How the BBC uses Facebook Messenger Bots to create “Real Happy Moments”

Among the many acronyms that we find swirling around in the world of digital communications, or just technology in general, one seems to create more intrigue and perhaps a little trepidation than any other.

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a hot button topic among the biggest minds in the technology industry currently. Beyond the concern of an AI apocalypse or some sort of dystopia in which computers take us humans as their pets, AI is at the bleeding edge of the tech industry, with pretty much every major tech firm at least discussing their future plans for AI products or services. Driverless vehicles are a notable example, with Google and its spun-off Waymo business, or Apple and it’s so-called ‘Project Titan‘ in which the company is rumoured to be developing the software required to make a vehicle driverless.

But while that’s all in the future, AI is all around us. Right now. The virtual assistants we find on our smartphones, such as Siri and Google Now, are all powered by AI and years of research into machine learning and neural networks, to provide us with a natural and almost infinitely custom way to ask “what’s the weather like?”.  But it’s not just that. Search engines are powered by AI, with an array of complex decisions being made each time someone makes a Google search.

One of the latest implementations of AI is the use of chat bots. Chat bots present an array of opportunities for companies in all sectors, but are potentially most powerful for the entertainment industry.  All brands, and especially entertainment brands, are constantly vying for engagement on social media with personalised and playful content. Chat bots can provide this content instantly and on-demand.

Bots, such as those offered by Facebook, allow users to engage in conversation via AI. There are limitations of course, but brands can implement the bots to allow customers to ask questions, play a game, or receive personalised content.

The BBC, to coincide with the release of its Planet Earth II series, has created a Facebook Messenger bot designed to deliver “Real Happy Moments“. The bot asks users a series of questions to form a “Happiness Profile”. With this, it then generates a video montage formed from clips out of the BBC’s natural history archive.

The bot asks a series of questions, sometimes using emojis, to decide what to include in your own personalised montage.

Users are then able to share their personalised video with others on Facebook.

This simple implementation is a perfect example of AI utilised to create personal, and highly sharable content. The investment of time and resources into the creation of the bot, could be minimal relative to the reach that can be achieved by such an inventive application of artificial intelligence.

Sharable and viral content – how it’s done

Movie studios offer us some of the greatest examples of content designed to spread on social media.

Take this, from Disney.

The #Incredibles2 trailer is here. See the film in theatres June 15, 2018. pic.twitter.com/cTZIkWeDK5

— Disney (@Disney) November 18, 2017

This trailer, for the sequel to “The Incredibles”, has apparently become the most viewed trailer for an animated movie ever.

But how did they do it? Well apart from the obvious interest in a movie such as one like that, Disney very cleverly but simply leveraged their social media platforms to tease the trailer.

The day before the trailer was released, Disney posted this cryptic message to a number of its social media feeds.

Tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/86bHgxuqto

— Disney (@Disney) November 17, 2017

They leveraged their social media clout (or Klout perhaps) with something extremely simple (and low cost), but powerful enough to provide masses of engagement from their fans.

 

Social media, engagement and ‘POEM’

Social media. A term that means so many different things to so many different people. On the individual level, social media is about keeping in touch with people, chatting with friends, or sharing your everyday life.

But for organisations in the entertainment industry, it’s not about the individual level. To businesses, those users are the product. Companies like Facebook or Twitter offer those users to organisations in exchange for our business.

To understand social media marketing, we can apply the acronym ‘POEM’. Paid, Earned, and Owned Media. A brand like Warner Bros. owns its Twitter page, can pay to promote tweets, which should hopefully lead to the earned sharing and discussion of that content.

But how do these companies use this relatively new resource? Well it’s not all about spending money. Simply having a place on Twitter or Facebook for your customers, potential customers, or indeed your loyal fans to go to, doesn’t need to cost very much money. That’s why it is owned media.

Just simply having a page like those you can see here is a start. But a page alone is certainly not enough. Engaging and regular content is key to keeping people interested. And engaging being the keyword there, as the whole concept of “engagement” is a big part of any social media strategy. The more engaging content, whether it is paid for or owned, the more earned media a brand can receive.

Video itself is perhaps one of the biggest trends in social media marketing currently, as more and more brands struggle to get that engagement. Short, 30 second clips that pull people in and grab their attention are widespread. These videos usually play whether users like it or not, thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter enabling autoplay video. The videos often have subtitles too; this is so users can still understand what is being said even when they have their device on silent. So it’s obvious why video is so popular – moving images, that play automatically; short bursts of exciting, funny, nostalgic, or just purely captivating content.

Hugh Grant will never forget the time he walked in on his agent in the shower. 😂🚿 pic.twitter.com/enH3U7WnWR

— BBC One (@BBCOne) November 11, 2017

It’s not just video though, a whole host of other methods are applied in getting that engagement. Polls are another key trend. Both on Twitter and Facebook it’s now easy to post a poll which users can vote in, and see the results. There’s also quizzes which allow fans to test their knowledge; here we see Disney combing video and a quiz to tie into Disney’s “Aladdin”.

