Omelet and Consume & Create Launch First of its Kind Mindfulness App
Like. Amazing. Literally. Think we can all agree that these are just a few words our vocabularies should rely on less. How about antiquated sayings like 'Beat a dead horse,' and 'Pull the trigger?' Yeah, those should be used…not at all.
Our words are the most powerful thing we have. This sentiment is especially relevant to those of us in the advertising industry, as we drive the development of campaign messages for brands that are competing to impact culture. As creators of these messages for the world to see, self awareness of our own personal language habits are vital.
Enter Hikup: the first-of-its-kind digital utility tool (web app) that focuses on the mindful use of language. Hikup, created by Omelet in partnership with Consume & Create, was designed to be a friendly coach to help us tackle our unwanted language habits and jargon – not as a critical space to judge yourself or others. Hikup is oriented completely around each person’s individual goals, serving as our subconscious coach.
Hikup has officially launched with the release of 'The Hikup Song,' showcasing animated characters as friendly cheerleaders, getting us started on our vocabulary mindfulness journey. You can find Hikup on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
The launch comes at a time when many people are starting to (conveniently) forget the resolutions, intentions and goals they set for 2023. The launch of Hikup is the perfect reminder of the impact your words can have on others and mental wellbeing.
Funded as a passion project by the agency, Hikup is not the first employee-driven innovation to come out of Omelet. Throughout their almost 20 year history as an independent, Omelet has funded and produced an award-winning documentary, launched a nut and seed butter brand, launched a Portugal craft and post-production arm, and created a bespoke gaming division.
“We’ve always fostered a culture of experimentation and innovation at Omelet. We don’t just want to learn about new technologies - we want to roll up our sleeves and play with them, find real utility, and build helpful things with what we learn. This all started with an employee wishing a tool like this existed, and our team jumping in to say ‘let’s make it ourselves.’ That’s very much the Omelet way, so it’s super gratifying to see this passion project living in the world," said Thas Naseemuddeen, CEO at Omelet.
First, you start by entering at least one (or many) words (your ‘Hikups’) you wish to stop saying and that you would like Hikup to monitor for in your speech. Once you click the start session button, the app records & transcribes what you say in real time, flagging in red anytime you say that word.
When you end your session, the app will provide a detailed summary. This includes how many times you used your Hikup words, session duration, accuracy, and total words transcribed. Hikup then gives you the chance to email yourself a transcript of the report, to use as mindful future reference.
“We always love a technical challenge, which made Hikup one of our favorite recent projects. When Omelet first approached us with the idea, we were worried that the technology we’d need to capture and analyse speech would be cost-prohibitive to providing Hikup as a free service. However, after taking a deep-dive on the Web Speech API we came away very impressed by its capabilities. While the future of Hikup may be in AI analysis of a user’s input, with the Web Speech API, this initial version is getting fast, accurate reads for free! We’ve kept a long list of features for future versions of Hikup and are very excited to see where the team can take it from here,” said Matt Wiggins, partner/interactive director, Consume & Create.
This app is designed to be a tool for anyone, including:
Personal growth for those focused on improving themselves, and learning new things. People who wish to practice good language habits to help them be the best version of themselves personally and professionally.
Professionals with corporate jobs who take meetings with colleagues or clients regularly and want to make sure they present themselves professionally and authentically in a work environment.
College students who want to put themselves in the best position to enter the workforce by brushing up their delivery for interviews, internships, and opportunities to build their confidence as a presenter.
“With the recent explosion of Artificial Intelligent creation tools, we set out to show a different approach on how AI can help us be better humans. Specifically, we wanted to demonstrate how natural language processing can help us improve our language to better communicate in our daily lives. Language is a very personal thing and the language we use says so much about us. Through free Google AI web tools, we created a friendly coach for anyone looking to be more mindful and change their bad habits around the language they use,” said Ricardo Diaz, chief digital officer and partner at Omelet.
