Phil, by IBISWorld AI

The background

IBISWorld was founded by Australian businessman and futurist Phil Ruthven (1940-2022). Ruthven originally set out to share business insights and data through consulting engagements domestically, but soon realized there was a worldwide need for the same information. Enter: IBISWorld (est. 1971), a collection of online industry research reports covering Australia, North America, Europe and beyond.

Prior to his passing, Ruthven made several uncanny predictions about how technology would shape the future of work and alter the business landscape. Above all else, he was an avid supporter of innovation and looked forward to the many efficiencies it would bring. So, when IBISWorld’s product team began planning their launch of a time-saving AI tool, the idea to name the tool after Phil was inevitably brought to the table.

The challenge

As a provider of niche industry research reports, IBISWorld has historically leaned on clear and straightforward product names, names that tell their business audience exactly what to expect. That’s why abandoning the working name, IBISWorld AI, and pursuing a more symbolic and sentimental name, Phil, felt incredibly risky. Add to this the pressure of respecting and honoring Ruthven’s legacy, and the stakes rose even higher.

The solution

As the Product Marketing Manager, I got to work building a strong backstory for the tool and researching Ruthven’s attitudes toward AI and technology in general.

It wasn’t hard to find articles about Ruthven’s support of technology, making it abundantly clear to me that using his namesake would be less risky than I’d originally thought. Ruthven’s identity was so inextricably tied to his love for technology and his curiosity about the future. Not to mention, the Australian market was already well aware of this reputation.

Reading and listening to the overwhelmingly positive stories from Australian news outlets and business magazines, I realized that what had felt like a challenge was instead an opportunity to share Ruthven’s legacy with our global audience.

The deliverables

Through a detailed design brief and several rounds of edits, we ended up with a friendly little robot, sharing Phil’s warm demeanor and sporting his studious-looking glasses:

As Phil’s branding took shape, I was able to work on the positioning and taglines. With Phil’s LLM capabilities being bolstered by IBISWorld’s data and insights, it was important to elevate Phil beyond the average chatbot or AI assistant. After several discussions with stakeholders, we decided to introduce Phil as an AI-powered economist:

With documentation in-hand, including additional taglines, an exploration of the problem space, key value props, and other critical details, I was able to introduce Phil to the content and CX teams and start shaping his story for the rest of the world.

Together, we delivered on all of the touch points in my release plan:

Blog articles

  • IBISWorld’s AI Phil-osophy | Author: IBISWorld CEO

  • 10 AI Prompts to Speed Up Your Research | Co-authored: Kim Bucci & Junior Copywriter

  • Quarterly Release Notes/Press Release | Author: Kim Bucci

Links for authored and co-authored articles are available upon request

Help center articles

  • Phil FAQs | Co-authored: Kim Bucci & CX copywriter

  • General Tips for AI Prompts | Co-authored: Kim Bucci & CX Copywriter

LinkedIn posts

  • Quarterly Release Carousel | Co-authored: Kim Bucci & Junior Copywriter

  • 10 AI Prompts Carousel | Author: Junior Copywriter

Launch emails

  • Client sequence (Outreach) | Author: Kim Bucci

  • Prospect sequence (Outreach) | Author: Kim Bucci

  • Marketing email, clients (Pardot) | Author: Kim Bucci

  • Marketing email, prospects (Pardot) | Co-authored: Kim Bucci & Senior Copywriter

Demo slides

  • Updates to existing PowerPoint templates used by sales | Author: Kim Bucci

In-platform announcements

  • Welcome modal (Appcues) | Author: Kim Bucci

  • Hotspot reminders (Appcues) | Author: Kim Bucci

Additional support

In the absence of a project manager, I worked closely with the product manager, legal team, IT staff, and sales managers to ensure the following:

  • Staff training sessions: Coordinated and contributed to three virtual training sessions for our European, Australian, and US offices.

  • Legal statements: Co-authored disclaimers for Phil’s UI to ensure ethical AI practices were in place.

  • Activation: Gathered account activation lists for IT, coordinating with account managers to ensure only their opted-in clients would see Phil’s UI on launch day.

  • Launch day assets: Wrote, designed, and arranged for printing of a physical brochure to circulate on launch day, and ordered Phil stickers to our four global offices.

  • Email execution: Coordinated with sales support to generate prospect lists, then uploaded the lists and email HTML to Pardot for scheduling.

Limitations

Early ideas for an animated video, ad campaign, and website landing page were deemed unfeasible due to capacity and budgetary constraints.

Reception

With our marketing and training collateral in-hand, sales staff and account managers were empowered to carry out more than 350 demonstrations of Phil in the first four days of launch and nearly $20k in new revenue was closed.

Usage of Phil has exceeded expectations, with nearly 1,000 questions asked in the first two weeks, and 100 prompts alone on Australia’s launch day.