Tag: Artificial Intelligence

Singapore – Global enterprise software company Sprinklr has announced a total of 120 new customer service and 25 new AI innovations for its multiple product suites to improve omnichannel customer experience (CX).

Sprinklr Service is a comprehensive, AI-powered contact centre as a service (CCaaS) platform that enables agents to serve customers across digital, social and voice channels seamlessly, delivering quick resolution of customer queries at lower cost of operations.

Some of the things the new features can do include predictive intelligence that analyses customer data, AI-powered quality management, complete commerce solutions for WhatsApp, amongst others.

Sprinklr’s digital-first approach, backed by a complete CCaaS offering and unified platform gives customers the confidence to make significant changes to their customer care infrastructure.

Pavitar Singh, chief technology officer at Sprinklr, said, “For more than a year, we have been working with leading organisations around the world to disrupt the traditional enterprise CCaaS market and deliver new service strategies for digital-first enterprises.”

He added, “With the ability to engage across 30+ channels, we empower customer service teams to seamlessly work across digital, social, and voice channels. Support from AI-self service tools helps brands deliver faster resolution of customer queries at reduced cost.”

Singapore – Global computer software company Adobe has announced a slew of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models to improve customer experience (CX) delivery for businesses, ranging from content personalisation and editing, to marketing copy generation and conversational experiences.

The new AI models will be part of Adobe Sensei’s collection of enterprise applications which enables customers to work and collaborate in new ways. Adobe Sensei is the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) arm for its Adobe Experience Platform.

A major AI model being announced is ‘Adobe Firefly’, a generative service which is trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content and public domain content where copyright has expired, and will focus on images and text effects and is designed to generate content safe for commercial use.

“With Adobe Firefly, producing limitless variations of content and making changes, again and again — all on brand — will be quick and simple. In the future, marketers will be able to also train Adobe Firefly on the brand’s own collateral, generating content that reflects the brand’s style and design language,” the company said in a press statement.

David Wadhwani, president of digital media business at Adobe, said, “Generative AI is the next evolution of AI-driven creativity and productivity, transforming the conversation between creator and computer into something more natural, intuitive and powerful. With Firefly, Adobe will bring generative AI-powered ‘creative ingredients’ directly into customers’ workflows, increasing productivity and creative expression for all creators from high-end creative professionals to the long tail of the creator economy.”

Meanwhile, Adobe’s Sensei GenAI will enable brands to instantly generate and modify text-based experiences across any customer touchpoint and leverage different large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT through the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and FLAN-T5. The selection will align with the unique needs of each business, stemming from brand guidelines, product vocabulary and customer insights.

Some of the business uses for Sensei GenAI include marketing copy generation, dynamic automated chat, creation of rich audience segments which provide precision for personalisation campaigns, and caption generation.

Amit Ahuja, senior vice president for digital experience business at Adobe, commented, “Adobe has a long history of unlocking AI as a co-pilot for marketers, and we have a vision for generative AI that covers the full lifecycle of customer experience management, with the enterprise-grade security and data governance that our customers expect.”

He added, “Business growth is driven by customer experiences, and generative AI is a transformative, foundational technology that will impact every aspect of how brands connect with their customers.”

Tokyo, Japan – Japan’s leading telecommunications firm KDDI, in partnership with marketing communications agency Geometry Ogilvy Japan, creates a virtually produced film to showcase aU (Alpha–U), its new web3 metaverse platform brand.

In partnership with its parent company WPP, the agency crafts a 30-second clip which showcases four artistic illustrations made by GenZ artist Mayu Yukishita which were used as building blocks connected using AI midjourney and stable diffusion to generate interpolated animation of the platform brand.

The clip was also associated with visual effects to assemble the scenes, mixed with music and narration using japanese language.

Yasushi Arikawa, executive creative director of Geometry Ogilvy Japan, said that this AI-generated creative expression was inevitable for KDDI’s new brand αU that offers services that focus on Web3 and the metaverse.

