adidas HK taps chatbot to boost engagement

adidas is looking to boost engagement with its latest sports event, "Sports Base", by using a Facebook chatbot to create an interactive participation process.The sports event, which is in its second year and takes place between July 4 and August 10, aims to create a stronger bond and relationship with sports lovers and the public at large by promoting a variety of sports.The brand has seen a decline in the participation and traffic during the second week of the event in the past, as participants tend to forget to register for activations - or register and forget to attend. To remedy this drop in engagement, adidas has partnered up with Carat's Facebook chatbot solution this year to drive the event's traffic and momentum.The brand invites participants to register by linking up their Facebook account with a chatbot, which will ask the participants questions to understand their sports preferences.The chatbot will then cater to their needs by sending an automatic message to announce upcoming relevant sports activities in the event, or direct the participants to their desired sports enrollment page.[gallery link="file" ids="185429,185430,185431,186440,186442,186441"]The chatbot can update participants with their accumulated bonus points, and help them to collect photos during the activities.  It can also respond to commonly asked questions with ready answers."adidas as a brand is focused on both product and communication innovation. Kasper Rorsted, CEO of adidas is driving the brand to focus more on the digital world not only in production or through e-commerce but also how we communicate with our consumers," said Rachel Howard, senior brand director for adidas Hong Kong.‎"We were extremely excited about the opportunity to leverage Chatbot as part of our consumer experience at adidas Sports Base. Through the Chatbot we feel that we are better able to connect and understand our consumers to ensure that they have the best experience with the best sports brand in Hong Kong."Ego Lau, general manager of Carat Hong Kong, said the most challenging part in creating the chatbot is both to set its objectives, and to prepare a list of answers."Both client and agency need to clearly decide the reason of creating the chatbot in order to work out specific function," Lau said."Moreover, we need to analyse data and understand sports-lover deeply to make sure the answers can cover most of the participants' question and worry. The overall user experience is another key factor to consider - we need to make sure the user-experience is good in order to retain and engage the participants continuously."The brand also needed to ensure that the chatbot came across as being human in its responses, the sports brand said in an email. "After the first week, we were able to collect feedback from our consumers so that we can make on-the-go adjustments to ensure the chatbot is enhancing the experience for consumers and that they are getting their needs met."