A few weekends ago, I watched Minority Report for the first time. With stunts that leave you on the edge of your seat and dialogue that can only be delivered on screen, it lived up to the standard of a Tom Cruise movie. However, the movie struck me as being forward-thinking for its time. Steven Spielberg took his opportunity to create awe-inspiring moments, much like Back to the Future did with auto-lacing shoes and self-drying puffer jackets. In one particular scene, Tom walks into a store. The racks and gondolas immediately recognize him and suggest new outfits based on his past purchases. Spielberg came up with this idea when customisation was limited to bracelets and coffee. We've come a long way, really fast.
Personalized content isn't enough today; what matters most is relating to a target audience. Even though I have always admired Coca Cola's share a coke campaign for the level of customization it achieved, Paperboat's first nostalgic commercial for aamras will always hold a special place in everyone's heart. The fusion of these two concepts in today's marketing requires a good - no, a great storyteller. A writer who can weave together the complexities of life we all relate to, but who also speaks to 'me' as an audience member. India is a collectivist consumer society that is slowly seeking individualism mixed with social acceptance.
It’s a deadly mix to cater to. But one company did so beautifully.
After a year of the pandemic hitting, Diwali is finally a time that we will venture out, but with caution. Festive business is most likely to flourish during a time marked by celebration and sharing of joy with close family and friends. Online marketplaces have actively kept what appears to be a fairly long Diwali Dhamaka sale season going, however the same cannot be said for local apparel stores, Kirana, or even sweet shops. The same technology Spielberg demonstrated many years ago was used by Cadbury in collaboration with Ogilvy to capture the struggles of local Indian stores near YOU. With AI-powered marketing, Cadbury helped bring to the local stores the biggest brand ambassador that could endorse their stores - Shahrukh Khan. Although Shahrukh couldn't have listed all the stores near YOU and a database of names needed to be built for that, AI took care of all the hard work, much like in those Deepfake videos where Stalin and Hitler are singing together. As a result, Cadbury creates a message that touches our hearts as consumers, but also as members of a society that has dealt with many difficulties since the pandemic.
As part of the #NotJustACadburyAd campaign, you are now able to create your own advertisement by typing the names of all the store types that are included in the script, and what you see is your own personalised advertisement.
It is not the perfect example of hyper-personalization, but it is to my mind an excellent example of how a message can change our behaviour. This is the essence of marketing.
Cause let's face it, we all prefer the name on the cup rather than the coffee!
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