Why India’s FMCG giants are betting big on AI-led advertising – Brand Wagon News

Two years ago Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) set up Lightbox, an in-house design and creative lab to drive creative campaigns for all its brands across various categories. Since then it has added a media planning platform called Media Allocation and Spends Harmonisation, or MASH, to roll out campaigns and cut costs, keeping sales objectives at the centre. It will soon add an AI lab and a content factory, launching first in South Africa before they are introduced in India. The idea is to invest its ad monies in a way that it reaches the maximum number of people at the lowest possible cost.

Not just GCPL. In an economy plagued by the challenges of tight money and geopolitical tumult, smart marketers are increasingly falling back on AI and programmatic tools to extract more bang for their advertising buck. Take HUL, which has deployed AI to transform its marketing and media strategies through a platform called Sangam that streamlines media planning and buying. At Ad:Tech Delhi this year, HUL’s head of media and digital marketing Tejas Apte said the company uses Sangam to significantly reduce its media planning turnaround time from 25 days to just five.

These companies aren’t just making decisions faster; the decisions themselves are bolder.

Bolder decisions

A case in point is Pidilite’s new KwikGPT campaign for Fevikwik that aims to tap into interactive experiences for consumers during the festive season. At the core of the campaign is a microsite (aipack. fevikwik.in/) where users can pick any two everyday objects, combine them virtually, and let AI generate quirky, innovative products in a jiffy.
If you’re thinking the aim is to cut advertising spending you couldn’t be more wrong.

For one, GCPL says the company is not cutting back on spending but is being more judicious. Harshdeep Chhabra, global media head at GCPL says using MASH, the company is able to run media operations across 20 countries with a three-member programmatic team, reducing time and manpower. The company’s AI-led content factory launching in South Africa can churn out influencer content in a matter of hours. This definitely speeds up the creative process to a few hours at a time when brand and creator collaborations take weeks.

HUL’s Sargam platform has also enabled the company to allocate spends more efficiently across mediums. While its TV investments have dropped from 60% to 39%, digital video investments grew from 20% to 29%. Social media and OTT ad spending has also increased, taking investments on digital platforms to 45% of HUL’s total ad expenditure.

Standing apart

The real question is, if everyone’s using more or less the same suite of tools, what will set one apart from the other?
Early adopter Mondelez is trying to create differentiation through more immersive consumer experiences. “The boundaries between media and technology are increasingly blurred, and by pushing these limits we’ve been able to deliver breakthrough campaigns,” says Nitin Saini, vice-president of marketing at Mondelez India.

A strong example is Cadbury Silk’s ‘Story of Us’, where the brand used generative AI to create over 5,00,000 personalised videos within minutes, a scale that would have been impossible with traditional production methods.

Integrating technology in the creative process is not new for Mondelez though. The Cadbury Celebrations “Shah Rukh Khan – My Ad” campaign of 2022 was a hyper-personalised piece that used generative AI to create custom ads featuring Shah Rukh Khan for thousands of local businesses. The campaign allowed small business owners to flaunt Khan as their own brand ambassador. Khan’s digital avatar promoted their stores to local customers through Facebook and YouTube.

Sandeep Tanwani, chief marketing officer, Pidilite, concurs. The company has been leveraging AI tools to enhance marketing efficiency across the entire gamut – from content creation to media planning and audience targeting. “AI tools have helped us streamline processes and unlock new creative possibilities, while programmatic buying has improved our media spend effectiveness,” remarks Tanwani. The result: Shorter creative cycles and sharper targeting.

GCPL will continue to double down on tech deployment. “We plan to continue to invest in our brands but in a way that ensures the lowest possible cost per attentive reach,” says Chhabra.

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