AI for Internal Comms / Andy Hunt / The Hershey Company / Manager - Digital Innovation Lab /

"No matter how you understand your content, your users will tell you how well you don't understand it" this quote is from Andy Hunt, Manager, Digital Innovation Lab at the Hershey Company - this week on the #ShinyNewObject podcast. Andy is making innovation happen at Hershey with his own hands - telling us that "I build things." His advice to those getting into the innovation game is that we should learn to make things ourselves - "all the tools are out there." But it's not all nuts and bolts for Andy. He is adamant that the role of the innovation person is to make technology "relatable". Talking about innovation is not enough. His view is that "PowerPoint decks don't do it - we are in a show and tell environment." Andy's shiny new object is 'AI for Internal Comms' and Hershey have explored this through voice and chatbots. These projects have taught him not to assume how his audience thinks. He tells us that "you can't schedule enough user testing periods." Andy's innovation mission at Hershey's is create a "deeper connection with consumers" by looking at technology that is two to four years out.   I loved hearing that "innovation is a company wide initiative" at the Hershey Company and maybe that's why it's been around for one hundred and twenty years.   Andy is a dude. This interview was a treat. Enjoy.