Mindshare Launches Voice and Visual Consultancy

London 8^th October 2018: Mindshare, the global agency network that is part of WPP, is launching a new consultancy service focusing on voice and visual services.

The new suite of services, workshops and products is designed to help clients navigate the new wave of digital disruption that will be driven by audio and visual technologies.

Voice Services include:

• Voice Immersion Workshop: Designed to educate about voice, determine if / where voice may be an opportunity and how to activate. 
• Mobile Consulting: Ensuring mobile sites are optimized for voice interaction. 
• Content Workshop: In partnership with Google and Amazon to understand best practices using Google Assistant and Amazon Echo for search and commerce along with approaches to activation (i.e. SEO)
• Voice SEO: A dedicated programme and approach to ensure client content is in the right places on key voice platforms (for both search and commerce).

Visual Services include:

• Visual Search Immersion Workshop - Designed to educate about Visual Search, determine if / where visual search may be an opportunity and how to activate.
• Visual SEO - A dedicated programme and approach to optimising all digital visual content for discovery, including guidelines for developing SEO friendly digital visual content
• Visual Strategic Consulting - Strategic planning for image based platforms like Pinterest including content planning, targeting and inventory strategy.

Other areas covered include audio brand creation; sonic branding; the creation of digital assistants for Google and Amazon devices (Mindshare is both a certified Google Actions Developer and an Amazon Skills Developer - the first global media agency to have both accreditations) and AI / Chatbot strategy and creation.

The new consultancy services are being offered initially out of the Mindshare Worldwide hub in London, before being rolled out globally and are already being used by clients.

Peter Jakobsson, SEO & Digital Marketing - Global Marketing, Pandora, said: "It is critically important for Pandora to ensure our new website is not just eCommerce ready but also equipped to capture all mobile behaviours; including voice. As part of the 2019 global strategy, Mindshare will be working alongside us to future proof Pandora's new site by enabling the site to respond to voice searches and our Mindshare teams have already started planning and testing new voice proof digital tactics that we look to roll out across the globe."

Jim Cridlin, Global Head of Innovation at Mindshare Worldwide, said: "We are entering the 'Age of Assistance' where we are moving from a world of keyboards and screens to one that's more 'invisible' where we have audio and visual control. It will all be underpinned by machine learning and AI and in this world we will outsource many decisions to algorithms that act on our behalf and which are marketed to by brand algorithms. We have created this consultancy service to help our clients take advantage of this new wave of digital disruption."

Mindshare was recently named Agency of the Year by the Mobile Marketing Association for the second year running and is also ranked as the number one global agency network and number one media agency in the MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index.

As part of its mobile leadership, Mindshare has recently launched two pieces of research covering voice and visual technologies. The first is Speak Easy, a trends and insight report, carried out in partnership with J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group London which explores voice technology and its implications for brands. The second is Layered, a study in conjunction with AR company Zappar, which explores user behaviour and identifies and explains the four key trends shaping the future of AR and discusses the implications for brands.

For further information please contact: [email protected] / +44(0)7826869312

About Mindshare

We were born in Asia in 1997, a start up with a desire to change the media world. Now we are a global agency with 116 offices in 86 countries and billings of $35bn (source: RECMA). We aim to be our clients' lead business partner, to grow their business and drive profitability through adaptive and inventive marketing. We do this through speed, teamwork and provocation because in today's world everything begins and ends in media. We create new things and have fun doing it. Mindshare is part of GroupM, the media investment management arm of WPP, the world's leading communications services group. Visit us at www.mindshareworld.com and follow us on Twitter @mindshare and facebook.com/mindshare and LinkedIn.com/company/mindshare.