AiC Episode 116

In this episode, Teri welcomes Patrick Givens, the VP of Smart Innovation and the head of VaynerSmart, VaynerMedia’s IoT and emerging tech division.

Welcome, Patrick!

Patrick is the lead development of VaynerMedia’s global voice-first marketing programs, creating some of the most widely used interactive voice experiences for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and developing a first-of-its-kind Voice AOR model to integrate these emerging channels into client business strategies from inception.

Prior to joining VaynerMedia in 2016, Patrick led innovations strategy, brand planning, and client relationships at some of the world’s leading advertising agencies, developing innovative marketing products, brands, and new businesses for clients ranging from Fortune 500s to new-to-world startups. As a speaker, he’s addressed the values of a “user-led, technology-enabled,” approach to innovation at events such as SXSW, AdWeek, Social Media Week, and many more.

How VaynerMedia Got Involved in Voice

  • It all arose very organically. One of their largest clients (Diageo) wanted help in extending a program (their Johnnie Walker’s Digital Mentorship) they were doing, and voice came up as one of the best solutions. They tried it out and saw some real traction both in terms of number of users and the quantity of skills and discovery.
  • They saw people spend a lot of time with that voice experience, and that helped them learn where people were going when using the experience.
  • From there, they started offering the same voice service to other clients.
  • They are on the Alexa Development Advisory Council, and spend a lot of time working closely with the Alexa platform so they can express the needs and desires of the clients they represent.

Creating the Johnnie Walker Experience

  • They started by going to several whiskey tasting sessions and recording them.
  • While the whole experience could be read in text or watched in video, the personalities of the masters of whiskey was what Patrick and his team resonated with the most.
  • They put out the voice experience they created in form of text-to-speech, and not recorded voice.
  • The elements of personality were obvious and important, and they tried to address that as much as they could through copywriting. They did have versions where they used voices.

A Voice Marketing Plan with Patrick Givens of VaynerSmart

The Way Brands See Voice in Their Overall Marketing Strategies

  • Voice has become a key focus for brands especially in 2020.
  • From 2017 to 2018, VaynerSmart was doing a lot of design and development of third-party voice apps. This is still a meaningful part of their business, but the focus has increasingly been shifting to more of strategy and consultation.
  • As they engage more in consulting, they help brands understand the emerging voice landscape and how they can build voice products.
  • A lot of companies that have been using third-party voice apps are slowly transitioning into their own customized voice apps.
  • An example is how after the Johnnie Walker Live experience, they also built a portfolio wide recipe experience called Happy Hour, that covers a wide range of Diageo spirits.

Using Voice as a Channel to Get a Message Out

  • Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this a lot. He has a flash briefing right now but they have not pushed out an interactive Gary Vaynerchuk skill. They are playing around with the idea, and there should be a live skill out soon.
  • They always try to look at how voice can be put out in a way that people want to use it.
  • Gary is always giving people advice and answering questions, so it made sense for him to put out a voice experience that would do the same for people.

A Time When Anyone Will Be Able to Create a Skill

  • The technology is there to achieve that.
  • Patrick’s advice to anyone who wants to try it out, is to first of all do their content planning.
  • Doing a synthetic voice is also highly advised. One can record a short sample of their voice while they’re saying something, and then have an AI system that can use that to read back any other text fed to it.
  • They have seen examples that are very close to production ready.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other Useful Resources:

Subscribe on your Favourite Podcast App!

Subscribe on iTunesSubscribe on StitcherSubscribe on Google PlayButton SpotifyButton-AnyPod-small

For more information about the podcast or to get in touch with me, feel free to click on the button below! I look forward to hearing from you!

Hit me up!