Nuance launches ‘Voice Ads’ platform to bring a Siri-like experience to mobile advertising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kusQK7PCXTM

If Nuance gets its way with the just announced ‘Voice Ads’ mobile advertising platform, soon every mobile ad could include Siri-like functionality that lets you communicate with and ask questions about the product being advertised.

Nuance, the company behind the voice recognition module now used in Apple’s Siri, today announced a new project to bring its voice recognition technology to the mobile advertising world. The basic concept of the new platform, which Nuance made available through an SDK for advertising companies, is to bring a two-way, interactive conversation to mobile ads. As highlighted by Nuance in the video above, ads that implement the Voice Ads platform will allow users to engage in a Siri-like conversation with an advertisement:

Nuance Voice Ads gives mobile advertisers and creative agencies an opportunity to go beyond the limitations of the four-inch mobile device screen and create a conversation with consumers through the power of voice recognition. Voice Ads finally creates an opportunity for brands to deepen the relationship with their consumers, with targeted interactive ads that deeply engage their core audience – much in the way that the world’s most popular mobile personal assistants have deepened consumers’ relationship with their mobile phones.

In the demo above, Nuance shows an advertisement for a fictional deodorant brand that uses a magic 8-ball theme to answer any question that users might have. The ad of course ends in a pitch for the product in question, as you might expect. Other ads could allow users to ask specific questions about a product’s release date or specs…

Nuance said that it partnered with a number of ad agencies and mobile advertising companies to create ads using the platform, some which include: Digitas, OMD, and Leo Burnett. Nuance also has plans to distribute the ads to over “100,000 app publishers and hundreds of millions of consumers” through partnerships with mobile ad companies Millennial Media, Jumptap and Opera Mediaworks (AdMarvel, Mobile Theory, and 4th Screen).

For those interested in implementing Voice Ads into their mobile ads, Nuance explained developers would only require basic JavaScript knowledge to take advantage of the platform using simplified API libraries. It will first have a long way to go in convincing app developers and mobile advertising networks that displaying ads with voice will provide a benefit to both the user and advertiser.

To learn more about Nuance Voice Ads and sign up to become part of the program, you can visit Nuance’s Voice Ads website.

@markgurman "Nuance Voice Ads" = *not* a joke. "Nuance Voice Steering Wheel" = *definitely* a joke #HappyAprilFools

— Mark Geremia (@DragonDictator) April 1, 2013