Brands and their agencies are experimenting with artificial intelligence for all manner of applications, from generative art to generative chat.
Boathouse Group, an independent marketing agency outside Boston, is using AI for a new form of social listening, web monitoring and reputation management.
On Tuesday, Boathouse launched a product called Narrative Transformation through partnerships with consumer and market intelligence platforms Signal AI and NetBase Quid.
The tool gathers data from tens of thousands of publicly available online sources, including tweets, Glassdoor reviews, Reddit posts, blogs, news stories, regulatory documents and a multitude of other English language conversations happening around the world. That data is then placed into categories, such as source, sentiment, passion, theme and conversational hashtags.
The purpose is “to monitor and understand evolving conversations at a micro level,” said Boathouse President Peter Prodromou, and “to shape recommendations for how our clients should be engaging the narrative.”
To win in today’s climate, he said, companies need to get ahead of what’s “gurgling around the internet” so they can “anticipate a potential crisis or opportunity.” This precept is true, but, with current technology, predictions will not be accurate 100% of the time.
A proactive approach to messaging isn’t optional, Prodromou said.
“[But] the question becomes … how do you understand the conversations that are happening?” he said. “That, for us, is where AI comes in.”
Boathouse’s dashboard allows companies to tap into the hashtags, topics and terms that are defining conversations about them. For instance, CEOs can see when employees, customers or investors are unhappy with their organization, which allows them “not only to set a narrative but make a business decision,” Prodromou said.
Brands need to “cut through the clutter, get to the 10 or 15 most important conversations and give actionable insights,” he said.
Although Narrative Transformation is still in beta, a few clients have started testing it, including the University of Massachusetts Global (UMass Global).
UMass Global is using the tool to get a better real-time understanding of how people perceive the university and how it compares to other online universities “relative to mindshare, passion and sentiment,” said Terri Carbaugh, vice chancellor of public affairs.
For example, through searches for terms related to institutions, corporate and nonprofit partner C-suites, think tanks, trade outlets and student and alumni experiences, UMass Global has uncovered local, state and national trend lines.
These insights “underpin our strategic communications campaign,” Carbaugh said.
“We’ve identified specific areas where our communications can, and must, be bolstered if we are to achieve our reputational goals,” she said.
