IVR Deconstructed

Colin Firth stammered his way to a Best Actor Oscar and ‘The King’s Speech’ won for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.

‘The King’s Speech’ is the story of England’s King George VI, who despite a speech impediment successfully served as England’s monarch from 1936 to his death in 1952, including during the turmoil of World War II.

King George came to the throne just as mass communication technologies were in their infancy—radio mostly, but also television. Since then, they’ve evolved and literally transformed communication. It would be interesting to see how George would have done with today’s technologies.

Unlike his contemporary Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was America’s president despite suffering from polio, King George couldn’t hide his affliction. Roosevelt stayed out of the public eye as much as possible so the American people wouldn’t see him in a wheelchair—many Americans didn’t even know about his illness when they elected him.

Today, it might not have mattered. (It might still.) But let’s be honest—the 1930s and 40s were a less accepting time for infirmities than today. And King George had no choice other than face his subjects in the most public and worst way for him—radio. Just his voice alone. Everyone in the country listening.

The unlikely king ascended to England’s throne unexpectedly in 1936 when his older brother King Edward VIII abdicated (one year after taking the throne himself) so he could marry an American divorcee (twice-divorced, which made her unfit to be England’s queen in the eyes of many).

Historically, only the Crown Prince of England underwent grooming to be king. The younger princes did other things. George was a British Navel officer and veteran of World War I before becoming king.

But in 1936 when he took the throne, Nazi Germany was gearing up for an assault on Europe, and a powerful British orator and World War I veteran himself, Winston Churchill, was working his way towards Prime Minister. It wasn’t a good time for a king with a stutter.

Three years later, England was at war with Germany. Although power rested in the hands of the Prime Minister, the English people needed to hear from their monarch—a powerful one. Especially during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when they suffered heavily for months under constant barrages from the German Luftwaffe.

And there was George—unprepared and with a stammer, radio the only real means of mass communication and Churchill making some of the most powerful speeches in modern history.

Here was Churchill—

And here was poor George—

But how would George fair today? Stay tuned for Part Two.

American Tire Distributors (ATD), with more than 71 distribution centers throughout the United States, is the largest distributor of tires, custom wheels, and shop supplies to the nation’s independent tire dealers, repair shops, and automotive performance shops.

In collaboration with Michelin Tires, American Tire Distributors set out to build a national campaign that would increase phone enquiries, web site visits, and store traffic. To handle the increased volume of calls on short notice, Plum technology proved essential. American Tire and Michelin crafted their marketing efforts around a “Ride With Pride” sports theme. The campaign was designed to appeal to sports fans by offering $50 worth of merchandise from footballfanatics.com with the purchase of a set of Michelin Tires from a participating dealer. It was crucial for ATD to be able to provide ample exposure and promote those Michelin dealers that had opted into the promotion.

American Tire needed to match consumers with participating dealers throughout the country. Offering information over the web was an obvious first choice. If consumers visited the American Tire website they could go to the dealer locator feature, enter a zip code and find an appropriate dealer. ATD, however, needed to make it even easier for their consumers - those without immediate Internet access or those on the go - to access information and connect with local dealers.

American Tire Distributors was aware that their consumers, and most of the population, avidly use mobile phones. ATD explored the option of deploying an interactive voice response system (IVR) to help customers quickly find the nearest dealers with little difficulty. Gearing advertising to prompt phone calls proved to be the best path to maximum consumer response. Plum quickly emerged as the solution provider of choice to optimize and automate telephone communications for the marketing campaign. American Tire Distributors relied on Plum’s best-in-class VoiceXML Platform as the foundation to provide dealer locator technology. A complete IVR solution quickly emerged, and ATD hit the ground running successfully with the marketing campaign.