Protagonist adds action tools to his narrative analysis for brands

In April, San Francisco-based Protagonist launched an AI-powered platform that looked at articles and online commentary to find the "underlying beliefs and motivations of consumers."

These messaging stories were then made available to inform the marketing strategy of a customer brand. Protagonist defines narratives as "deeply rooted beliefs that drive human behavior."

The technology of the company was originally used for White House initiatives and the National Security Council, as the search for stories at the origin of terrorism. It has been adapted by Protagonist to find ideas in social media, magazines and newspapers, blogs and other sources of opinion and online conversation. Protagonist's staff specialists then developed these ideas into branding stories for clients such as Microsoft, General Mills, Warner Brothers, Wells Fargo and Starbucks.

This week, Protagonist goes beyond identifying branding stories by adding tools that allow to act.

"Before giving them a card," said the CEO Doug Randall. "Now it's a map and instructions."

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About the author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a senior writer for VentureBeat, and he has written on these topics and other technologies for publications such as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and directed the website / unit at PBS Thirteen / WNET; worked as a senior online producer / screenwriter for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: the first CD game; founded and directed an independent cinema showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T .; and served more than five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find it on LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

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