Brands and publishers turn to actors and comedians to give chatbots personality

Why Insider is betting on Instagram Stories instead of Snapchat, How football site Goal is using Facebook for global reach, What brands can learn from McDonald's YouTube fail, [Digiday Daily] Good way to get your chatbot sounding less robotic: [Hire improv actors and comedians to give it a personality]. Business Insider's platform publishing spinoff, Insider, is [seeing success with Instagram Stories]. McDonald's overshot the mark with a YouTube channel that used influencers to reach millennials. [Here are the lessons learned]. Soccer publisher Goal.com, with 52 million Facebook likes, is u[sing the platform as the fulcrum of its global expansion strategy]. The Washington Post has released its [first interactive TV ad on Apple TV]. From Glossy: [CoverGirl has its first male brand spokesperson]. From rich media to native to video, does programmatic make sense for every format? [Take the survey for the chance to win a $500 AmEx gift card.] Sponsor content by RhythmOne.   [TLDR Title]   [Brands and publishers turn to actors and comedians to give chatbots personality] Lucinda Southern Increasingly, companies like Google are hiring writers to give their AI a more human edge. Companies building bots for platforms like Facebook and Kik can't really compete with the resource of these tech giants. But giving bots a personality is becoming more of a competitive advantage, companies need creative types on payroll to make this authentic. In some cases, bot developers are coming up with entire backstories for their bots, including their hopes and fears. [Why Insider is betting on Instagram Stories instead of Snapchat] Sahil Patel Business Insider's distributed media brand, Insider, is embracing Instagram video — particularly Instagram Stories. Focusing on reproducing listicles and live event coverage for the Snapchat copycat, Insider did more than 5.2 million views on Instagram Stories in September. Overall, Instagram is growing as a video platform for Insider, which has more than tripled the number of followers and monthly video views on the platform since July. Advertisement   [Agencies on the creative process: "I can't believe we're still doing it this way."] Sponsored Content Hightail While the tools of campaign distribution have caught up with today's digital reality, the creative process that fuels these campaigns is mired in the "trappings of traditional advertising." All it takes is one missed email or a single lost file to throw it all off and raise agency panic. As agency creatives sigh over daily meetings and endless email threads, they're also starting to embrace new modes of moving a client project from rough idea to polished reality. Sponsored content by Hightail. [How football site Goal is using Facebook for global reach] Jessica Davies Sports news is a fiercely competitive space, but football site Goal.com has risen fast internationally by targeting the “new breed” of international football fan. “Their consumption has changed, they don't follow a single team anymore but multiple teams, they're less tribal, more socially inclined, and mobile dependent,” said Goal editor in chief James Marley. Here’s a look inside the site’s social distribution strategy. [What brands can learn from McDonald's YouTube fail] Grace Caffyn McDonald's launched its youth-oriented YouTube channel, Channel Us, last July. One year on, with views sliding, it pulled the plug. While there have been success stories like Coke TV, agencies say these spin-off channels are difficult to grow in 2016 without investing serious money. Plus, rivals who are willing to trade in control and sprinkle video content across different social platforms are seeing traction. [How Kik is using chatbots to monetize mobile messaging] Sponsored Content AppNexus Advertising is the heart of most Internet companies, digital publishers, and apps. In the absence of quality advertising, great journalism, music, film, games and culture will either disappear behind a paywall-thus making the Internet closed and, quite literally, unfree-or disappear completely. We spoke with Josh Jacobs, President of Kik Services at Kik Messenger, about using ads to monetize the platform. Sponsored content by AppNexus [The Washington Post launches its first interactive TV ad] Lucia Moses The Washington Post is getting into the nascent realm of interactive TV advertising, with a new campaign for Jaguar on Apple TV that lets viewers become active watchers by clicking through photos of the car. Interactive TV advertising was supposed to combine the digital media's targeting and engagement with the big screen, but scalability issues have made it slow to take off. It’s not clear how users will react, too, which is why the ad, built with help from Velocity Made Good, turns off after 15 seconds. “The big question is, what do our readers think," the Post’s Anthony DeMaio said. "Is this something they'll be interested in, or is this something that will be disruptive?" [Learn 7 tips for keeping your creative team inspired] Sponsored Content Shutterstock When you and your team are required to be creative every day, it takes more than the occasional stroke of genius to get the job done. Consistency is just as important as the quality of your creative output. So we've put together a short guide to help flourish and maintain ideas – both individually and as a team. Get the guide to learn practical ways to encourage collaboration, the biggest dampers on creativity and how to avoid them, proven strategies to boost your team's originality and imagination and much more. Sponsored content by Shutterstock Premier. 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