Digiday: Google is using CES to catch up to Amazon in battle of voice assistants

By Sahil Patel

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Excerpt:

With marketers, the interest is high as clients ask for more information on how to approach Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. For Mindshare North America, its conversations with both companies focused on case studies and best practices for voice rather than any specific advertising product that might be in the pipeline, said Joe Maceda, Invention Studio lead for Mindshare North America.

“As frustrating as that can be for marketers, it’s good for the ecosystem of voice in the long run,” Maceda said. “Both [Amazon and Google] are entirely focused on making sure the user experience is as strong and utility-driven as possible.”

Amazon, for instance, pointed out the success of Domino’s Alexa skill, which allows users to quickly reorder their favorite pizza. The tech giant is looking for marketers to create skills like that. And Amazon is directly affecting marketers in their voice strategies.

“Given that Amazon is the first mover in the voice space and their end game is to sell stuff to people, the way we’re looking at voice is around how we can drive commerce through it,” Maceda said. For consumer packaged goods marketers, the focus is on “replenishment purchases” — the essentials people need to buy, Maceda added.

Read the entire piece in Digiday.