IBM continues to capitalise on the Watson brand, despite it being more than a decade old. Watson, the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) system, has been a significant part of IBM’s marketing strategy and is now being used as a catch-all term for its AI products and services. This includes everything from Watson Discovery for data mining to Watson Assistant for building conversational interfaces.
The company’s reliance on the Watson brand has raised questions about whether it’s merely a marketing tool. Critics argue that by using the Watson name for all its AI offerings, IBM could be confusing customers and diluting the brand.
IBM, however, maintains that the Watson brand is a powerful tool in the AI marketplace. It argues that Watson represents a family of products and services, all built on the same technology, and that customers understand this.
The company’s recent announcement of Watson Assistant, an AI tool for building conversational interfaces, has further highlighted the use of the Watson brand. It’s a strategic move by IBM as it seeks to compete with similar offerings from Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Despite the controversy, IBM’s use of the Watson brand shows no signs of slowing down.
Go to source article: https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/22/ibm-cant-stop-milking-the-watson-brand/