By Jeff Betts, Head of Product

Conversational AI experiences have made great strides in recent years to support a growing number of use cases with an often unnoticed efficacy. From ordering a pizza to more serious matters like securing COVID-19 vaccine appointments and locating where people can register to vote, chat experiences have helped connect users to an incredible amount of resources. Despite this growth, one thing many conversational AI experiences have lacked is a unique voice.

Not a literal voice, but rather a personality and tone that communicates to us as an extension of a brand always available to help solve a problem or accomplish a goal. There are many reasons a brand might opt to include a personalized voice in a chat experience like leveraging a consumer connection with a team through a mascot, highlighting a marquee product, or even as straightforward as softening or brightening the tone of an important message so it’s more relatable to audiences that are used to communicating on social media apps.

Personification: Extending your brand

GameOn Technology has helped evolve the chat app industry by having our products match the tone of real-world brands, such as our recent work with Mike Tyson, the Atlanta Hawks, and Arsenal FC. Yes — these conversational applications give fans the information they’re looking for like Iron Mike’s favorite knockout and video of Trae Young’s latest 3-pointer from the Hawks’ center court logo — but they also provide a personality-driven chat experience that keeps users coming back for more.

In working with Mike Tyson on his custom experience, the GameOn team helped translate Mike’s story and voice to messaging channels with unique quotes, images, custom artwork, and Deep Thoughts from Mike. Upon launching, we soon observed frequently asked questions such as “when is your next fight?” or “what was your favorite knockout?” The Tyson team was able to use GameOn’s Q&A feature to pair select questions to answers that came from Iron Mike himself.

The Atlanta Hawks are a great example of utilizing a mascot to personify an experience. The Hawks made an incredible 2021 NBA Playoff run which has helped fuel a growth of over 250% in new users month over month for their new application! Fans are asking everything from “what’s the current score?” to “where can I buy the red playoff shirts?” and “how many kids does Harry the Mascot have?” Harry’s personality, and immense Atlanta Hawks knowledge from his 35 years with the team, helps power the bot and keeps fans engaged.

1. How Conversational AI can Automate Customer Service

2. Automated vs Live Chats: What will the Future of Customer Service Look Like?

3. Chatbots As Medical Assistants In COVID-19 Pandemic

4. Chatbot Vs. Intelligent Virtual Assistant — What’s the difference & Why Care?

Data Driven Results

Many industries that would reap the benefits of a personality driven experience include customer service, brands with well-known mascots, celebrities, sports organizations, video games, sales organizations, and even retail brands. In the case of Arsenal, GameOn worked directly with the team to base their application on football legend Robert Pires. This resulted in an authentic 1:1 relationship between fans and the sports team, making the experience a huge success. Gunners fans are delighted with, and appreciate, the Easter eggs and remarks from “Robot Pires” sprinkled throughout the experience such as his slide into victory when a user asks about a match Arsenal won! The Arsenal FC conversational application saw an increase of engagement on match days by over 3 times and 90% of fans become weekly-active users (WAUs) averaging over 1M messages per week within the first 6 months.

This is only the beginning for GameOn’s ChatOS platform. We will continue to push the industry forward by creating conversational applications that better deliver the answers consumers seek from brands they follow. The closer we are able to secure that 1:1 connection, the more rewarding the experience will be for everyone.