Pepper, SoftBank’s cutesy, humanoid robot, is getting its own online campaign ahead of a US and European launch, with the robotics firm hiring marketing agency Midnight Oil.
Pepper is already in place in hundreds of SoftBank stores in Japan where, famously, it was attacked by a drunk man last year.
The robot, powered by IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence, can respond to certain human emotions. It has been embraced by Japanese households, and is also used by Nescafe in Japan to sell coffee.
Midnight Oil, based in California, is tasked with the tough job of making Pepper appealing to US consumers, with the agency taking on market research, brand strategy and positioning, user acquisition and creative executions.
SoftBank has launched the first element of the campaign, a series of – admittedly corny – online films targeted at developers to demonstrate Pepper’s potential applications.
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