Using AI in marketing sounds intimidating to many due to a common misconception that AI could replace humans and even be threatful to us. Although this is a misconception, if used ethically and creatively, AI can enhance your marketing efforts, cut costs, and save time. Here are some great AI in marketing examples and brand use cases to help you get started.
Remember, AI will not replace you; instead, it will make your job much easier, so learning to use it could be the best investment you've ever made.
Table of Contents
A deep dive into AI in marketing examples
- 1. Nutella uses AI to create packaging
- 2. Cyber Inc uses AI to create video courses at scale
- 3. Cosabella uses AI for ad creation
- 4. Volkswagen uses AI to forecast buying decisions
- 5. Tomorrow Sleep uses AI to generate content at scale
- 6. Netflix uses AI to give personalized recommendations
- 7. JP Morgan Chase’s trust in AI for their copywriting efforts
- 8. FARFETCH uses AI to enhance its brand voice
- 9. Mastercard applies AI intelligence to tackle competitive threats
- 10. The News Movement uses AI-powered analytics for social listening
A deep dive into AI in marketing examples
To better understand AI in marketing and how it generates results for various brands in different industries, we have some inspiring AI in marketing examples, with case studies of Nutella, Netflix, Volkswagen, JP Morgan Chase, etc.
1. Nutella uses AI to create packaging
Industry: Food & Beverage
Use case: Design
The idea: Nutella wanted to stand out in terms of packaging and make their products more desirable and brand more talkable. This transformative challenge was given to Ogilvy Italia, a branding agency. They used AI and a dozen of patterns to create 7 million one-of-a-kind labels as unique and expressive as Italian people are. And that's how Nutella Unica was born.
Mira los brillantes diseños de botes que “Nutella Unica” creó en Italia. #Packaging #DiseñoEmpaque pic.twitter.com/CqDQuVjTiT
— Soy Marketing (@soy_marketing) June 16, 2017
The result: The 7 million jars manufactured for this campaign were sold out as soon as they hit the market.
How you can replicate this:
AI can be very effective when it comes to design for branding, as you have seen in this example, and if you want to try AI for design for your marketing campaigns. There are several tools available for you to try. Here are some tools for you to explore:
I used @midjourney_ai to recreate @Delta's marketing campaign! 📸
— Chris McKay (@cmcky) April 24, 2023
Here's how creative teams can unlock cost savings, rapidly ideate and create diverse visuals.#AIArtworks #midjourney #Delta#Marketing https://t.co/HeyZgITw7h pic.twitter.com/W1Mt2oNrIG
2. Cyber Inc uses AI to create video courses at scale
Industry: IT Services
Use Case: Content Creation
The idea: Using AI for content creation? Could this get even more interesting? Cyber Inc made it happen with Synthesia AI, an AI video creation platform to generate videos for their online courses. Cyber Inc. wanted to quickly scale with content creation and expand its global reach by creating videos in multiple languages.
Not only did they use this AI to create an avatar as a replacement for an actor, but they also used it to cut the costs of video production.
The results: As expected, Cyber Inc. was able to create video 2x faster and scale into new markets much earlier than planned in their roadmap by generating content in multiple languages, which would be a time-consuming and costly process without AI. Talk about scalability at a good price!
How you can replicate this:
You can create content at a faster rate and lower costs with AI. It also gives you an advantage in trying content variations without spending too much time. How? You may ask. We have some great tools for you to discover!
Related Guide: How to Create a Better Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
3. Cosabella uses AI for ad creation
Industry type: Retail Apparel & Fashion
Use Case: Social Media & Ads
The idea: Social Media and advertising are essential elements of marketing, and Cosabella made a big win by letting AI into their marketing operations. As the marketing communication between Cosabella and its agency became time-consuming and difficult, they decided to give an Algorithm named Albert its paid search and digital marketing efforts using creatives and KPIs provided by the brand.
