Delving into brand anthropomorphisation strategies in the experiential context of name‐brand voice assistants

TLDR

Voice‑activated AI technologies are driving new marketing research into brand anthropomorphism, yet the strategies used by name‑brand voice assistants remain largely unexplored. This study aims to map the key brand anthropomorphisation pillars—activities and outcomes—in the name‑brand voice assistant context from a managerial viewpoint. The authors conducted exploratory qualitative interviews with automotive practitioners involved in NBVA brand strategies. The resulting cognitive map identifies three strategic pillars—drivers (human‑like voice and dialogue), intermediate outcomes (brand personality and consumer‑brand relationship strength), and final outcomes (multidimensional brand loyalty)—and offers managerial guidelines for in‑car NBVAs.

Abstract

Abstract Consumers' increasing use of voice‐activated artificial intelligence technologies is stimulating the development of a new line of research in the field of marketing aiming to analyse the branding implications in this innovative experiential context. The spread of so‐called name‐brand voice assistants (NBVAs) is creating interesting opportunities in terms of brand anthropomorphism. The brand anthropomorphisation strategies adopted by companies are poorly studied in the academic literature, and only one contribution has been made in the experiential field of NBVAs. Therefore, the objective of our work is to begin to fill this gap by investigating the pillars of brand anthropomorphisation strategies (i.e., activities and branding outcomes) in the specific NBVA context by adopting a managerial perspective. Therefore, we followed an exploratory qualitative approach based on in‐depth personal interviews with practitioners engaged in these strategies in the automotive sector. The resulting cognitive map reveals the following three levels of strategic pillars: drivers (i.e., designing a human‐like brand voice and human‐like consumer‐brand dialogue), intermediate outcomes (i.e., brand personality and the strength of consumer‐brand relationships), and final outcomes (i.e., multidimensional brand loyalty). Our study enriches both the literature concerning brand anthropomorphisation strategies and the nascent stream on NBVAs and provides managerial guidelines in the new in‐car NBVA context.