Serena Williams Talks With IBM Watson In Australian Open AI Activation

IBM is activating its rights as an official partner of the Australian Open, with a Serena Williams fronted campaign focusing on its Watson artificial intelligence programme (which also drives its Grand Slam tennis data service).

The tech and consulting company’s tournament campaign is spearheaded by a commercial featuring Williams in conversation with IBM Watson itself.

In the 30-second film, IBM Watson talks with Williams about how the self-styled ‘cognitive system’ can help customise the tennis star’s training program and tactics based on its customised, biomarker data.

Together, Watson and Williams can outthink her competitors.

‘You might say I am the Serena Williams of cloud-based cognitive,’ Watson outlines.

The campaign is rolling out in specific international markets from 8 January – including in the tournament’s home nation Australia – and the ad drives viewers to learn more about Watson and IBM’s tournament services at http://ibm.co/1ZfwyHg.

The campaign is also running across IBM’s other channels and platforms around the world.

Have you seen @serenawilliams in our latest @IBMWatson TV commercial? https://t.co/JGdnUnA5Zu #CognitiveEra pic.twitter.com/Zbjvf0aKHQ

— IBM (@IBM) January 13, 2016

The spot, part of the IBM on-site, live, data-led content operation around the Australian Open, is actually a teaser for a wider, global IBM that will break after the Australian Open and highlights its vast range of abilities – from spotting diseases before patients display symptoms, predicting trends before they’re trending and answering questions before they have been asked.

Comment:

Last year IBM launched a virtual reality game (http://www.ibmreturnserve.com.au/) and a bespoke tournament iPad app using real time data for the Australian Open.

This latest AI, thinking technology is the next step in the company’s offering and perhaps in the ad and activation evolution too.

Last year Cannes Lions was awash with talk about robotics and cognitive systems and this early 2016 activation suggests that one off the year’s key sponsorship campaign trends will be artificial intelligence.

IBM has placed Watson at the forefront of its ‘Welcome to the cognitive era’ campaign – launched earlier in January at CES 2016.

Welcome to the #CognitiveEra where @IBMWatson is helping leaders outthink the limits of what's possible. https://t.co/pdyPO900Yd

— IBM (@IBM) January 15, 2016

23 years of patent leadership: Meet the @IBM inventors creating the #CognitiveEra https://t.co/t14O1yEXWo pic.twitter.com/RtZoxua0Zq

— IBM Research (@IBMResearch) January 13, 2016

Meet the 'empathic' robot powered by #ibmwatson https://t.co/K6R54ZQdkK @FortuneMagazine pic.twitter.com/5H7nbyJQIE

— IBM Research (@IBMResearch) January 12, 2016

Perhaps they hope that the phrase ‘cognitive era’ will alleviate fears about robots taking over the world.

The last Grand Slam tennis tournament of 2015 was pretty much entirely dominated by Serena Williams and speculation at the US Open 2015 around a possible Serena Slam saw women’s final sell out before the men’s final for the first time and women’s final tickets cost more on the secondary market than men’s – again for the first time ever (see case study)

Serena is, of course, at the veryu forefront of the currrent sea-change in women’s sport and women’s sports sponsorship and 2016 will see this trend continue.

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