Patrón Develops Alexa Skill To Dispense Cocktail Recipes

What Happened
Patrón is turning Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa into a digital bartender. As part of its Patrón Cocktail Lab initiative, the tequila brand worked with Razorfish to develop an Alexa skill that allows users to ask for cocktail recipes based on flavor or occasion via voice command. Users can also ask for some interesting tidbits about tequila. The skill currently covers over 168 different recipes and Patrón says it plans to add new content every month.  

What Brands Need To Do
With this Alexa skill, Patrón stays ahead of the digital curve by dipping a toe into the voice-based conversational interface. Using Alexa-enabled devices to distribute branded content gives Patrón a way into consumers’ homes. For more information on how brands can develop authentic brand voices and navigate the new interface, check out the Conversational Interfaces section in our Outlook 2016.

The Lab has extensive experience with building Alexa skills and helping brands navigate the new realities that conversational interfaces are set to bring. If you’re interested in learning more about our take on this topic, please reach out and schedule a visit to the Lab.

 


Source: Digiday

Budweiser’s Buddy Cup Makes You Friends

As if providing embarrassing photos from your trip to the bar last night wasn’t simple enough with Facebook, Budweiser has provided another factor: the Buddy Cup.  The Brazilian arm of the beer giant is introducing what are probably NFC-equipped cups to its branded events, offering participants the opportunity to enter their Facebook credentials on a page accessed via a QR code (there they are again) on the bottom of the cup.  After this slight barrier to entry, any “cheers” with a similarly equipped cup will lead to a friend request being sent (and why wouldn’t Budweiser gain a “like” in the process?) and accepted.  While this is an interesting application of emerging technology, its activation of brand values could lead to some unfortunate realizations on the morning after.  The Buddy Cup was created by Agencia Africa in partnership with a digital advertising studio in Brazil called Bolha.