Voice technology is sweeping the world, as
assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and smart
speakers such as Baidu’s Little Fish capture
our imagination. Talking computers, once
seen only on the silver screen, are becoming
an everyday reality, at our beck and call as
developments in artifcial intelligence (AI)
transform our relationship with them.
Early adopters report that they “wouldn’t be
without Alexa” as she becomes “integral” to
their daily routine. Chinese YouTuber Jing
Jing has accumulated 6.5 million views as
she plays Eighth Note,1 the voice-activated
smartphone game taking Asia by storm.
The age-old medium of voice has lost none
of its relevance in the 21st century.
ComScore forecasts that half of all
searches will be voice searches by 2020,2
and by 2021, Ovum predicts that there
will be more digital assistants than humans
on the planet.3
The opportunity is ripe for businesses
to get immersed in the voice-activated
world. We’ve investigated the impact of
voice technology on consumer behavior in
nine countries across Asia-Pacifc, Europe
and North America, and distilled the key
business opportunities for brands. While
there are considerable cultural nuances and
market factors in each country that dictate
the local response, we have also identifed
strong trends that resonate on a global scale.
Voice technology will not just redefne how
we live our lives, but will also bring dramatic
change to the customer experience.
Now is the time for marketers to learn how
to Speak Easy.
Jeremy Pounder
Futures director
Mindshare UK
Elizabeth Cherian
UK director
The Innovation Group
J. Walter Thompson
A global trends and insight
report on voice technology
and its impact on brands.
1. Yvette Tan, “Play This Hilarious Voice-activated ‘Flappy Bird’ That’s Going Viral,” Mashable, March 03, 2017, on.mash.to/2smzAPk 2. Christi Olson, “Just Say It: The Future of Search is Voice and Personal Digital Assistants,” Campaign, 25 April 2016, bit.ly/2o1IvQs 3. Ovum, “Digital Assistant and Voice AI–Capable Device Forecast : 2016-21,” April 2017
ABOUT THIS REPORT
Carried out in equal partnership between
J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group
London and Mindshare Futures, our
research comprised several methodologies,
spanning nine countries (United Kingdom,
United States, Germany, Spain, Thailand,
Japan, Australia, China and Singapore) and
covered the six-month period January 2017
to June 2017.
NEUROSCIENCE
EXPERIMENT
In partnership with Neuro-Insight,
we used Steady-State Topography (SST)
brain-imaging technology to measure how
the brain responds to voice technology
versus text or typing alternatives for a
series of tasks. The participants were 102
smartphone users aged between 18 and 65
who shop with Amazon.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
More than 30 UK respondents took part
in a two-week self-ethnography project,
capturing their own behaviors and attitudes
in a series of voice-technology tasks.
We then ran two focus groups in the United
Kingdom with 12 of these participants. A
mixture of early adopters (who use voice
technology at least once per week) and early
majority users (who use voice technology
less frequently than once per week) was
recruited. Roughly 40% of the early
adopters already owned an Amazon Echo/
Echo Dot. We repeated the focus groups in
Shanghai in partnership with Kantar.
EXPERT INTERVIEWS
We conducted in-depth interviews with
experts across sectors including artifcial
intelligence (AI), neuroscience, marketing,
sound design and radio.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
We carried out a quantitative survey
using SONAR, J. Walter Thompson’s
proprietary market research tool, surveying
over 1,000 smartphone owners aged 18+
in four countries (United Kingdom, United
States, Germany and Spain). We also
partnered with Kantar to conduct a survey
of around 500 smartphone owners aged 18+
in an additional fve countries (Thailand,
Japan, Australia, China and Singapore).
The total number of respondents globally
amounted to 6,780.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
We carried out extensive desk research that
synthesized international cross-category
case studies.
DING DONG PARTNERSHIP
Beijing Linglong Co., Ltd provided
DingDong home smart speakers for our
Chinese focus group research. J. Walter
Thompson is also partnering with LingLong
Tech to explore and develop branded voice
content and solutions in China.CONTENTS
GLOBAL VIEW
Voice Today
The Future Voice Consumer
Brand Futures
Implications
MARKET USAGE
Australia
China
Germany
Japan
Singapore
Spain
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States
THANK YOUS
Intuition Robotics has created
ELLIQ, an active voice
companion for older adults,
designed to help them engage
with new technologies.
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