CHRISTMAS. THE TIME FOR EMOTIONAL, HEARTWARMING ADVERTISING MESSAGES.

Supermarket brands in particular are positioning themselves with socially relevant topics around Christmas and no longer just with offers and discounts. These messages are well received because they appeal to people's emotions.

So how does a brand like German supermarket REWE stand out from the mass of emotionally charged messages that trump each other just before Christmas on TV - and is then also correctly recalled and assigned?

THE CHALLENGE: (TOO) MANY MESSAGES!

This year, REWE wants to push various brands and offers: The REWE pick-up service gives back valuable time for your family, because you don't have to go shopping yourself. The high-quality private label "REWE Feine Welt" (REWE Fine World) takes you to worlds of indulgence. On top, we need to demonstrate closeness to the consumer with the brand promise “REWE. Your Store”.

Isn't that a bit much?

WE AVOID THE COMMERCIAL BREAK AND DIVE RIGHT INTO THE EMOTIONAL CHAOS!

We place our advertising messages directly in the running TV-programs that thrive on the highs and lows of emotions: German daily soaps are well established formats that touch Germans of all ages. But how do we know in which scene we should deliver which message?

WE ORDER THE CHAOS. WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

From last years’ campaign we know that optimizing advertising impact on TV through AI works on a rational level. At Christmas we go one big step further: We bring together AI, human feelings and emotional brand attributes!

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BECOMES ARTIFICIAL EMPATHY.

We train an AI to analyze and interpret facial expressions as emotions – focusing on emotions like joy, anger, sadness, and fear – to solve our quandary: in which scene should the pick-up service, REWE Feine Welt or REWE as a brand be advertised?

OUR AI ASSIGNS THE RIGHT MESSAGE…

Our AI analyzes episodes of Daily Soaps and calculates emotion-scores for each scene. Once a sufficient score has been determined, the AI assigns the message that matches the emotion: E.g. the motif developed for the pick-up-service is assigned to the emotion "fear" (as the pick-up service solves stress before Christmas). "REWE Feine Welt" is assigned to "joy". And REWE as a brand that is close to people is assigned to "sadness" and "anger".

…WHICH IS DYNAMICALLY PLACED AT THE RIGHT TIME.

The individually designed ads are placed prominently in the running program ("cut in") the exact moment the fans are "feeling it, too”. For example, in a joyous scene the "more reason for joy with REWE Feine Welt" ad appears for 10 seconds. The wording is dynamically and automatically adapted to the respective emotional state of the scene and appears at the appropriate moment.

REWE BREAKS THROUGH THE CHRISTMAS TV ADVERTISING CLUTTER AND EMOTIONAL CHAOS.

People who have seen the daily soaps (in which REWE's emotional “cut in ads” were placed) have a 35% higher unaided advertising recall than those who only had contact with the classic campaign.

THE AI-DRIVEN OPTIMIZATION ENSURES MORE EMOTIONAL PROXIMITY...

Those who have seen the formats feel closer to REWE and attest that the brand has a more human and personal image:

+34% say REWE is a brand that is close to them (vs. non-viewers)

+20% say REWE stands for a pleasant customer experience (vs. non-viewers)

+18% say REWE is responsive to its customers (vs. non-viewers)

...AND EVEN STRENGTHENS THE DESIRE TO GO SHOPPING AT REWE.

A significant uplift in purchase intent at REWE prove that AI-driven optimization even scores in the lower funnel - even 20% better than without artificial intelligence...