Generative AI in Marketing is the future.
Are you open to it? Nope, you don't have time to think more about it because the answer has to be a resounding "YES," no matter what.
Why? Because your business growth literally depends on it.
Whether it's shooting personalized emails to customers with their favorite products or engagingly interacting with customers, generative AI in marketing does an influential job that humans might take years to master, so we might as well rope in an AI and get it done. Agreed, AI development cost won't be easy on pockets, but you can at least start with launching an MVP and see how it benefits your business. Currently, there's AI in Healthcare, AI in Aviation, and AI in Fashion among many other industries.
Our point: Businesses should take the help of AI development companies to develop and deploy generative AI in marketing to level up their marketing activities. According to a McKinsey survey, AI tools are most commonly used in marketing, sales, product and service development, and service operations.
Use cases of Generative AI in Marketing
Generative AI in marketing is a must-have tool for businesses these days, notwithstanding the size and scale. Backed by its high-caliber features and benefits, it helps you take the competition head-on and thrive in the crowded online market.
Let’s dive into the features and benefits:
#1. Data Analysis, Segmentation, and Customer Journey Creation
Generative AI in content marketing helps granulate generous amounts of data to identify patterns, segment customers, and create personalized customer journeys.
For instance, a customer named Lissa shows interest in the gym wear section and has spent considerable time trying out a few leggings without making any purchases.
A traditional approach would be wishy-washy, i.e., sending her random emails to keep her updated about the new gym arrivals or if there's an upcoming offer on leggings.
On the other hand, the generative AI approach would be highly targeted. An AI would first study the data and analyze Lissa's behavior and the time spent in different sections. After that, the AI would segment Lissa's behavior as someone interested in gym wear, specifically leggings. Then, the AI would create a personalized customer journey for Lissa, including targeted emails, website popups, and social media ads.
The targeted emails will highlight famous leggings at discounted rates at the shop. The moment Lissa clicks on the website, a popup will inform her about the different offers available on leggings based on her browsing history. Her social media accounts will also feature stylish yet comfortable leggings for her workout sessions.
#2. Localized Messaging and Communication
With generative AI's translation capabilities, you can live up to the mantra of "Going Global, Reaching Locals." With just a click of a button, you can translate your website or app into the language you want: if it's for the French market, you can click the translate button, and lo and behold, the whole website/app is in French. Trying to make inroads in Spain, repeat the action. The point is: Think of a country you want your business to enter, and using generative AI in marketing will help you localize the content with pertinent messaging and communication.
#3. Next-level Product Discovery
Generative AI in marketing helps with product discovery by combining twin features: user intent and customer browsing behavior. This allows marketers to deliver personalized search results that align with user interests and preferences, assisting them in finding pertinent products and content more efficiently. For instance, if a user is buying hiking boots from a sports website, the website will throw up other relevant things in the “also recommended” section that could go along with them, such as socks, poles for setting up tents, and more.
#4. Optimizing Omnichannel Marketing
Generative AI, via data analysis, helps marketers optimize the use of different channels and thus engage with customers at various stages of the customer journey, ensuring better marketing efforts and results. For instance, a customer downloads an e-commerce app but is keen on using something other than that often. So, AI will study similar customer case studies and look for ideas for fixing the app's non-engagement problems. One solution could be sending the user push notifications informing them of upcoming sale season, discount timings, and more, thus luring them to open the app more often. Even email notifications could be sent to supplement app notifications. Therefore, with AI's help, you could build an effective, scalable omnichannel marketing strategy.
Without much ado, we discuss the top 5 companies making the most of Generative AI in Marketing.
Case Study #1 Netflix: AI-driven 'Collaborating Filtering' Whets the Appetite of 269.6 Million Subscribers Today
Unique Challenge: Netflix has so many movies and shows—a whopping 3,600+ movies and 1,800+ TV shows—customers scratched their heads about which movie or TV show to watch. In short, some eons ago, ‘Content Overload’ was NetFlix’s problem.
Solution: Netflix's "AI for content recommendation."
