In this session Mark Curtis, Fjord’s Chief Client Officer and Thomas Müller, Fjord’s Head of Design + Innovation in Europe, will examine the critical role of conversation in a world where the choice of media channels and formats is increasing, while the truly available attention window continues to decrease. Brands need to increasingly look to AI in order to master the art and science of the conversation with personality, tone and true relevance at scale.

1. 1A brief history of conversation
And what brands can learn from it
NEXT Conference, 22. September 2017
Mark Curtis & Thomas Mueller
A brief history of
conversation

2. 2A brief history of conversation
This discovery of
yours will create
forgetfulness in the
learner’s souls.

3. 3A brief history of conversation
The unexamined life
is not worth living by
a human being.
- Socrates
3
03 Tiles

4. 4A brief history of conversation
To see a lord, or two, a baronet,
a shoemaker, a tailor, a wine
merchant… poring over the
same newspaper. Truly the
coffee houses…are the seats of
English liberty.
-Abbie Provost

5. 5A brief history of conversation
The development of ideas has,
for a century, been entirely
directed by conversation.
-Madame de Stael

6. 6A brief history of conversation
The impact of
technology

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What gets added. What gets lost.
The impact of
technology

8. 8A brief history of conversation
Permanence
8
Asynchronous

9. 9A brief history of conversation
Synchronous
conversation.
The elusiveness
of distance

10. 10A brief history of conversation
05 Images + Text
Interactive
privacy

11. 11A brief history of conversation
A proliferation of
etiquettes
Email
• Scales to crowds
• Asynchronous
• Zero marginal cost to
• communication
• Formal
• Start and end
Instant Messaging
• Synchronous but can be
paused
• Informal
• Start and end unclear
• Icons
• Threaded narrative
Twitter
• Asynchronous
• No start and end
• Public abuse
• Open by default
• Private and public
• Transparency

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Spontaneity
Distraction

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A proliferation of
media
SMS
• Insistent
• Character limited
Social Media
• Synchronous but can be
paused
• Informal
• Start and end unclear
• Threaded narrative
Chat Apps
• Synchronous
• Video
• Audio
• Multiple conversations

14. 14A brief history of conversation
Being human in
the digital age

15. 15A brief history of conversation
Command line interface
15

16. 16A brief history of conversation
The reintroduction of
body language

17. 17A brief history of conversation
First Emojis

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Then pictures
Especially selfies

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The rise of video

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The rise of
conversation as
interface… and
market

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Now voice
More than a female assistant in a cylinder shape and
the fastest way to interact

22. 22A brief history of conversation
Phone calls in decline
But voice on the rise

23. 23A brief history of conversation
Expect voice
interactions not to need
a phone
Expect ”Alexa” to
speak when you have
not asked her

24. 24A brief history of conversation
03 Tiles
And then there
were Bots
A Bot Wiki
Our definition of a Bot;
“Bots are machines that perform an automated task and hold
conversations with humans or other machines based on rules or learning”

25. 25A brief history of conversation
9 out of 10
Looks like a few things
are clear
Consumers globally want to use messaging to talk to
businesses

26. 26A brief history of conversation
What can brands
learn from this

27. So why not an AI powered chatbot
to drive brand conversations?
Presentation Name 27
• One that can read customer
personalities
• As a human would do with body
language and tell tales
• We call this mirroring
• And it can learn as it goes –
and get better (?)
• And the result?

28. Uninformed
consumer
Informed
consumer
Branding has evolved
over a century
28
Product Product
Image
Experience
Image
Interaction Interaction
Product
Image
Product
1920 - 1950 1950 - 1990 1990 - 2010 2010 - 2015
Product
Experience
Image
Interaction
Conversation
2016 - Now
A brief history of conversation

29. Successful brands
have strategic
brand DNA Purpose
ValuesPromise
Expression
1
32
4
30A brief history of conversation

30. Visual Verbal Sonic
4 | Expression has many
facets
Haptic
31A brief history of conversation

31. Today brands are required to deliver
infinite experiences
31
My Spotify
S O N O S
On the goStatic experience Third parties
A brief history of conversation

32. To manage atomisation, a brand
need a flexible system
32
Levelofdigitalization
Volatility
Solid
Bricks and mortar incumbents
Liquid
Media
Gas
OTT players and digital
platform owners
Plasma
Digital disrupters
A brief history of conversation

33. Brand DNA Human Profile Context
Adding intelligence creates
a living brand
+ ( x ) = Living Brand
34A brief history of conversation

34. 34A brief history of conversation
Minituarisation of
digital
Arrival of the disappearing UI

35. 35A brief history of conversation
Voice and sound is all
we are left with
Machine
Learning
Brand Voice
Libraries
Natural
Language
Processing

36. Presentation Name 36
Conversation
design for
thinking
machinces
• Anticipate user needs and balance business goals
• Make error or dead-end recovery simple and swift
• Strive for “human”
37A brief history of conversation

37. Presentation Name 3738A brief history of conversation

38. Presentation Name 38
• Literally tireless
• Unable to disagree
• Captive
• Unable to improvise
Bots don’t
have to act human
to be human-
centered
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39. Presentation Name 39
Conversation
design for
feeling
machinces
• Considers both form and context
• Includes verbal and non-verbal exchanges
• Is based on requirements for the tool
40A brief history of conversation

40. So where is this going…
AI + Voice +
Minituarisation of Digital

41. The
conversational
singularity
41A brief history of conversation

42. Devices disappear
and…
42A brief history of conversation

43. Just
the conversation
remains
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44. Presentation Name 44
The implications
• New etiquettes will be needed
• Machines will know (some bits of of us) better than other
humans
• Which change the notion of the “unexamined life”
A brief history of conversation

45. Presentation Name 45
The questions
• Can we use technology to enhance brand conversations?
• Or to return to the golden age of conversation?
• Will a conversation last forever?
A brief history of conversation

46. 46A brief history of conversation
Only humans can
do mean empathy
and love

47. 47A brief history of conversation
Thank you
and remember
to love
fjordnet.com | @fjord