With Google partnering with Disney to enhance story-time reading with its Google Home, it looks like we’re starting to see real depth being built into voice-activated campaigns.
We discussed this with our team of neuroscientists and MIT researchers in our first Generation Alpha study – while up to now using Google Home or Amazon Echo has been fun and quite gimmicky (“Alexa – tell me a joke”, “OK Google – it’s my birthday”), we are now entering into a new phase where the technology can adapt and respond more intuitively than when it first came to market.
Anyone with young children can tell you that there’s no way of reading a story from beginning to end without interruptions – be it with their own commentary or all-important questions like “is the apple Snow White eats red or green?” [not sure, but it would probably have been organic], “does a kiss really wake you up if you’re dead?” [maybe if it’s from Ryan Gosling] or “mummy, do you whistle while you work?” [only when I’m trying to annoy my boss].
This evolved ability of Google Home to sense and respond to what we’re saying and doing will take voice one step further towards being a medium that brands can turn to in order to directly engage with consumers in a more meaningful and fulfilling way. I for one, can’t wait!
Google has partnered with Disney to enhance story time reading with the Google Home. Now you can start reading one of Disney’s Little Golden Books out loud and your Google Home device will play music and relevant sound effects along with you. To use the new feature, just say, “Hey Google, let’s read along with Disney.” Then the Google Home will use voice recognition to sense where you are in the story. If you decide to flip ahead or go backward in the story, say if your kid asks you to repeat a fun part, your Google Home will sense that and switch its music and sounds to reflect where you are. If you pause, perhaps because your kid has a question, the Google Home will play ambient music in the background until you start reading again.
