How Baidu’s ‘Ask‑Ask’ IP Upgrade Boosted User Engagement and Brand Warmth

IP Upgrade Background

Baidu Ask‑Ask, a real‑time online consulting service, aims to shift from a tool‑like feel to a more authentic, emotionally resonant “real‑person” experience. Designers sought to add an IP character on both the B (answerer) and C (questioner) sides to serve as a communication bridge and create emotional resonance.

After the initial IP launch, visual impact still needed improvement, especially in character personality depth and visual warmth.

IP Upgrade Design Strategy

Overall Upgrade Strategy

The IP draws from real service professionals and aligns with the user personas of actual answerers, defining both the “spiritual world” and visual form of the “questioner” (问问) and “answerer” (答答). The design aims for extensibility beyond product interfaces to high‑quality operational key visuals, building a valuable IP asset library.

Internal – IP Character Setting

Personality and spirit are crucial; a well‑defined, distinctive persona enhances behavior consistency. Based on brand positioning and user profiles, the keywords are friendly, approachable, altruistic, and leading.

Two personas were defined using MBTI:

Questioner – “Guide” (INFJ): principled, insightful, provides advice.

Answerer – “Caretaker” (ISFJ): warm, protective, attentive to emotions.

External – IP Visual Upgrade

Appearance

Hair: modern style with lifted ends for youthful energy.

Expression: added eye sparkle and smile for richer emotion.

Skin: matte material resembling real skin for healthier look.

Clothing: higher saturation of brand blue and refined texture for quality.

Body Language

Inspired by real service staff, gestures and facial expressions were refined to appear natural, friendly, and confident, with smiles, eye contact, and open stance, using appropriate hand gestures to convey professionalism and warmth.

Activity Image

For major operational events, the IP must convey emotion and theme, requiring a more vibrant, youthful look. In the annual “College Entrance Exam Ask‑Ask” campaign, the main visual showcases youthful vigor to resonate with students.

Clothing design uses Marvelous Designer for realistic fabric simulation, enabling quick outfit swaps and reducing production cost and time.

Landing Applications

College Entrance Exam Event

The event’s main visual integrates both personas, adding storytelling to enhance brand empathy. It includes answerer recruitment and a main consulting session, guiding students on college choices, majors, and expert advice.

Answerer Weekly Report

The weekly report showcases answerer achievements, provides feedback, and motivates growth, using the IP in scenario‑based visuals to evoke emotional resonance.

UI Integration

Embedding the IP in product pages enhances the “real‑person” feel; anthropomorphic dialogues and lively motions increase interaction fun, reduce waiting anxiety, and add surprise.

AI Empowerment

With rapid AIGC advances, the team explores AI to simplify character shape expansion and outfit changes, lowering production difficulty and enabling efficient, creative operations for daily and festive emotional campaigns.

Conclusion

The IP upgrade refines visual aesthetics and, under standardized rules, expands creative possibilities, adding vivid expression to consulting scenarios, earning positive user feedback, broadening application scope, and better serving the brand. Ongoing AIGC developments will further integrate AI into IP design, streamlining workflows to deliver professional, warm consulting experiences.