Diageo Creates an Alexa Skill Allowing Users to Learn All About Talisker Whiskey
Photo Credit: Diageo
Diageo, the British multinational alcoholic beverages company which includes brands such as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Baileys, and Guinness is trialing a new Amazon Alexa Skill to promote its Scotch whiskey brand Talisker. The Alexa Skill is currently only available in the UK and will take consumers on an “audio journey that will educate them on how to taste Scotch.”
The name of the skill is Talisker Tasting Experience. Users can name one of three whiskeys under the brand they want to learn more about: Talisker Skye, Talisker Storm, or Talisker 10-year-old Single Malt. Once a whiskey is selected, the ‘audio journey’ and more information about the selected spirit will launch. Then, users are prompted to ask any questions about the backstory of the drink or flavors of Scotch they may like to try in the future. The questions are age-gated, available only for those 18 and older. Benjamin Lickfett, Diageo’s Head of Technology and Innovation, said,
“Talisker is a brand with an extremely rich heritage, produced by the sea on the Isle of Skye. When approaching this project, we were looking to bring elements of this location and the fantastic tasting tours at the Talisker Distillery into people’s homes. Voice is the perfect technology to do just this and provide an enhanced brand experience by putting the consumer, product, and brand at the center of tasting, in a completely seamless and non-intrusive way.”
Not Diageo’s First Use of Voice
Diageo previously worked with Isobar to develop an Alexa Skill with Diageo for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2017, called the Diageo Gin Bar skill. The skill provided drink recommendations and allowed users to order cocktails right to their table. At the time, Periklies Antoniou, New Technology & Media, Innovation Manager, Europe, Diageo, said about the use of voice,
Voice is our innate way of communicationg as humans, and the experience we have built for Cannes is an exploration of how this mechanism can be applied in our industry. Learning early on about how such technologies could disrupt and drive efficiencies is important.
Diageo also launched The Bar, an Alexa skill developed specifically for the Amazon Echo Show which teaches users how to make different cocktails and even order the appropriate ingredients through Amazon Prime. Then earlier this year, the company released the Happy Hour Amazon Alexa Skill. The Happy Hour skill is similar to The Bar, but without the multi-modal experience, and uses voice activation to provide cocktail recipes based on user preferences. It also has a random cheers generator, where users can ask Happy Hour, “What is Snoop Dogg’s favorite cocktail?”, for example.
Diageo has consistently found great use cases for their skills, and their continued investment in voice-based applications proves they find it to be beneficial. Diageo stated that voice-controlled technology is an area in which the company “continues to experiment.”
