K Ganapathy Subramaniam on AI & personalization reshaping consumer food industry

Started 70 years ago in Amritsar, LT Foods has now emerged as a leading Indian-origin global FMCG company in the consumer food space. The company’s sustained focus on building a vibrant portfolio has led to the success of several prominent brands such as Daawat, Royal, Ecolife, and Devaaya.

LT Foods recently launched an innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled personalized campaign to celebrate the third edition of Daawat World Biryani Day. This campaign is groundbreaking in the essential foods category, harnessing the power of AI to offer a personalized experience for Biryani enthusiasts. This unique initiative not only showcases the beloved dish of Biryani, but also allows consumers to create and share their own unique cooking experiences. With well-known Chef Sanjeev Kapoor featuring in the campaign, participants got the opportunity to appear alongside him, creating lasting memories and enhancing their culinary adventures.

In conversation with Adgully, K Ganapathy Subramaniam, Head of Marketing, LT Foods, who will delve into the strategies and innovations behind the AI-enabled personalized campaign, exploring how LT Foods continues to push the boundaries in the essential foods category.

What inspired LT Foods to initiate the Daawat World Biryani Day initiative, and how has the event evolved over the past three years?

Biryani, a globally cherished delicacy, holds a revered status in the culinary world. It can connect people from all walks of life and captivate their taste buds. We believe that its universal adoration deserves its own special day. As the brand Daawat is integral to the finest Biryani, we conceptualised Daawat World Biryani Day in the year 2022. Since then, we have remained committed to making every biryani day more special globally.

Last year, Daawat World Biryani Day was celebrated by creating a first-of-its-kind Guinness Record of ‘World's Largest Biryani Tasting Session’. Building on the remarkable success of the past two years, this year’s celebration promises to be even more spectacular and AI-enabled.

How does Daawat World Biryani Day align with the brand’s overall mission and values?

By celebrating a universally loved dish like Biryani, our flagship brand Daawat reinforces our commitment to delivering the finest quality and experiences, connecting people across the world through shared culinary love.

What was the primary motivation behind launching this innovative AI-enabled personalized campaign for the third edition of Daawat World Biryani Day? Could you describe the main goals and objectives of this latest campaign?

The innovative AI-enabled campaign for the third edition of Daawat World Biryani Day offers a personalised experience to Biryani lovers. At the same time, this campaign also enables us to manage greater scale, yet making it special for every individual, who shares a love for Biryani. This is the first campaign in the essential foods category, and it's designed to celebrate Biryani in a way that’s never been done before.

Imagine the thrill of cooking alongside the celebrated Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Our campaign offers Biryani enthusiasts a unique opportunity, to appear alongside Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, and make lasting memories.

To ensure we reach as many people as possible, we have launched this campaign globally in 6 key Indian languages.

Could you elaborate on how AI technology is being used to personalize the campaign for Daawat World Biryani Day?

AI technology is being used to enable personalisation in both the audio and visual format in our campaign. The individual can click on the link along with the creative to input their details such as name, contact details, language preference and geography on the campaign’s microsite. A One Time Password (OTP) is generated and sent over on WhatsApp for verification. Post which, the consent is sought from the consumer to share the final creative with them on their WhatsApp number.

Our AI tech in the background processes receives the consumer’s information and generates a personalised ad with Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, where he addresses the consumer with her name and replacing the protagonist with her face. The entire process takes 20-25 minutes post-submission of the individual’s details.

What are some specific examples of personalized experiences or interactions that consumers can expect from this campaign?

The consumer can have the following personalised experiences:

• Personalised Audio: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor addresses the consumer with their name in the campaign.
• Customized Cooking Video: Featuring themselves cooking Biryani alongside renowned Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
• Sharing Capabilities: The consumer can share their personalized cooking experiences with friends and family through social media and other platforms.

How do you see AI and personalization shaping the future of marketing for LT Foods and the food industry in general?

The integration of AI and personalization in marketing is set to revolutionize the FMCG industry and more specifically, the consumer food space. LT Foods is at the forefront of this transformation.

Personalisation for the consumer has always been a key priority for any marketer. Today, AI has enabled us to realise this much sought-after goal in communication. Hence, tech-enabled, especially Generative AI-enabled personalisation has serious potential to sharpen our brand differentiators.

In addition, Generative AI can be leveraged to identify emerging trends and design solutions for better consumer delight would help brands stay ahead of the competition and meet the evolving needs of our customers.

To sum up, we can say that AI and personalization are not just enhancing the marketing landscape for LT Foods, but are also setting new standards in the consumer food industry. These technologies enable us to connect with our consumers in effective and personalised ways, optimize our operations, and respond better to emerging market trends.

Also Read: K. Ganapathy Subramaniam joins LT Foods as Head of Marketing