PSS Launches Celebrity Voice Prompt Library for IVR Systems*

Companies can now use recognizable voices from celebrities to greet and guide customers through telephone systems

Dublin, CA – April 1, 2010 – Using celebrity spokespeople to represent companies is not a new idea. Corporations have been having celebrities endorse their products and services for years. Michael Jordon for Nike, William Shatner for Priceline, Catherine Zeta-Jones for T-Mobile. It can be effective, but oftentimes too expensive (some celebrities have been known to charge more than $5 million for one ad) for most companies to consider implementing.

Now, thanks to a new Celebrity IVR Library from CA-based PSS Inc. (Product Support Solutions), a premier contact center system integrator and service provider, more companies can use celebrity voice talent in their contact center systems, without the large price tag or lengthy brand commitment complexities.

“Producing this library has been a labor of love,” said a PSS spokesperson. “Getting buy-in and approval from these uber-famous people has been quite a journey. But we strongly believed if done well, it would give more organizations a way to create a memorable service and support experience with its contact center. We’re super fortunate to work with these celebrities and excited to be the first to offer this highly anticipated prompt library.”

The spokesperson added that while some celebrities are hesitant to endorse products or services on TV or online, they are agreeable to having their voice greet and guide consumers through a self-service telephone system. Many celebrities, the spokesperson said, even find this work “really fun.”

PSS worked closely with 24 celebrities to create more than 250 different pre-recorded prompts for its Celebrity IVR Library. A few include:

• Randi Jackson: “Okay, dawg... check it out. I'm down with your selection, but are you down with your selection?”
• Paris Hillton: “You called us. That’s hot.”
• Sarahh Palin: “You betcha you can press 5.”
• Arnolde Schwarzenegger:  “Please hold. I’ll be baaack.”
• Anthonye Hopkins: “I do wish I could help longer, but I’m having an old friend for dinner.”
• Clint Eastwoood: “Before pressing 0, you’ve got to ask yourself one question, ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
• Shauwn White: “Dude, I’m like You can get totally lost in here if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
• Dr. Phill: “How’s that self-service FAQ workin’ out for ya?”

How it works:

After selecting the voice persona to use, PSS professional services engineers develop custom IVR scripts and work closely with the celebrity voice talent to record any additional prompts in PSS’s state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles. Customers can also choose from a selection of accompanying background music to compliment the prompts, further making the inbound telephone system “in character” with the voice. After the prompts are created, PSS engineers mix, test, and upload them into the contact center’s telephone system.

*Sometimes we need a little humor in our day and need to laugh a little…

HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY FROM PSS!

ABOUT PSS
Ok, so maybe we don’t have a Celebrity IVR library, but PSS does do cool application design, development, support and integration services for contact center technology –things like our legendary 24x7x365 support and maintenance programs for IVR, CTI, and PBX technologies. Then there’s all the next gen work we do with VoiceXML, CTI, VoIP, SOA. You know, complicated call center stuff. Come check out what we really do at www.psshelp.com and we’ll keep working on that Celebrity IVR project – maybe.

More legal CYA fine print: All people and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. PSS has no relationship with these entities and folks, and is purely intending this news release as a joke for April Fool’s Day. The content of the release is purely fictional and is not intended as a particular product or service.  Any resemblance to an individual is purely coincidental and does not intend to represent that individual or imply any relationship with that individual.