The results: AI taking over the world might be scary, but for Cosabella, Albert taking over their marketing increased its search and social media return-on-ad-spend by 50% and decreased its ad spend by 12%.
"After seeing Albert (AI) handle our paid search and social media marketing, I would never have a human do this again.’’
- Courtney Connell, Marketing Director of Cosabella
How you can replicate this:
The advancement of AI has been a miracle for marketers, especially regarding social media and advertising. With AI, you could automate tasks and see the numbers go up, just like Cosabella. Check out these AI tools to implement better ads and social media management:
Related guide: 8 Ways to Leverage AI in Email Marketing For Better Campaigns
4. Volkswagen uses AI to forecast buying decisions
Industry type: Automobile
Use Case: Predictive Analysis
The idea: You might have heard Volkswagen automating its vehicles, but have you heard it is automating its ad-buying decisions? Since the ad agency that was working with Volkswagen was giving personal interpretations about the ad buying decisions, the marketers at Volkswagen decided to rely wholly on data for which they decided to trust an AI so that they could invest less in campaigns and upsurge their sales.
The results: With better forecasting of buying decisions, Volkswagen was able to cut the hidden costs that the media agency previously charged. Not only this, there was an increase in sales by 20% from Volkswagen dealerships.
How you can replicate this:
Like Volkswagen, you can improvise your spending decisions and save a lot of bucks. There are tons of AI tools for data analysis that you can try out! We have some good ones ready for you:
5. Tomorrow Sleep uses AI to generate content at scale
Industry type: Mattress
Use Case: Content Marketing
The idea: Tomorrow Sleep, being a startup, needed help generating organic traffic on its website. What happened that skyrocketed their organic traffic? Well, again, AI happened. Tomorrow Sleep used MarketMuse, an AI-powered tool, to research and generate powerful content that increased traffic at speed and ease.
The results: From organic traffic being just 4K per month surged to 400K in just a year. Not only this, Their website gained authority in the eyes of the search engine to gain the featured snippet. Including AI for content marketing was probably the AHA moment they were looking for.
How you can replicate this:
You can use several AI tools in marketing operations to generate organic traffic quickly and efficiently. To get started, here are some tools you can check out:
Content marketing is a great way to get your message out there and reach an audience.
— Marwan Alameddine (@outblogged) April 23, 2023
But you need to keep your content fresh and relevant.
Frase is a tool that will help you easily create high-quality content.https://t.co/FYjZEEgDyG
6. Netflix uses AI to give personalized recommendations
Industry type: Entertainment
Use Case: Personalization
The idea: We all know how excellent Netflix is with its marketing, but one thing that stands out is its use of AI for personalization. How do they do it? According to Netflix, ‘’We do this by using the data about what content our members watch and enjoy along with how they interact with our service to get better at figuring out what the next great movie or TV show for them will be.’’
Netflix personalization replaced Cillian Murphy (main character) with Anya Taylor Joy in the box art for Peaky Blinders. Because they know I binged the hell out of Queen’s Gambit. It’s sneaky - but it’s also genius. 😄♟ pic.twitter.com/YtZx88hPHB
— Paul Lee (@BeeBimBop) March 12, 2021
The AI collects the data and recommends the shows, movies, and even the artwork that you see is personalized according to the user.
The Results: Now that you know how Netflix always keeps you hooked. Let's see how profitable the AI is for Netflix. Drum rolls, please! Netflix’s recommended engine is worth over $1 Billion per year, which, as expected, comes from the personalized grid of suggestions that is catered only to the viewers’ taste.
Related guide: How to Master Website Personalization to Improve Customer Experience
How you can replicate this:
Personalizing and experimenting with data is much easier with AI now. All you need is a reliable tool for it to happen, and we have some great ones that you can experiment with: .
