The Marketing Genius of Watson

Post Date:

February 16, 2011

It's been years since we sat down and watched an episode of Jeopardy! But the venerable game show made big news this week when it brought back two of its all-time greatest champs, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, to take on a most unusual challenger: an IBM computer named Watson. Could Watson beat Jennings and Rutter the way IBM's Deep Blue took down chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997 (not to mention remembering to frame its answers in the form of a question)?

It's an intriguing match up, and the appearance of a robot on Jeopardy! (well, two robots, if you count Alex Trebek) was too much for us to resist. And so, this week we have actually tuned in to Jeopardy! to witness the three-night contest of brains v. bits, which ends tonight.

Why do we think this is genius marketing by IBM? To start, we're always proponents of linking marketing campaigns to pop-culture touchstones. (As a matter of fact, if you will allow us some braggadocio, this strategy won us the DC LMA's Big Idea award last year.) Jeopardy! may not be the most hip cultural marker, but as the most high-brow trivia show, it's a great venue to display IBM's advances in artificial intelligence. So, not only did IBM get attention for itself, it got attention in a forum-Jeopardy!-that harmonizes with IBM's products.

Then we read the National Law Journal and realized the true genius behind IBM's Jeopardy! stunt. In this submitted piece, IBM SVP Robert Weber tells us "Why 'Watson' Matters to Lawyers." In it, he notes that the "Deep QA" technology used by Watson could one day prove valuable for associate-level legal research and document review tasks.

One day IBM will probably come out with a product that employs its "Deep QA" technology to assist lawyers. And, as the piece suggests, IBM will also be adapting its technology for use by other professionals, such as physicians who may benefit from Watson's ability to scour vast medical records.

Note two things. First, notice how much more attractive this submitted article-basically, an advertisement for IBM-is to the NLJ given the Watson stunt. If Watson were not appearing on Jeopardy!, it might have been difficult for Mr. Weber to sell the NLJ on a piece about its Deep QA technology. IBM would be just another vendor developing technology to assist document review-something many others are doing as we speak. But the Jeopardy! appearance makes it noteworthy, and something we're interested in hearing more about. IBM is presumably placing similar articles this week across many other professional sectors in which Deep QA has potential application.

Second, note how much easier it will be for IBM to get the ear of law firm tech buyers when the product comes out, given Watson's appearance on Jeopardy! The opening line of the sales pitch is already written: "This uses the same technology that beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!" (Watson has a commanding lead that we suspect is going to hold up tonight.) Sure, Watson's ability to win Jeopardy! may not be the definitive word on its ability to perform legal research, but the Jeopardy! appearance has made the product accessible. With a single reference to the show, the law firm buyer has a sense of what the product can do. There is simply no way that any alternative opening pitch-involving some explanation of the Deep QA technology and why it's so great-will be as compelling.

If we must admit, we're rooting for the humans tonight on Jeopardy! But color us very impressed with Watson . . . and with IBM's marketing savvy.