Ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup, Pernod Ricard India-owned brand Seagram’s Royal Stag has launched an immersive AI-led fan experience. It’s a piece for the brand’s packaged drinking water. The campaign features cricketers Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Surya Kumar Yadav. Royal Stag is an associate partner for all ICC or International Cricket Council events.
The fan experience called “A Billion Films for a Billion Fans” has been curated keeping simplicity at its core. With selfies and voice samples coupled with the power of regenerative AI or AI systems that use feedback to continuously learn and adapt, the brand will use machine learning to create a platform that will enable fans to feature themselves as part of the Royal Stag Live It Large star cast and can create a personalised edit of the film. Face-mirroring algorithms will map the unique facial features of fans onto the characters in the main film.
The campaign will be amplified through a high-decibel 360-degree plan spread across digital, print, radio and OOH or out of home. The brand has conceptualised the campaign in association with creative agency FCB India, digital agency Dentsu India, technology partner Artizens Events, and experiential solutions and media partner Wavemaker.
According to Kartik Mohindra, chief marketing officer, Pernod Ricard India, AI is only going to make marketing immersive and personalised more than ever before. He adds, “It’s a new tool of engagement that is evolving rapidly. Probably the only thing that it is giving jitters to marketers is to keep pace with it. We have been experimenting with AI for a while and we think it has become the tool that integrates our marketing activities in a much more efficient way.”
Mohindra, says AI gives brands like Royal Stag and others in Pernod Ricard India’s portfolio the opportunity to engage with consumers differently. Though user-generated content (UGC) is a wide concept, companies like Pernod Ricard India are using it because there is a certain level of brand love coming its way. Mohindra explains, “With UGC, a brand has very little control on the content. That makes it authentic. In our new piece of communication, we are also adding the layer of celebrity engagement that will elevate the campaign. It’s a combination of UGC and brand content with AI at the centre.”
The brand has been using celebrities in marketing communication strategies since 2000. “We have always made sure that our brand is at the core of the communication and the celebrities we partner with don’t overshadow that aspect,” says Mohindra.
Earlier this year, Royal Stag Packaged Drinking Water launched a theme song with actor Ranveer Singh. Now, after the World Cup campaign, the brand is planning to roll the second edition of its on-ground music IP Royal Stag Boombox. The music property is a multi-city concert event that plans to go to not just metro markets but also smart cities. “India is no longer about metros. The defining youth of today are coming from smaller cities. If you are a pan-India brand, you have to capture the sentiments of all the markets. With Royal Stag Boombox we plan to get that in order,” concludes Mohindra.