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An AI-powered cheese sommelier to facilitate product discovery

Client
Les Producteurs de lait du Québec
Industry
Food & Beverage
Category
Experiential
Ref
PFD-0325

Mandate

There are more than 1,000 different artisanal local cheeses in the province of Quebec – and choosing the right one can be a daunting task. We’ve worked with Quebec Dairy Farmers since 2016 on a variety of projects, and a persistent challenge over that time has been helping consumers navigate their vast directory. After several attempts, we finally found a solution.

Powered by the recent leaps in AI technology, we partnered with Botpress to create Fromeo, the cheese butler: a virtual assistant that turns an overwhelming product catalog into a curated, individual experience.

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Results

  • 99.77%

    of user queries successfully answered

  • 20%

    of users explore more site content after chatting

  • 2:26

    average session duration

Fromeo was already integrated into the Quebec cheese producer’s website, but since we saw the assistant as a key tool for users, we gave it a prime spot in the main navigation instead of relegating it to the bottom right corner of the site as a dreaded floating action button.

Fromeo stands out because it wasn’t designed to create the illusion of innovation. It was designed to answer a real user’s need for clarity, to combat the fatigue of filtering and decision-making. We achieved this by mapping the entire cheese selection decision process, aligning Fromeo’s thought process with the user’s. The result is an agent that feels natural, useful and purposeful.

The efficacy of AI assistants is directly tied to the quality of their knowledge base, so we developed a proprietary content repository together with cheese, wine and beer experts. Content was structured to provide relevant and diverse recommendations, including alternatives, which resulted in a 99.7% success rate for user queries.

A core challenge in AI-powered experiences is brand alignment. Significant effort was dedicated to Fromeo’s development, including teaching it the correct tonality through prompts and proprietary content, and designing every interaction to ensure seamless integration into the brand ecosystem.

Perfecting the tone and maintaining the balance

Quebec Dairy Farmers defend the interests of thousands of members and actively combat misinformation. Our bot was engineered to address diverse subjects, including cow care, goat milk and vegetarian alternatives, while maintaining the precise brand tone. This required a balance between content quality and quantity so the instructions wouldn’t compromise bot efficiency.

We decided on a quick beta launch of the assistant to gather user feedback, analyze data and sentiment, and facilitate quick improvements to Fromeo. Instead of building the full-fledged solution we had in mind right from the start, this MVP approach allowed for more control over the evolutions and helped mitigate risk.

Our role on the project

Strategy & Business

  • Project Management
  • Content Architecture and Strategy

Technology

  • Automated and manual QA
  • LLM strategy and implementation
  • Front-end development
  • DatoCMS
  • Nuxt.js
  • GSAP
  • Botpress
  • Algolia

Design

  • AI powered content production
  • Design systems
  • Quick Prototyping and Concept Accelerator
  • UI Design

More work

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