“This film, in which AI and a virtual singer tell a story about the concept of “Already, one world” that blends the real and virtual worlds, takes us beyond the “uncanny valley” to an emotionally charged story,” Arikawa added.

Geometry Ogilvy supports all the creative direction for the new Alpha U collaboration, including all branding, communication design, events, and press conferences.

The launching was also done in partnership with Sydney-based production house Alt.vfx, and their subsidiary global creative studio T&DA, along with design agency New Holland Creative and THINKR.

Sydney, Australia – Performance marketing network Reprise Digital has launched its new ‘AIpril Fools Campaign Generator’, an ideation tool developed by the company to help get the creative juices flowing ahead of April Fools Day.

Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the tool uses the latest in AI Large Language Models (LLM) technology to churn out witty campaign ideas. According to Reprise, the tool can inspire all marketing teams from any industry to create the ‘perfect’ April Fools campaign idea in a matter of seconds.

“Don’t be fooled by the AIpril Fools Campaign Generator, we don’t expect any Cannes Lion-winning ideas. This is more of a tongue-in-cheek creation highlighting the functionality of AI tools and how marketers should – and more to the point shouldn’t – be using them,” said Mychal Whittle, head of growth and integration at Reprise.

Whittle also added that the aim of the stunt is to show that companies still need people to drive creativity and salience for marketing campaigns, but there is a future world where they can combine both the human mind and AI to facilitate and deliver best-in-class creative ideas. 

Andrew Holford, chief product officer at Reprise added, “The buzz around AI facilitating marketers is huge, and we are already seeing some promising tools that can automate onerous work. Many of our products have AI [built-in] to deliver insights, content and data solutions at scale.”

Holford furthered, “However, there will continue to be a need for our people to bring the creativity and context to ensure clients get the bespoke and tailored strategies they need to succeed.”

“We aren’t expecting any of the campaign ideas generated by the tool to be turned in to real campaigns, we expect them to be relatively generic at this point but we’re pretty sure the tool will bring some fun to ideation ahead of April Fools Day,” Whittle concluded. 

The tool can be accessed via the AIpril Fools Campaign Generator’s dedicated website.

Singapore – A new global study from customer experience management platform Sprinklr notes that around 60% of brands struggle with ineffective AI for their customer service, with only 22% of the respondents reporting having a complete unified customer data to be leveraged for their customer service efforts.

According to the research, 62% of brands acknowledge the inconsistencies in their digital customer communication. This includes not being able to communicate the same information and unable to stay true to their brand voice. The majority of companies are also struggling with ineffective AI solutions (60%) and insufficient resourcing (54%).

Meanwhile, 11% of the respondents admitted that they make no effort whatsoever to personalise interactions. Another 36%, meanwhile, limit personalisation efforts to referencing ‘basic profile details’ in some or all communication. 

The remaining 53% of the respondents are making strides toward personalisation, but only 12% of them are predicting customer needs and proactively tailoring interactions based on specific needs, intentions, or sentiments.

The data also notes that many global brands also suffer from insufficient insights, with 51% of them finding it hard to even capture meaningful data about customers. Furthermore, 67% of companies face difficulty analysing customer data, 64% struggle to unify data, and 63% report challenges in using data to improve customer experience operations.

Lastly, the global research also stated that several leading companies are taking a number of actions to tackle these challenges, with 53% see AI being able to power chatbots and improve customer data as a paramount focus for 2023, and more than 69% planning to invest in technology that reduces agent effort.

For Ragy Thomas, founder and CEO at Sprinklr, providing digital, personalised service is essential for companies to meet consumer expectations, adding that making these interactions more cost efficient and easier for agents is equally as important.

“The challenges uncovered go beyond customer experience and contact centre teams. Insufficient intelligence hurts the entire business. Unified insight about what customers need and how they behave, can dramatically improve how every customer-facing function– from service, to sales and marketing, to product development operates. We’d like to help brands deliver the kind of customer experiences we all deserve,” Thomas said.

