How far has AI pushed personalisation in marketing?

Imagine scrolling through a website and seeing product suggestions that feel like they have read your mind or receiving a festive greeting from your favourite brand that speaks to your preferences and recent purchases. This is the power of AI, which turns the overwhelming festive shopping season into a more meaningful and personal experience.

AI has become a buzzword, and brands are experimenting with it to stay on top of topical trends. Companies are looking at creating impactful experiences at scale for millions in real time. One of its most effective and meaningful use cases happened due to the effects of COVID-19. When huge brands were equipped to fight the pandemic’s effects on the economy, local businesses were not. In this scenario, Cadbury Celebrations’ Not A Cadbury Ad featuring Shah Rukh Khan encouraged local businesses to create their personalised ads using Khan’s voice and face. Over 1 lakh ads were created out and it reportedly led to a 35% increase in business. 

AI even created a humorous trend, where simply incorporating it into your festive campaign (if done right), can generate strong brand recall.

For example, during Holi, Pepsi took a cheeky dig at the AI takeover by merging traditional items associated with the festival like ‘Thandai’ and creating wordplay such as ‘Thand.ai’ and ‘Mith.ai’. The ad followed a Pepsi employee who pitches an AI-driven product idea to the CEO, only to be dismissed with the classic corporate response, "Let me get back to you." The ad garnered praise for its clever humour and timely theme.

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While AI in advertising has been around for a while, the game-changer came with its ability to analyse vast amounts of data and deliver specific experiences in real-time. Reports suggest that AI-powered tools are driving brand, deal, and product discovery during the festive season.

Since the My Shah Rukh Khan ad, however, personalisation with the help of AI is no longer limited to addressing someone by their first name or targeting a broad demographic group. From personalised shopping recommendations to customised festive greetings, AI is allowing brands to go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. Now, brands can predict what consumers want before they even know it themselves.

Evolution of personalisation 

Mehak Chawla, Lead - Strategic Marketing at VDO.AI notes, “Since 2021, personalisation in advertising has come a long way, evolving from basic audience segmentation to a more refined, real-time approach that feels genuinely personal.”

She believes that AI has been at the heart of this transformation, helping brands not just understand their audience but actually predict what they need. And this festive season is no different.  

For instance, VDO.AI’s Personalisation Suite customises ad content based on individual behaviour and preferences, elevating both consumer engagement and conversion rates. 

“Whether it’s real-time content recommendations or immersive video experiences, AI is helping brands create meaningful connections and drive engagement when it matters most," she notes.

Chawla mentions a gamified campaign for a CPG brand where users had to blow into their microphones to unveil hidden content. This immersive, AI-driven approach captured audience attention and elevated engagement levels during the season.

Taking personalisation up a notch

Personalisation has become a key element of festive campaigns. As AI’s capabilities have expanded, so have the creative possibilities for brands. What’s more, industry data shows that personalised ads can increase revenue by 10% to 30%. 

For instance, Rajeev Jain, Sr. Vice President, Corporate Marketing at DS Group, highlights how personalisation, driven by AI, has transformed the brand’s campaigns, especially during high-traffic festive periods. 

Jain explains, “The impact is multifold, with AI bringing about predictive analysis for tailored content generation, programmatic buying, and contextual advertising. This not only enhances the overall consumer experience but also optimises marketing strategies.”

The brand’s recent AI-powered campaigns, such as the weather signal-based API campaign, allowed it to tailor content based on regional language preferences and weather patterns. Enhancing the creative output via Midjourney, it promoted the company’s Chaat Masala, Garam Masala, and Black Pepper. It tailored the content based on languages specific to regions, the campaign automatically activated during different rain signals like light, moderate, and heavy, and went offline when it wasn't raining.

This was possible because the company leveraged digital tools to reach its consumers. Jain shares, “DS Group has achieved a more precise profiling of our consumers, gaining insights into their lifestyles, preferences, and habits. This refined understanding has empowered us to tailor our marketing and communication strategies more accurately to meet individual consumer needs.”

This year, DS Group’s AI-driven campaigns during Ganesh Mahotsav and Durga Puja have leveraged both personalisation and immersive experiences. At the Pulse Ganesh Pandals, devotees got the opportunity to interact with AI through a tablet. They could describe their vision of Ganesha and the system generated a customised visual of Ganesha. 

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In Kolkata during Durga Puja, it introduced a two-minute AI video called named, “‘Pulse of Durga Puja’. The AI-generated video explored the origins, evolution, and cultural significance of Durga Puja, featuring lesser-known facts, traditions, and rituals.

Nishant Kedia, CMO of Rebel Foods, shares a similar perspective on AI's role in elevating festive campaigns.  

“Personalisation within apps or e-commerce channels—whether it's Zomato or Amazon—shows personalised menus based on past orders, frequently ordered items, and upsell or combo recommendations in the cart. That's strong and visible across ordering channels, including Rebel Foods.”

Kedia notes that another aspect of personalisation, which isn't as fully developed, is in digital marketing. “We target specific cohorts using lookalikes based on interests, online behaviour, or past purchases. Our team at Rebel, and perhaps others in the industry, is constantly working on this. We’re using tools and technologies that automate this process—feeding in inputs and generating targeting outputs, which then learn over time. AI in digital marketing is just stepping in now and has room to evolve.”

Rebel Foods is gearing up to launch a festive campaign powered by AI, for its brand Behrouz Biryani, where personalised audio and video greetings, with accurate lip-syncing to the consumer's name, will be delivered at scale - showcasing how AI can bridge the gap between individual connection and mass reach.

What is the true power of AI?

While AI campaigns are still in the experimental stage, are they successful in building recall? Since the Shah Rukh Khan My Ad, brand campaigns have followed a similar route: take a celebrity, personalise festive greetings and drive engagement. Perhaps the templatisation of this is making it difficult to create an impact. 

As Mehak Chawla explains, “While collaborating with celebrities can make a splash, AI offers ways to create deeply immersive brand experiences without relying on big names. Through interactive ads, personalised video content, and gamified experiences, brands can engage their audience in ways that feel fresh and exciting.”

Looking ahead, AI’s role in festive marketing is only going to grow. As brands invest more in AI technologies, personalisation will become even more sophisticated, with hyper-localised content and real-time feedback loops. 

Rajeev Jain captures the future of AI-powered personalisation. He notes, “Through digital channels, our brand communication has become immersive, experiential, and contextual, forging engaging and meaningful consumer connections.” The company’s collaborations with platforms like Snapchat for events such as Mango Day and Candy Day, along with AI videos for festive occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi, have elevated its digital marketing initiatives.

Ultimately, mastering personalisation with AI during the festive season is about crafting experiences that resonate with the audience, foster brand loyalty, and create lasting memories. 

Consumers want interactions that can be personal and timely and campaigns that can be unforgettable. This festive season, brands that embrace AI-powered personalisation will stand out and forge meaningful connections in a way that traditional advertising simply cannot match.