• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 16, 2019

Kantar partnered with Pulse Labs to help brands answer questions such as how, when and why consumers use voice assistants, giving brands important insights into user consumption and media habits across platforms by combining Kantar’s research and analytics capabilities with Pulse Labs’ voice behavioral data.

Kantar and Pulse Labs do not have similar partnerships with other companies.

The initiative aims to improve conversational functionality for artificial intelligence, such as enhancing voice skills and apps as utilities and making it possible for brands to see how they should build these products for new platforms.

“The voice space is another new consumer and brand communication platform,” said Nick Nyhan, CDO at Kantar, a global data insights and consulting company, which Bain Capital now owns a majority stake in after acquiring it from WPP Group.

Bathrooms are one place in the home where people use voice services more often. Brands in the health and beauty care category in particular are interested in gaining a high "share of sink," Nyhan said. He added that it is "something we should be able to do within the next couple of years."

Kantar did not have a lot of its own voice data, which mostly is collected on home and smartphone devices as well as on cloud platforms. The company wanted to work with Pulse Labs, in part, to build data sets within compliance across specific regions and within the laws.

Data is needed to identify and analyze behavioral changes. Pulse Labs works closely with brands that want to build applications for Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. “Voice is a personal experience because that’s how humans communicate,” said Abhishek Suthan, cofounder and CEO of Pulse Labs, an Amazon and Google-financed startup focused primarily in the white space.

“Consumers care most about transparency -- how their data is being used and how does that experience get created,” Suthan said. “Platforms and brands are very focused on maintaining the privacy and transparency. Consumers care most about the transparency around the way companies use their data.”

Some of the most successful applications support audio and media, such as television, car navigation, and search.

“Spotify and Pandora have been experimenting with interactive auto ads,” Suthan said. “This is experimental, but there has been a good amount of interest.”