7. JP Morgan Chase’s trust in AI for their copywriting efforts
Industry Type: Banking
Use Case: Copywriting
The Idea: When it realized that AI could create better copy than humans, Chase signed a deal with Persado, a software startup, when the copy generated by AI had higher click rates- even double in most cases. In a statement, Kristin Lemkau, chief marketing officer at JPMorgan Chase, said, “Persado’s technology is incredibly promising. It rewrote copy and headlines that a marketer, using subjective judgment and their experience, likely wouldn’t have. And they worked.”
The Results: As mentioned by Kristin, Persado did magic on their copywriting. Chase saw a 450% lift in CTRs on ads with the help of Persado. This led Chase to keep Persado by their side for longer.
How you can replicate this:
Copywriting with AI has been too popular lately, and it can automate many of your writing tasks. Wanna get started? Check these out:
8. FARFETCH uses AI to enhance its brand voice
Industry: Luxury Fashion Retail
Use Case: Brand Language Optimisation
The Idea: FARFETCH strives to tailor its communication with millions of users. They shook hands with Phrasee, a tool that generates on-brand content with enterprise-grade controls and optimization at scale by testing fresh styles, tones, words, and phrases and discovering the language that resonates with its audience in the best way possible. They tried to incorporate this strategy into their email marketing campaigns.
The Results: By giving Phrasee the authority to manage its email marketing content, FARFETCH saw impressive results, with an increase of 38% average click rate and a 31% average open rate surge in its trigger campaigns; it captured a unique brand voice and adhered to it consistently.
How you can replicate this:
Your brand language matters a lot when communicating with your audience. Letting AI content in is one way to ensure it's perfect or close to perfect. We have picked some good ones for you:
9. Mastercard applies AI intelligence to tackle competitive threats
Industry Type: Financial Services / Technology
Use Case: Competitive Analysis
The Idea: During the global pandemic, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS) faced constant challenges and required intelligence to tackle its competitive threats. Here comes Crayon, an AI-powered platform that MGPS adopted to get the viewpoint of its competitors and predict threats coming their way.
The Results: Crayon made a huge difference in its competitive intelligence strategy. The Director of Global Product Marketing and Sales Enablement, Mike Wienke, says, “Crayon gives participants a clear sense of how each competitor is approaching the market, making it easier to look at Mastercard from an external POV. Not only does this make the exercise much more effective, but it also allows us to bring together people from across the organization and open up a dialogue—one where everyone can contribute valuable ideas.”
How you can replicate this:
Just like MGPS, there's a lot of potential in AI tools for analyzing competitors and revamping your strategies. To closely keep a watch on your competitors, here are some tools that you could invest in:
10. The News Movement uses AI-powered analytics for social listening
Industry Type: Media and Publishing
Use Case: Social Media Management
The Idea: The News Movement, a media platform, wanted its audience to engage and expand as much as possible. For this to happen, they were required to dive deep into data and understand what their audience was thinking and talking about. They use Sprinklers Unified-CXM powered by AI, pull in petabytes of customer data across different platforms, and interpret, recognize, and understand every signal of customer intent.
The Results: With this AI-powered tool, TNM was able to save a lot of hours every week, and they can use their social media data to engage better with their audience on social media, all of this in less than 6 months. It gave them historical data from TikTok that they did not previously have, which changed the social media game for TNM.
How you can replicate this:
Social listening can help you tap into your audiences’ tastes, preferences, and intent. To better understand this, AI-powered social monitoring tools like these can help:
Takeaway
In this artificial intelligence in Marketing example, you learned how brands, even the biggest ones like Nutella, Volkswagen, Netflix, etc., are winning in their marketing strategies with artificial intelligence. Giving AI the responsibilities of your marketing operations can make a huge difference and yield astonishing results. If your marketing strategy needs revamping, it's time to incorporate AI. These AI-in-marketing examples can help you get started with that very well.
To make things clear, AI may soon be able to take over business operations, so if you still think it won't be worth your money, think again because you wouldn't want to be far behind the competition.