Bow down to the Sultan of @Aladdin trivia! The @OhMyDisney Show puts the original Jafar to the ultimate Disney test. 👑 pic.twitter.com/NfDrA6yTfC

— Disney (@Disney) November 11, 2017

So it’s clear that simply posting to social media isn’t enough. It’s no use having users passively glancing at content, when in reality they need to be involved with content. Only when they become engaged, will their activity convert into consumption of product or service.

 

Apps and promotion

“There’s an app for that.” The old adage still applies, even today, 9 years since Steve Jobs introduced the App Store.

And nowhere does it apply more than in the world of entertainment. We’ve seen many creative examples of apps created purely for the promotion of new movies and TV shows.

Universal released an app to promote the movie “Jurassic World” called Jurassic World MovieMaker. It allows users to make their own videos featuring dinosaurs from the the movie. Users can choose a dinosaur, film a scene with their camera, and then edit a dinosaur into the scene. The app features multiple references to the movie, and ads promoting the film’s release on Blu-Ray and DVD.

       

Creative apps such as this go beyond plain advertising, and evolve into a standalone experience designed to tie into the movie.

Of course the most common implementation of apps is games. There are countless examples of smartphone games designed to promote films or television series, with some of these apps becoming standalone experiences, and even business ventures of their own.

But that’s not to say simple games can’t be developed purely for promotion alone. There are an array of apps which tie into a particular brand or franchise utilising elements of gamification, to engage audiences further. The X Factor app,  designed to promote the ITV talent series, features a simple game which allows users to “be a judge” and rate contestants as they watch the show. There are also quizzes which allow viewers to test their knowledge.

    

Beyond the games and quizzes, the app also provides news and updates to users, which can be delivered by push notifications. Those push notifications can remind users when new episodes are about to begin, or when new videos from the show are available to watch.

Beyond the additional awareness a fun app can provide, all of these apps encourage increased engagement with the films or television series they are designed to promote. They expand the experience, and allow users to become immersed in the world of a particular movie for instance, or bring them closer to their favourite TV series, providing them with news and exclusive content.

Increasing brand loyalty with blogs

Every industry or company these days seems to have its ‘fans’. Whether that be tech companies like Apple or Google, cosmetics brands, or even airlines. But the whole phenomena of ‘fans’ comes from the entertainment industry (and sports), and brand loyalty is something entertainment relies upon.

There are many fans out there already, some of them crafting their own communities or fan websites with thousands or millions of hits, all centred around their favourite movie franchises, companies or even characters. And so it is our challenge, in this industry, to capture that ourselves.

Disney is a perfect example. Over the last few years, Disney has constructed a veritable empire of fan-centric blogs. These sites enjoy loyal followings, and are a potential revenue source in their own right.

There’s Oh My Disney, which is essentially a Buzzfeed for Disney, featuring very sharable content, such as listicles, quizzes, and Disney news. Then there’s D23, which is a blog centred around Disney’s own fan club, with insider news, history and archive content, intended for die-hard Disney fans. And there’s also the Disney Parks Blog, which is a highly popular blog sharing updates and news from Disney’s theme parks and resorts around the world.

There’s many more, including a Star Wars blog, a Disney Style blog (covering Disney fashion and clothing) and a Disney family blog, with Disney-themed recipes and home decor tips. But it’s the three focused on in the previous paragraph, that provide a good example of what blogs can do for your business.

Each of those blogs receive extremely high engagement, and carry audiences with intense interest. The people who belong to those audiences often evangelise Disney on social media, and it is through these blogs that their needs can be served. They need to feel as though they’re part of the brand, and that they get news and updates before anyone else.

That feeds their loyalty, which keeps them Disney’s customer, but it also means they spread Disney’s message far and wide. So while a blog might seem quite simple, and perhaps reach quite a niche audience, it’s clear that the loyalty gained, leads to much greater reach than the blog itself.

Apple’s ARKit and its incredible potential

At Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, the company introduced a new augmented reality API for developers. ARKit, as it’s known, enables software developers to incorporate advanced augmented reality features into their apps.

Previously, AR features usually had to be built from scratch or AR functionality built by 3rd-parties needed to be incorporated. This was significantly more time consuming, expensive, and much less immersive. Apple’s new API on the other hand, is much simpler to incorporate, and provides advanced AR features to any developer on any budget.

So what does this mean for the entertainment industry? Pretty much overnight, with the release of iOS 11 with ARKit, the iPhone provided potentially billions of users with access to advanced AR.

Imagine an app designed to promote a major motion picture, where users could walk through a portal from the real world, and into the world of the movie.

Huh, did you say portals? #ARKit pic.twitter.com/EZ7L89l1F2

— lauri (＾ｰ^)ノ (@lingoded) July 5, 2017

IKEA hit the headlines upon the release of ARKit with its new place app, which allows users to take items from the IKEA catalogue and virtually place them in a room. Users can then walk around and up close to the to item as if it really existed in the space.

While IKEA’s use case centres around furniture, imagine being able to place a character from an animated movie or TV series into a child’s room, where they could then manipulate and play games with the character.

ARKit makes it effortless to take a simple concept such as that, and build an immersive app with all the share-ability and viral potential of something much more costly and elaborate.

 

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This website will give you everything you need to keep on top of the latest developments in Digital Communications in the entertainment industry.

Whether you work for a television production company, a film studio, or you’re just curious, keep visiting to see the latest and greatest technologies you can use to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.