From pet analytics to automotive matchmaking: Three brands using data as creative fuel (original) (raw)
Source: Shutterstock
Brands have more and more data at their fingertips, but this treasure trove is only valuable if you leverage it right. That often means looking beyond the obvious, as shown by three campaigns that mix pet collar analytics with earthquakes, cars with dating apps and sensory analysis with dirty martinis. They show how a business can use data to build narratives that resonate and campaigns that win.
Audi uses data to turn matchmaker
In early 2025, Audi aimed to maximise leads and sales by guiding consumers towards the right car for them. But navigating an 80+ vehicle portfolio is not easy – and in a world in which consumers increasingly seek out advice from online forums, marketplaces and review sites, Audi wanted to maximise its voice.
The campaign was built around a creative insight – that choosing a car can be almost as hard as finding a partner. Audi needed both a compelling way to speak to consumers, and the right data to offer robust and trustworthy recommendations for each individual. Quantitative research with over 1,300 customers as well as Audi’s own product specialists helped the German auto giant build a data library and craft a range of intuitive lifestyle-based questions that could help them match-make consumers to a car that worked for them.
Source: Tiac.Design, Andy Cooke
The company used a back-end engine that they called Jeremy to interpret millions of potential combinations and deliver bespoke recommendations in response to questions about driving styles and what consumers want from a vehicle. The Jeremy-powered campaign, Audi Match, began on Valentines’ Day, with playful creative and design that played on the UI of a dating app.
Rolled out across paid social channels with a mobile focus, the social campaign generated an average CPC of £0.25 with a CTR of 3.19%, exceeding the target of 0.8%. People who used the tool had a 65.4% conversion rate to high-value behaviours, ultimately driving a 144.2% uplift in conversion to leads.
Audi Match was built on data that allowed it to map out the consumer journey and predict buyer motivations. This gave the brand the freedom to be inventive, by looking not at rivals in the automotive space, but at Tinder and its competitors. By adopting the UI and psychology of a different industry, Audi turned a complex 80-car inventory into a fun, personal discovery process and gave people the confidence to make the right decision.
Diageo delivers contextual cocktail suggestions
When spreading the digital word, food brands have one major advantage over their equivalents in the beverage space: the popularity of online recipes.
Drinks giant Diageo discovered that 97% of consumers searched for recipes online, but that only 3% searched for beverage pairing. This was a challenge and an opportunity. To leverage it, the company turned to its rich database to hit potential customers at just the right moment.
Source: Shutterstock
The What’s Your Cocktail campaign aimed to connect with people during food celebrations. The secret sauce was FlavorPrint, an AI tool that crunches millions of data points about consumer tastes to predict individual preferences.
By measuring taste, texture and aroma and analysing real-time interactions on major online food platforms, Diageo and AI marketing agency Keenfolks developed an ad module that interacts with sites like Allrecipes and BBC Good Food to deliver ads for cocktail recommendations that would complement different meals. A Madras recipe, for instance, could be paired with a cassis bramble or a Ketel One dirty martini. Diageo also partnered with online platform Relish to allow consumers to then add the ingredients to their basket.
The campaign resulted in 64m targeted impressions across US and UK markets and a click-through rate at 4x the industry average.
This campaign also revealed new product development opportunities, with seasonal trends and regional variations in customer preferences revealed from the data.
Diageo showed that it isn’t just about the richness of your data: it’s about choosing the moment to use it. These personalised recipes were revealed at the precise point they could naturally intercept the consumer journey. At the end of the campaign, those chicken curry eaters would have a drink in mind.
PetPace uses dog data to predict earthquakes
What connects pets, Peru and earthquakes? US company PetPace offers AI-powered collars that monitor pets’ health, and its 2024 Animal Alerts campaign joined the dots while driving millions of impressions.
The campaign began with a sobering fact: thousands die from earthquakes every year. Thanks to Peru’s location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the city of Lima is particular affected experiencing an earthquake almost every day. While earthquake prediction is an inexact science, dogs often show signs of agitation in the run-up to an event. PetPace looked to harness these signals as an early warning giving the dogs – and the humans around them – time to move to a safe place.
PetPace’s collars measure data including temperature, pulse and heart rate variability, using AI algorithms to spot patterns. Pets were recruited and retail partnerships with pet food stores helped expand the operation. Ultimately, 538 dogs were signed up in Lima, giving the company a rich data set that it used to forecast coming events. As data continued to flow, geotargeted, real-time alerts were sent out via mobile, as well as through banner ads and radio.
As a result, 18 seismic events were detected, nine million residents were alerted and ads gathered 210 million impressions. The campaign won PetPace valuable attention, but it also hit on a genuine need. In 2026, the campaign is set to be rolled out to Japan, where it hopes to once again show how hi-tech pet collars can collect rich insights and keep pets and their owners safe. By repurposing their core biometrics into a public safety tool, PetPace earned massive brand authority.
Takeaways
What can brands learn from these examples?
1. Look outside of your direct competitors
When you’re looking for ideas, look beyond your rivals – there’s a world of inspiration in different sectors. Case studies like this, award winners or just experiences from your daily life can all be drawn on to help you think differently and create cut through.
2. Delivering the right message at the right time
Data richness matters, but so does finding the right moment to use it. Diageo’s contextually relevant cocktail recommendations are a great example of understanding the customer journey and appearing in the moments that matter.
3. Using data to build trust
Data is not just a tool with one purpose: it is a toolkit that can be used in innovative ways. Consider the ways the data you hold could create value outside of the business.
As these case studies show, data can open up startling creative possibilities. Think outside the box: you might be surprised where you end up – and what your marketing efforts can achieve.