Netflix, the streaming powerhouse, is harnessing generative AI in marketing to recommend tailored content for its users. The operative word is "TAILORED."
Based on an AI technique called collaborative filtering, Netflix swarms users' homepages with super-short video previews, perfectly customized according to their viewing history and preferences.
What's collaborative filtering now? Let me explain!
Collaborating filtering comprises User-based and Item-based filtering.
- User-based: AI tracks users with similar watching patterns to yours and then recommends titles that these users rated highly.
- Item-based: This filtering process finds titles you have watched and enjoyed on similar lines.
Netflix’s AI-driven 'Collaborating Filtering' hyper-personalizes movie and TV show recommendations
Combining these two filtering approaches, Netflix can now hyper-personalize recommendations that satisfy users' appetites. Additionally, machine learning algos analyze user data, including their preferences, ratings, and viewer behavior. The real-time analysis ensures that recommendations are updated and aligned with user interests.
Results:
- Netflix generates 75% of its revenue from content recommendations, which is over $1 billion per year.
- Instant content discovery, according to user liking, allows users to find shows and movies they enjoy more easily.
- Personalized recommendations keep users engaged and subscribed to the platform.
- Data-driven content generation to be used for future content creation decisions.
Besides content recommendations and content discovery, Netflix is also using AI for other good reasons, for instance:
- Content creation
- Tailored Clips
- Image Analysis
- Data center management
- Customer Service
Case Study #2 Spotify: A Suite of AI-Powered Personalized Recommendation Tools that Have Hijacked the Attention of 600 Million Subscribers
Challenge: Content overloading here, too. Like Netflix fans, Spotify fans—over 600 million—were suffering from the same dilemma: "Too many songs, too little time."
For starters, Spotify currently plays over 100 million tracks. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff for listeners? In other words, how do you help listeners create a playlist of their favorite songs?
This is when Spotify had to up its AI in the marketing game.
Solution: Spotify launched a series of AI-powered recommendation tools, such as Spotify Home Feed, Blend, Daylist, Discover Weekly, and Made for You Mixes, to help listeners track and save all their favorite tracks in their playlists.
The streaming giant's AI-driven recommendation tools learn about users' listening habits and tastes and generate personalized playlists that strike a perfect balance between familiarity and novelty, that too in a non-annoying, non-intrusive way. Put simply, the playlist introduces users to new artist discoveries while keeping them engaged with their familiar favorites.
Interestingly, Spotify's success recipe lies in its long-term commitment to AI. The digital music company has been leveraging generative AI to tailor playlists for its users for over a decade. Currently, the company is betting big on "AI DJ."
AI DJ gives users a “radio-like feel” and whets users’ appetite for new songs
What is an AI DJ? AI DJ is another AI tool from Spotify's stables programmed to give users a "radio-like feel." Like radio jockeys announce songs before leading them to tracks, AI-DJ works similarly. The idea is to expose users to new songs and artists and thus help them break the tradition of listening to the same old songs. AI's current pain point is that it fails to anticipate when users want to break out of their comfort zone. AI DJ is an answer to that. Whenever the user taps the DJ button to hear something new, not anything from their regular playlist, the tools use personalization technology, dynamic AI voice, and generative AI to conjure a brand new playlist that immediately resonates with the user.
Results:
- Users can easily find music of their liking.
- Come up with personalized playlists that make listening more enjoyable
- Better user retention as users feel continually engaged with relevant recommendations, resulting in a solid subscriber base.
#3. Case Study #3: The Washington Post: AI-Powered Headline Generator, Copy Recommendation, Summarization and Translation
Challenge: The Washington Post recognized that readers were switching to new channels for content consumption, like conversational interfaces. To stay relevant, they had to experiment with new content delivery methods.
Solution: Despite the eccentricities and blunders associated with ChatGPT and its track record of fabricating stories with no trace of evidence, the reputed publication Washington Post has decided to experiment with AI to keep up with the times.
The Post is experimenting with large language models, including Open AI's ChatGPT, Gemini, open-source LLMs, Meta's LLaMA, and more, to see if they work according to the Post's requirements. The idea behind experimenting with several AI models is to ensure the publication is not tied to a single model for technical reasons.
