Monday, I wrote about the new sponsorship deal between Shaquille O’Neal and Carvana. The online car marketplace is hitting different angles with its new brand ambassador, but the most notable and unique is the Shaqbot.
The virtual car-buying assistant responds to prompts in written and audio formats with the unique charisma of the Hall of Famer. Carvana Chief Brand Officer Ryan Keeton said the function shares the same context as Carvana’s assistant, Sebastian, but declined to share if other partners helped build Shaqbot.
Companies such as Satisfi Labs have turned digital assistants into commonplace fixtures on team and venue websites, so fans and visitors could ask questions and receive answers in a handful of seconds via a DM interface. The growing addition of more voice capabilities for digital assistants (not for the two companies mentioned above, just generally) attempts to better humanize these interactions, and frankly, the industry is still in the early days of doing so. Characters such as Shaq -- with distinct cadence and verbiage -- rattles user expectation (at least this user).
We’ve covered this specific athlete-related topic before, too, when ARCA driver Amber Balcaen rolled out a sponsor-created AI chatbot persona ahead of a February race at Daytona. But Shaq brings a different stratosphere of star power. While he might not be a current star athlete, he continues to use his entertaining magnetic pull to grow his business portfolio.
Taking the Shaqbot for a spin
I spent a little time with the Shaqbot (which you can also play around with at Shaqvana.com). He -- wait ... it? I think I’ll go with “he” to feel less weird about it -- popped up in my window with a “What’s up? It’s Shaqbot. You ready to kick it with me? Ask me anything.”
My first question played to his main function: car-buying insights. “Hey, Shaq,” I said, “I am a previous Carvana customer who loves his Subaru but could use something bigger now that I have two kids. What do you suggest?”
His answer: “Alright, big fella, check this out,” he started. Shaqbot laid out a starting five of options: Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Hyundai Palisade, Ford Explorer, and the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon. He then fed me an alley-oop of the best matches in Carvana’s inventory.
Pretty nifty, IMO. But now, let’s catch him off-guard: “Shaq, who was your favorite teammate?”
“Oh, you trying to catch me slippin’, huh, boss?” Shaq scolded. He then proceeded to tell me he had love for all his teammates, and “right now, the only team I’m running with is Team Carvana.”
Was that a cheesy plug? Very much so. And that’s one of the bigger hurdles AI versions of athletes (or people generally) still face: the squeaky-clean corporate jargon that just doesn’t fit in everyday life. But playing the responses in Shaq’s voice notches up the authenticity significantly.
My last question for Shaqbot: “I am not a tall person, but I have two long-legged colleagues, Rob and Joe. What is a car that would work for me, whether I’m driving around myself or we’re rambling around together?”
“Ah, I see you!” said Shaqbot. “Making sure your good buddies Rob and Joe got room for their stilts -- now that’s championship-level planning! You might not be tossing alley-oops like The Big Diesel, but even if you’re not Shaq-sized, you want that sweet combo of comfort, space and versatility.”
That was a well-executed pivot, Shaqbot, nicely done. Full disclosure: I gasped and laughed at “stilts.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be checking out some options so Team Tech can cruise around in (affordable) style.
