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How to use bots to brand you as stars

During his time at Groupon Middle East, Simon Hudson spent a lot of time working closely with the social media team and asking Facebook audience what deal they wanted to be featured.
"During a management discussions one day we decided to try and build a 'deal wall' that sat inside Facebook as an app and it would mirror the main website and update the deals daily. Fans of our Facebook page would be able to visit, browse and ultimately purchase the deal direct from Facebook meaning they don't have to leave the social platform," Hudson says.
As a creative director and project lead he set about making this happen. It quickly became clear that the task was not going to be that easy. It required a certain skill set and API engineering team who could essentially connect Facebook and Groupon systems together.
After going over budget and delivering the product three months late he realised there was a big gap that needed filling.
"Later that year I put a business plan together, raised some seed capital and set about building a company that would help brands integrate their systems into social channels and use the power of their brand ambassadors to help market products," Hudson says.
After raising an initial $600,000 seed funding Hudson established Brndstr, a creative tech house, in July 2013. Brndstr increased its seed in May 2014 by a further $1 million and a final $400,000 were added in November 2015.
Using a suite of custom-built technologies Brndstr has helped brands to create real time solutions as part of marketing and advertising strategies.
In 2017, the Dubai-based startup launched the Brndstr Bot Studio, region's first dedicated social chat robots and virtual reality lab.
"Bots are still very new - these digital assistants sit inside chat channels such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM, KIK and WeChat," Hudson says. "Over the past three years we have been helping brands both directly and via their agency. We found that when using new technologies and solutions there was a deep level of education required as to how best build and manage a bot campaign," he says.
"Our Bot Studio provides a pre-set suite of bots and dedicated team to help serve the demand in the region. We have been very careful and taken pride in the quality of our products and build everything within the four walls of the Dubai head office," he says.
"We are proud that this has not gone unnoticed and have started to work with clients outside of the region. In December, we partnered with British Airways to build them their BA BOTLer - a digital assistant that helps passengers find out the best places to go in London and travel tips from celebrities such as David Beckham and Nicole Schertzinger," says Hudson, who is also steering the Brndstr's marketing strategy.
Hudson says starting a business in any part of the world comes with its challenges.
"Brndstr was very lucky to partner with a business who not only invested money into the business but acted as the backbone to the formation of the business. The journey has consisted of many highs and lows and I know that without the support of my family and business partners I would have it a lot harder," he says. "The great thing about living and working in Dubai is that there are no more than two degrees of separation. Finding the right person in a business and to have a meeting is not more than three to four e-mails away," Hudson says.
"During the first nine months, we were in the build and feet finding stage so revenues were only through test campaigns and very small. Since then we have seen a steady 35 per cent month on month growth in revenue and forecast that to continue and gradually increase over the coming 12 months," he says.
Advertisers worldwide spent $23.68 billion on paid media to reach consumers on social networks in 2015, according to new figures from eMarketer, a 33.5 per cent increase from 2014. By 2017, social network ad spending estimated to reach $35.98 billion, representing 16 per cent of all digital ad spending globally.
Hudson believes the key to Brndstr success is the fact that it is in tune with the rest of the world.
"I spend a lot of time travelling to meet the Facebook and Twitter teams around the world to make sure Brndstr is positioned to compete on a global level. Although there are a huge number of conferences and events around the globe, if you pick and choose the right ones you will always walk away with more contacts and a better business as a result. I honestly feel that had I not jumped on a plane and met people internationally, Brndstr would not be the business it is today," says the British expat.
"In addition to this we focus hard on R&D and always make sure we are at the forefront of technology. Sometimes brands are not ready - but when they are, we are there to help them shape a world class tech plan.
Brndstr works very closely with Twitter offices around the globe and helps build and run Twitter campaigns in countries including Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Australia.
"In addition to Twitter we work with many brands on Facebook outside of the UAE including British Airways in the UK and many brands in the USA," says the CEO.
A spokesperson from FIG Investments who backed Brndstr says: "To be in the technology space you need to always be one step ahead, when we first met Simon in 2013 he was already exploring the bot technologies. We are excited to be part of such a fast-paced industry and proud of what Brndstr has achieved so far."
Hudson says Dubai is so perfectly positioned geographically conducting business out of the UAE is actually very easy."There are a few markets we see a benefit in having people on the ground and will continue to focus on evolving our client base there. Once we feel a country has enough business to drive revenues we will explore establishing a presence there," he says.
-riaz@khaleejtimes.com