To ensure the reports' accuracy and authenticity, the Post will feed snippets or phrases from its articles to these models.
Results going forward:
- An AI assistant could support every Post reporter in gathering, analyzing, and summarizing stories. The assistant would also provide suggestions for copy and headlines, generate multiple summaries, and translate the article into several languages if that's not enough.
- AI could help repurpose the original content for TikTok or Facebook audiences in the distribution phase.
- AI can assume the reporter's voice and hold personalized conversations with readers, thus collecting relevant information and returning it to the reporter.
The next two case studies discuss how Cadbury and Virgin Voyages Leveraged AI Deep Fakes To Accelerate Sales.
#4. Case Study #4: Cadbury: Leveraged AI to Recreate Shah Rukh Khan's Voice, Face, and Mannerisms to Promote Local Kirana Stores and Accelerate their Sales in Turn
Challenge: When small businesses were fighting hard for survival in 2021, Cadbury's Celebration sale also took a nosedive as these small businesses and local stores largely contributed almost 85%+ of the Cadbury Celebration sale.
Cadbury had to devise ways to get customers back to the local Kirana stores, specifically during Diwali, as 45% of the annual 'Celebration' sales happen this season, given that it aligns with the Indian culture of gifting sweets at festivals among businesses and relations.
Solution: This was when Cadbury flexed its tech muscle by integrating AI into marketing and collaborating with tech partners such as Rephrase.Ai and Delta X. By creating deep fakes of Bollywood King Shah Rukh Khan, the tech team generated over 130,000 versions of the ad. Every ad was customized to allow local store owners to add their names, making it sound like SRK was taking their brand name or the local store name.
Cadbury leveraged AI in marketing to help Local Stores create their very own Shah Rukh Khan deep fakes to attract customers
Every time a celebration ad aired, the listener saw and heard SRK pushing them to purchase from nearby local stores.
Video Creation is tedious and time-consuming, and personalization seems impossible. However, Rephrase made this difficult task look easier by conjuring high-quality videos and making personalization at scale possible.
"I really love making films and videos, and as an engineer, I am passionate about making that process easier than it is today. If everybody in the world was able to express themselves with high-quality video, it could be a breakthrough in communication."
Ashray Malhotra Co-Founder, CEO of Rephrase AI
Results
Improved Sales: Cadbury experienced improved sales by persuading customers to visit local stores during Diwali.
Improved Brand Image: Joining hands with SRK and supporting local businesses helped Cadbury position itself as a brand that cares about its community.
#5. Case Study #5: Virgin Voyages Sets Sail with "Jen AI"
Challenge: The cruise industry is competitive, and Virgin Voyages needed a unique and engaging way to attract potential customers.
Solution: Virgin Voyages joined hands with Flaunt Digital to create “Jen AI,” an AI puppet resembling Jennifer Lopez. The AI puppet tool allows the creation of custom video invitations featuring Jen AI to extend personalized invitations to friends or family to join the Virgin Voyage cruise.
Virgin Voyages created “Jen AI,” a Jennifer Lopez deep fake that allows you to extend customized invitations to friends or family to join the Virgin Voyage cruise
The ad starts with Jennifer Lopez sitting on a sunbed on a Virgin ship, facing the camera and talking. After watching her for some time, you'll realize that she is not the real JLO but an AI puppet. Anyone who receives the invitation can personalize it further to resonate and compel her other friends to take a Virgin Voyage.
"We want to be the ultimate choice for any kind of celebration travel, and let's be honest, who can say no to Jennifer?" - Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group.
Results:
- Using celebrities adds star power and increases the memorability of the invitation.
- Generated buzz and drew attention to Virgin Voyages.
- Personalized invitations with a celebrity touch resulted in more people considering a Virgin Voyage cruise.
Wrapping up
There you go! Five examples of ingenious companies harnessing generative AI in marketing strategies. The key takeaway: The degree of content personalization and enhanced user experience an AI provides is impossible to achieve through any human brain and effort. Make Generative AI your go-to marketing tool in 2024 and beyond.
