the blaze strategy

Excerpt:

The combination of creative and media supported by automation, AI, machine learning and decisioning gives brands a way to have a direct conversation with consumers in the ad unit, rather than relying on a click to transport the person to another platform or website.

“The consumer can ask questions of the brand and have a direct conversation in real time,” said Laura Desmond, chief executive officer at Smartly.

Desmond said the conversational ad unit running on Meta’s platforms “ushers in a one-to-one world” where ads are personalized to the consumer. The consumer opts in to talk with the brand in the ad unit, which provides opportunities to analyze text in the conversation.

“It becomes important first-party data,” she said, adding that “it makes the ads more targeted the next time.”

The one-size-fits-all advertising strategy no longer exists, according to Neil Jones, head of performance media at Boots, a UK health and beauty retailer for more than 175 years with about 1,800 stores.

"The real power of conversational commerce is how it creates genuine, one-on-one connections with shoppers at key decision moments," Jones said.

He said when Boots interacts with customers in personalized conversations about what they need, the company does more than make better recommendations. It opens dialogue with consumers and a new channel that drives results.

Boots, a UK health and beauty retailer for more than 175 years with about 1,800 stores, runs Meta Advantage+ conversational campaigns through Smartly, which commissioned Forrester Consulting to run an online survey of 822 marketers working with digital advertising and conversational ads in North America EMEA, and Asia Pacific to get an idea of what they need. Many are scaling approaches in conversational commerce, but are frustrated by the perceived lack of tools, unified platforms, and practices.