Brands want to win the competitive race with the help of AI in marketing, as they pursue speed, accuracy, and market penetration in record time. It’s no longer just about knowing the consumer. It’s about being one step ahead. From campaign architecture to seamless in-campaign intelligence, marketers are weaving AI into every touchpoint. The result is experiences that feel tailored, immediate, and hard to ignore.
Some are getting clever with QR codes integrated into product packaging and promotional collaterals. These codes trigger interactive brand moments. Say, you are scanning a food product, then you add what you have in your fridge, your food requirements, how good you cook, possibly even your mood. The AI loads it, hacks out a recipe that suits you, goes ahead and even suggests substitutions when you do not have onions.
The recent example of AI-driven marketing is Centerfruit, which decided to shake things up. Collaborating with WPP, BharatGPT.ai, and Google Cloud, they rolled out the Centerfruit Tongue Twister Challenge. A Part of its quirky “Kaisi Jeebh Laplapayee” campaign. It was targeted for rural Uttar Pradesh, where data isn’t fast, and smartphones aren’t in every palm. This voice-based GenAI campaign uses a hyper-local Voice AI to call users on their feature phones. By calling back, users engage in tongue-twister challenges in their local dialects, turning a simple phone call into a fun, gamified brand experience filled with laughter and regional pride.
TrueFan AI and Goibibo made it personal. They tapped into the hesitation moment where users searched, clicked, but didn’t book. Rishabh Pant, with AI-generated videos, calls them out by name, mentions the city or train they had their eye on. It’s a wink, a “hey, we see you” wrapped in stardom. All to push them back into booking mode.
And remember last Valentine’s Day? Cadbury went full heart-mode. Teaming up with filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, they turned Dairy Milk Silk into a story machine. They integrate QR codes on the wrappers that lead to a quiz about your love life. AI then spun your answers into a custom animated film, avatars included.
These kinds of campaigns are inviting users to play, engage, and belong. One scan, and they’re in. No forms, no downloads, just fast, relevant content that feels like it’s made just for them. These experiences hit differently because they’re real or at least, they feel like it. AI shines because it knows preferences, remembers behavior, and senses the moment. It talks back in a way static content never could. But let’s not sugarcoat this tactic. AI’s rise comes with risks like security lapses, encoded biases, and emotional fakery. They need to tread smart, handle data with care, weed out bias, and keep that human warmth alive, even if it’s machine-crafted.
