content,  a huge number of 'how to's on YouTube.   Amazon Show has no where near the content.    I also note the point being made by the statement 'How to cook pasta, brought to you by Barilla'.  The ads can easily overwhelm the content value of the knowledge provided.  I see that already in many YouTubes.   Especially when the link between knowledge and message is weak.   So beware of the Ads fouling the advice.

Long ago we did a similar thing when we created a Tide sponsored assistant, then delivered on a CDRom.  (See tags below)  We lobbied for less mention of Tide, but the brands and their own ideas.  Similarly with Mr. Clean.

Google reportedly planning sponsored how-to videos for Assistant
How to cook pasta, brought to you by Barilla  ... 

By Chris Welch  @chriswelch in TheVerge ...

Alexa Stain Detective

Have been exploring alternative skills and their distribution by type on various voice driven assistants.   Found  the 'Tide Stain Remover',  as an Alexa Skill.   Based originally in part on some content in the book:   'Clean it fast, Clean it Right',  by Jeff Bredenberg.   Written by our AI team, long ago.

On a historical note this was originally written in a form that was delivered via a CD Rom in pre common Internet days, then converted to an App that ran under popular smartphone OS's.   It now runs on the Amazon Alexa system via voice interaction.   I also found that the IOS app version has stopped working after about IOS version 9.0, says it needs to be upgraded, which is not good  publicity.    Either fix it or remove it.

The skill idea was used as an early model for Constructing query -> Subtasks-> Cautions->Tasks  -> Solution Models.    By our AI team and later  P&G Productions.

If anyone has more knowledge of its more recent history, contact me and I will be glad to update its history in the Service Skills domain.

Bosch Develops Stain Scanner

We developed something called the 'Stain Detective', later called the 'Stain Brain',  the intelligence there could be connected to something like Bosch's scanner.   The sensor plus intelligence construction is instructive.  Note also Bosch's work with Mayfield Robotics and the Kuri Robot.

Bosch's stain scanner knows what you spilled on your shirt last night   By Edgar Alvarez,  @abcdedgar

German technology giant Bosch is mostly known for making home appliances. And at IFA 2017, the company is showing off a concept that it hopes can add a new dimension to those products. The X-Spect is a portable device that detects fabric composition, scans stains and figures out what your food is composed of. As pictured above, it looks a lot like a TV remote, and it features a tiny screen and capacitive touch buttons that let you browse through menus. Right now, Bosch is demoing the X-Spect, which weighs a mere 200 grams (less than half a pound) alongside one of its WiFi washers to deliver "optimal" cycle recommendations.

For instance, if you scan a wool sweater, it takes the scanner only a couple of seconds to identify the item. All you have to do next is click "OK" to send that information to your nearby washer, which will automatically suggest that you wash your garment at a certain temperature and with a specific number of spins. The idea, of course, is that the X-Spect is able to make your washing smarter, helping you take better care of your clothes. With stains, on the other hand, the scanner analyzes whatever you may have gotten on your shirt or pants, like whether it's cosmetics or something entirely gross.  ... " 

Rain and Echo for Voice Driven Marketing

Interesting view of how skills are being built for voice channels.  I note that it repositioned some of the expertise for Tide stain detective, which is now available as an Echo Skill

How This Agency Built Its Own App Using Amazon Echo Voice skills have become big business for Rain By Lauren Johnson

Rain has picked up a few new clients with its voice expertise. Amazon
Last October, New York-based digital agency Rain worked with Campbell's to find a new way to push out the CPG giant's library of recipes, creating one of the first branded "skills" for Amazon's voice-controlled Echo device, which helped consumers find dinner recipes on demand.

While the agency expected a bit of a PR boost from the Campbell's work, voice and the so-called Internet of Things has actually become a big growth area for Rain over the past year, as more agencies look for ways to tap into emerging devices for brands. Shortly after creating the Campbell's skill, Rain became one of a handful of Amazon's go-to developers tasked with building "skills"—voice apps that let consumers ask questions to Amazon's AI platform named Alexa.   .... 

In the past year, Rain has signed 1-800-Flowers, P&G's Tide, Yahoo Fantasy Football and Liberty Mutual-owned Safeco as clients, helping to build branded skills that dole out information and entertainment to consumers. For Safeco, the agency built a glossary of insurance terms so that consumers can ask Alexa questions like, "What is umbrella insurance?" or "What does liability mean?" For 1-800-Flowers, users can automatically place flower orders to their friends or family members.  .. " 

Amazon Dash Buttons as IOT: Challenging the Brick Retailer?

Have started a test and analysis of the Amazon Dash Button system.  With an attempt to get a significant number of consumers involved.   As I have mentioned before, this is an 'Internet of Things' style idea for the smart home. A dozen brands are participating.  You have a button, hopefully ideally very close to the product point of use, and you can reorder an item with a single push.  The button acts as a 'replenish now' order, and Amazon fulfills it reliably in a couple of days.  Not instantly, until their drone fleet launches.

You choose the type and size of the item via the Amazon App. The whole setup is easy, well directed, and takes only a minute or two. It does require accessible home Wifi.  You do need a separate button for each brand.  It has a reasonable protection against a child ordering multiple times.  Pic at right shows two buttons on a frig.

Of course you are not going to have a button for each potential item on your shopping list.  Which is a common reaction when this is presented.    In CPG I do recall in brainstorming sessions that came up with ideas like:  'If only we had a buy button at the point of use!'.  This is a direct solution to this, the buy button.  There is a market here, and some people have reacted with interest. Especially those that also like the idea of a smarter home.  It is unclear how big the market is.

Further,  with this device,  interesting connections can be being made with the consumer.  It is an internet of things interaction that includes order frequency, could include new product offers,  even provide related advisory information like that which is provided in the Stain Detective (See tag below).   New styles of engagement.    More to follow.   Pass along your thoughts.

Here is the info I received after installation.

Seeking More Humane Computing

IBM’s Brad Becker, chief design officer for Watson on the ‘More Humane’ Promise of Cognitive Computing, in a very thought provoking interview with Knowledge@Wharton. We always thought of cognitive systems as specialized, engineering style interactions, for specialized decision makers.

We dabbled with applications like the still available 'Stain Brain' App, now 25+ years old, that can be used directly by consumers.  (See the Stain Detective tag below for more on this)

What are the implications of  having applications like Chef Watson that take this to a new human level?  What are the specifications for humane computing?  This also combines well with new, open source and accessible sources of data.

Got a Stain? An IPhone App for that

I see that the Tide Stain Brain is now available as a free IPhone App. This work has a long history at P&G and I had several involvements in the knowledge being delivered. The driving idea is to figure out how to take knowledge that the consumer package goods has and deliver it to the consumer at home and on the road. It has to be simple since consumer products are meant to be easy to use.

The stain advisor was first delivered via a CDRom in the early 90s, then via an 800 line number and next with a very sophisticated animated, talking artificial intelligence character based on 'Mr Clean'. Finally it resided as a application on the Tide Web site. Unilever soon copied us with their own detergent based stain site. Now its available for those with mobile stain needs on the IPhone. Don't know how much the knowledge has changed, the interface looks very simple.

Also uses a more social networking approach than previous implementations. That also makes this an interesting case study for delivering and sharing knowledge.

Press release. Tide is also on Facebook.