Talkable brands do not rely on expensive traditional advertising to drive sales. Instead, they tap into the inexpensive conversational power of customers as their primary advertising vehicle

The data analytics engine Watson may have beat Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in February, but the real winner was IBM.

Brands don’t get to be 160 years old without being adaptable. Lou Paskalis, American Express’s vice president of global media, content developing and mobile marketing, offers a double handful of considerations for companies—established and emerging—entering the mobile space.

There’s a world of difference between using a mobile device to beam messages at a target, and using it to initiate dialog. When Volkswagen chose to engage car enthusiasts, rather than simply expose them to its messages, interest in a new model rose dramatically...