He added, “While challenges persist, it’s encouraging to see how many organisations are prioritising investing in the right technology to unify customer service operations and help make their customers and agents happier.” 

The research’s respondents were composed of more than 300 global leaders in the customer contact and customer experience spaces.

Singapore – Global public relations agency Golin has launched an AI incubator called ‘SPARK’ in order to help the agency conceptualise creative content using AI platforms. Said incubator is designed to diversify ideation, elevate storytelling, and mobilise content delivery for the agency across APAC.

Initiated by Golin’s Creative Intelligence Unit in Singapore, SPARK explores artificial intelligence platforms including ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Dall.E as a starting point for strategic planning and creative ideation.

The team is also working with custom artificial intelligence (AI) platform developers in Asia to explore the potential of this technology for the communications industry.

With prior experience harnessing AI for sentiment analysis and predictive analytics, the Creative Intelligence Unit’s newest initiative expands the role of AI technology across three core areas namely ideation diversification, storytelling elevation, and content delivery mobilisation.

The Creative Intelligence Unit is composed of data storytellers and creative technologists across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei that work closely with client teams and integrated media teams.

Shouvik Prasanna Mukherjee, who was appointed as chief creative officer for Asia-Pacific at Golin, and heads the agency’s Creative Intelligence Unit, said, “Artificial Intelligence is the latest tool that’ll frame the next chapter of our evolution and how we utilise it will define our future. When stones or ideas collide, there is a spark that ignites the drive for change. SPARK will shape our ‘future of work’ in creative intelligence that is both hi-tech and high-touch.”

Meanwhile, Darren Burns, president for Asia-Pacific at Golin, commented, “SPARK unlocks impact for us as an agency but also for our clients, people and the industry. Brands come to us wanting to create change that makes an impact, and that’s exactly what SPARK stands for – being on the front line of innovation around AI.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Brand strategy consultancy Brand Soul Malaysia Sdn Bhd has announced the launch of an artificial intelligence (AI) driven marketing strategy platform in the country. The launch will be done in collaboration with marketing strategy technology platform Robotic Marketer. 

The new partnership is a women-led venture by Stella Wong, founder of Brand Soul Malaysia and Mellissah Smith, CEO of Robotic Marketer, stepping towards building the future of marketing.

The launch intends to transform the branding and marketing landscape by becoming the sustainable brand and AI marketing partner for growing businesses, as well as help marketers capitalise on AI and ChatGPT technology for better marketing ROI.

“We are thrilled to be the leading licensee of Robotic Marketer in Malaysia to extend our service offerings. With ChatGPT technology becoming the buzzword in almost every industry, we aim to become Malaysia’s first branding and marketing consultancy that puts technology and experience into real practice,” said Wong.

Wong also explained that the marketing automation platform will be a ‘game-changer’ for businesses, with up-to-date data analysis, reporting, and full visibility of marketing strategy performance in one single platform. 

She also mentioned that some of its key functionalities include creating a comprehensive marketing plan and tactics with the target audience and competitor insights and will feature a 12-month marketing calendar with real-time data and industry benchmarking analysis.

Smith also commented on the partnership, stating, “We found that Brand Soul had accumulated respect in the industry working with companies that benefited from their creative approach and performance-centric brand marketing campaigns. The leap into data-driven marketing strategies using artificial intelligence is a good fit with Brand Soul’s expertise in branding and marketing.”

Moving forward, Brand Soul will launch a series of AI marketing awareness programmes and introduce Channel Partnership Programme to help software companies and their channel partners develop go-to-market strategies to build brands and generate leads. Companies that Robotic Marketer work with across the channel include SAP, Oracle, Mitel and Zift.

Brand Soul will also offer Robotic Marketer as part of its branding and marketing services suite, including brand strategy, brand identity, digital marketing, seed marketing, and content creation, amongst others.

