From “Hey, Disney!” to “Hi Bixby” and more: How leading brands are reinventing the customer experience with Alexa

While Amazon will not participate in-person at CES 2022, we are excited to showcase a variety of products and services that are making a world of ambient intelligence possible: one where multiple products and services work alongside each other in the cloud to help you when you need it, and recede into the background when you don’t. 

Choice is key to enabling this world of ambient intelligence, and Amazon is at the forefront of enabling initiatives to allow customers to choose their preferred service for any task. The Voice Interoperability Initiative (VII) brings together more than 90 companies to enable multiple, simultaneously available voice services on the same product, each with its own ‘wake word’ or invocation name. In addition, the Alexa Custom Assistant is a new service that lets device makers and service providers create intelligent assistants tailored to their brand personality and customer needs.

Here are seven innovative products and services on display at CES 2022 that are enabling businesses to create new ways for customers to engage with their brand.

1. Echo Show 5 with “Hey, Disney”: The Echo Show 5, a smart display with a 5.5-inch touchscreen will allow customers to say “Hey, Disney!” and get the weather with Mickey, joke around with the galaxy’s funniest droids C-3PO and R2-D2, go on adventures with Dory or Olaf, listen to some of your favorite Disney stories, plus a lot more. Planned for launch next year, this ‘first-of-its kind’ voice assistant will also be available in Disney Resort hotel rooms at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort as part of an upcoming integration using Amazon’s Alexa for Hospitality service. Guests will be able to ask ‘Hey, Disney!’ for more blankets and towels, the fastest way to get to the park in the morning, and where to get your favorite food. The ‘Hey, Disney!’ voice assistant was developed from the ground up by Disney, featuring original character voice recordings and audio, with over 1,000 magical interactions to discover, as well as a brand-new character created as a guide—the Disney Magical Companion.

2. Sonos Move: The revolutionary portable speaker allows customers to invoke Alexa to play music, check news, set alarms, get your questions answered, and more, completely hands free. In addition, the “Hey Sonos” utterance will process commands entirely on device. 

3. Samsung Family Hub refrigerator: Customers can talk to Bixby and Alexa on the same device. You can say things like, “Hi Bixby. Show me recipes for chicken parmesan,” or, you can ask Alexa to play your favorites in Amazon Music. Just make sure you’ve set up your virtual assistant(s), your fridge is connected to Wi-Fi, and that the microphone is turned on. 

4.  KT GigaGenie 3: KT (formerly Korea Telecom) is the second largest wireless carrier in Korea. The company’s newest set top box the KT GigaGenie3 allows customers to interact with Genie and Alexa to learn about the weather, get traffic updates, play music and videos and lots more. 

5. Facebook Portal: Customers can say “Hey Portal” to get help with calling, music, timers, alarms, weather and more. Customers can also interact with Alexa to see who’s at the front door through connected smart home devices, listen to music, watch the news and much more. 

6.  SKT Telecom’s Candle smart speaker that comes equipped with a LED array is designed with a number of unique and innovative features. The speaker's "Sunrise Morning Call" feature turns on the light gradually 30 minutes before the designated time while playing nature sounds, allowing users to wake up comfortably. The speaker features two AI agents: Arya interacts with users in Korean, while Alexa’s conversational AI technology power interactions in English.  

7.  LG  SmartTVs featuring AI thinQ technology allows customers to use their TVs in the most convenient way. Users can either say “Hey, LG” or invoke Alexa to control their connected home, and enjoy personalized entertainment through the voice assistant of their choice.

To learn more about how you can create an intelligent assistant for your own brand, contact your Alexa account representative or join the Alexa Custom Assistant Interest List for more information. You can also visit the Voice Interoperability Initiative page to discover even more resources to develop multi-agent voice experiences.