Pizza Hut’s AI Secret Sauce, Lynx Goes Luxury, Marmite Start a Smuggling Ring, and Chase Opens First-Party Financial Data to Brands

JPMorgan Chase Shares Financial Data with Advertisers

Joining the ranks of Amazon Advertising and Walmart Connect, the newly minted JPMorgan-owned Chase Media Solutions offers marketers the opportunity to target Chase customers based on first-party data such as spending habits.

Through the platform brands can target users with personalised offers, incentives and encourage loyalty. With the sharp increase in online shopping since the pandemic, Chase hopes this initiative will monetise the vast amounts of data from both their large customer base and its six million small business customers.

When discussing target audiences, many minds initially turn to demographics based on age, gender, and wealth. However with this move, marketers can target precisely based on purchase history, allowing them to prioritise where activity should be focused.

Social Campaign Elevates Lynx to Luxury

When it comes to certain brands, products can often fall foul of being trapped in the doldrums of outdated perception. Yet with digital natives ever on the increase, this week we particularly admired Lynx’s recent campaign which leant heavily on in-person activations and a strong social strategy.

We all know Lynx as the brand favoured by seasonal gift givers for teenagers – this author remembers the days of having two Lynx Africa gift sets under the tree – however the Unilever-owned brand looks to challenge perceptions, and make a move into the premium aftershave market.

In research Lynx found that three quarters of UK males do not believe there is an affordable solution to their fragrance needs, and as a result spend large amounts of money on aftershaves and perfumes. With recent product launches including Lynx Black Vanilla, the brand seeks to control a gap in the market, offering low-cost alternatives to more expensive fragrance needs.

In blind tests, the £5 product was favoured by UK men when compared to Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille which retails at £294. This opens up further conversations around outdated brand perceptions, and Lynx has capitalised on this not only with the new product launches but an upcoming strategy including activations in-person, on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok among others.

This reinvigoration and evolution of the Lynx product line shows that brands have the capability to shift their perception, and by engaging with the areas and channels which matter most to their customers can often reap the rewards of repositioning.

Love It or Hate It, Marmite Sneak into the US

In a creative tour de force adam&eveDDB’s New York and London offices collaborated with Marmite to spread the word about its availability in the US.

With the creation of ads that resembled black market posters with an anonymous WhatsApp number, customers were delighted to help “smuggle” the product to expats in New York, where Marmite is currently a very rare find.

Through social amplification and good old-fashioned radio ads, the campaign tapped up daredevils in the population who were willing to bootleg (legally, I might add) a singular jar of Marmite on their flights from London to New York. 

As it stands Marmite has recruited over 500 willing volunteers via WhatsApp, complemented with a black market style pop-up in New York.

When considering social activations, most brands and agencies go to image-heavy platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, however this campaign shows the power of utilising WhatsApp as a marketing tool. Not only has Marmite and adam&eveDDB leaned into the daredevil nature of customers, but also gleaned valuable data and insights with which to build a special relationship across the Atlantic. 

Sometimes, it pays to be a little bit naughty.

Taco Bell and Pizza Hut go AI-First

Yum Brands’ restaurants, which includes Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, has taken a step forward in its AI and automation processes. From stock ordering, to customer satisfaction reviews, to staff management Yum hopes its investment in technology will drive sales, as well as make operations more efficient across all outlets.

Beyond increasing orders, chief digital and technology officer Joe Park said further integration of AI technology will allow for greater personalisation for customers, pushing tailored offers and recommendations to increase loyalty and frequency. 
With data shared across all Yum Brands, Park is developing a holistic view of its customer base to ensure that customers are not tied to one outlet in the portfolio, but rather are visiting different chains to benefit the entirety of the group.

With this increased investment in technology, Yum is showcasing that AI is more than just a one-off tool. Rather it can be utilised to improve efficiency, supplement customer attraction and retention, and curate the whole package for business growth.

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