Singapore – Customer relationship management (CRM) platform HubSpot has announced the launch of new AI-powered tools to aid its customers in saving time whilst creating better connections with their audiences.

The introduction of content assistant and ChatSpot.ai builds on HubSpot’s earlier investments in AI including conversation intelligence, data quality tooling, data enrichment, predictive AI, content optimisation, and more. Powered by OpenAI, content assistant and ChatSpot.ai create efficiencies for marketing, sales, and customer service professionals. 

The content assistant helps marketing and sales teams ideate, create, and share quality content in a matter of minutes. Some features include suggesting and generating a blog post about a product or service, writing other content for the business such as social media posts and web copy, and streamlining content marketing workflows into one place.

Meanwhile, ChatSpot.ai will help HubSpot customers complete a variety of tasks using a natural language chat-based user experience. Features include adding contacts and companies to the HubSpot CRM, creating custom reports related to marketing, sales and customer service, as well as drafting professional and effective sales emails personalised to the recipient.

Andy Pitre, EVP of product at HubSpot, said that the new products’ goal is to help companies connect more deeply with their customers. In addition, their new AI-powered content assistant will help their clients create quality content faster and easier, to better serve their customers.

“Advances in AI also have the potential to change the way people use and interact with software. We’re excited to launch ChatSpot.ai to experiment with how we can make our software even easier to use, and we’re inviting our customers to come along with us as we learn together,” Pitre said.

Manila, Philippines – In line with its commitment to championing naturality, shampoo brand Palmolive in the Philippines has used artificial intelligence in its latest social campaign to render a representation of a Filipina – one that authentically showcases what a native woman in the Philippines looks like.

The woman was generated after the prompt ‘Filipina Gen Z Palmolive Girl’ and the result is a tan-skinned woman with long and thick hair and low nasal bridge – a close resemblance to a native Filipina.

Upon posting the AI Palmolive Girl on social media, the brand engaged audiences with a poll, asking the question, “According to AI, ito ang look ng isang Palmolive Naturals girl. Agree ba kayo?.” (“According to AI, this is what a Palmolive Naturals girl looks like. Do you agree?)

The poll was closed after 24 hours, with 90% of the respondents saying ‘yes’.

Bea Atienza, impactful brand experience lead at Colgate-Palmolive, said that they’re thrilled with the positive response towards the said campaign. 

“It proves that naturality and AI can coexist in today’s world. We’re excited to continue working on this project and create something truly beautiful and collaborative,” she added.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Global digital agency DEPT has launched DEPT®/AI, its new AI-focused practice that aims to help brands solve complex challenges and increase productivity through turnkey AI solutions and innovative creative experiences.

With a multidisciplinary team of over 400 specialists on five continents, DEPT®/AI enabled 30% of the agency’s revenue in 2022 and boasts a client portfolio that includes Philips, Google, and eBay.

“AI is unlocking limitless possibilities and potential for brands,” said Isabel Perry, VP of Emerging Technology at DEPT. She also explained that one of the main reasons for the launch is that DEPT’s clients are eager to leverage AI but are often daunted by the complex questions surrounding design, ethics, and operations.

“We give them an experienced AI implementation partner to capitalise on today’s opportunities, in a way that goes beyond the hype and makes sense for their business,” she added.

Dimi Albers, global CEO at DEPT also said, “We’ve been pioneering AI technology for over six years, helping brands like Just Eat Takeaway to deliver personalisation at scale, and Philips to analyse its data more effectively. We’ll continue to push the potential of AI, and believe it will power 80% of what we do as a marketing and technology services provider.”

The launch follows DEPT’s AI initiatives such as the AI-powered docking station to steer cargo ships, a machine learning hand tracking system to teach the American Sign Language alphabet, and the generative AI collectible cards for eBay’s MCM Comic Con campaign.

Last December, DEPT also launched a 300-person team called WEB3/DEPT to aid clients in experimenting with blockchain technology and building immersive experiences in the metaverse.