Who: The Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation (CST), with Barrett and Welsh for creative, strategy and media.
What: "The Kids Say Thanks,” an AI-powered pilot campaign motivating immigrant parents to invest in an RESP, by using AI to create personalized videos from their future children.
When & Where: Targeted DOOH in areas with high concentrations of South Asians and Indians, and social media ads– all leading parents to a
What: "The Kids Say Thanks,” an AI-powered pilot campaign motivating immigrant parents to invest in an RESP, by using AI to create personalized videos from their future children.
When & Where: Targeted DOOH in areas with high concentrations of South Asians and Indians, and social media ads– all leading parents to a
campaign microsite with a web form. Digital banners ran on Times of India, Facebook and other websites through Audience Targeting.
Why: Canada’s immigrant population is the highest it's been since 1921, and immigration has become the main driver of population growth in the country. If this trend continues, according to Statistics Canada’s 2022 population projections, immigrants could represent from 29.1% to 34.0% of the population of Canada by 2041.
CST’s CMO Jeff Beck told The Message that this trend represents both a growth opportunity for CST Savings, and an opportunity for the brand to deliver on their mission: enabling access to post-secondary education for all Canadians (regardless of background) by ensuring they have the financial resources they need.
The campaign’s AI-driven approach is designed to motivate parents to invest in their children’s education early, by simulating the pride and joy of watching their kids grow into successful adults.
How: The campaign is being piloted with South Asian Canadians, so the web form on the microsite will prompt the user to identify whether they are a parent of South Asian origin before asking further questions about their child—like their baby’s gender, name, birthday, their favourite toy, the name they call their parents, and what their parents hope they’ll grow up to be. Once all information has been added, the user will share contact information and agree to being sent a “special video message from their baby” as well as learning more about the benefits of CST RESP.
The campaign leverages a generative adversarial networks framework, a relatively recent innovation in machine
learning technology, to deliver generative-AI-personalized video messages from the parents’ future, grown-up children, based on the provided information.
These 60-second messages are received within minutes of submitting the web form, and feature a young adult expressing gratitude to their parents for supporting them in their pursuit of their dream career, which they have since achieved.
There are three online videos featuring three different South Asian actors delivering the same script, so if the parents identify themselves as Sikh, they will see a young man in a turban. And if they identify their child as a girl, they will see a young woman.
The AI engine then replaces some of the words the actors used in their recorded performances with the words their “parents” submitted via the web form, so it appears like the young man/woman is addressing their parents personally.
“Through AI, we can engage in a real-time, two-way dialogue that delivers highly personalized and relevant communications between an individual and the CST brand,” said Beck. “The messages are designed to elicit the desired emotional response that “warms" new parents up to discover how CST Savings can help them attain the dreams they have for their children’s future.”
CST plans to continue using AI for future marketing communications and campaigns. “We believe this is a cost efficient and effective way to deliver highly personalized and relevant communications that resonate with our customers and prospects,” said Beck.
[videopress D8tDNrpU]
[videopress 3xjHbprG]
Why: Canada’s immigrant population is the highest it's been since 1921, and immigration has become the main driver of population growth in the country. If this trend continues, according to Statistics Canada’s 2022 population projections, immigrants could represent from 29.1% to 34.0% of the population of Canada by 2041.
CST’s CMO Jeff Beck told The Message that this trend represents both a growth opportunity for CST Savings, and an opportunity for the brand to deliver on their mission: enabling access to post-secondary education for all Canadians (regardless of background) by ensuring they have the financial resources they need.
The campaign’s AI-driven approach is designed to motivate parents to invest in their children’s education early, by simulating the pride and joy of watching their kids grow into successful adults.
How: The campaign is being piloted with South Asian Canadians, so the web form on the microsite will prompt the user to identify whether they are a parent of South Asian origin before asking further questions about their child—like their baby’s gender, name, birthday, their favourite toy, the name they call their parents, and what their parents hope they’ll grow up to be. Once all information has been added, the user will share contact information and agree to being sent a “special video message from their baby” as well as learning more about the benefits of CST RESP.
The campaign leverages a generative adversarial networks framework, a relatively recent innovation in machine
learning technology, to deliver generative-AI-personalized video messages from the parents’ future, grown-up children, based on the provided information.These 60-second messages are received within minutes of submitting the web form, and feature a young adult expressing gratitude to their parents for supporting them in their pursuit of their dream career, which they have since achieved.
There are three online videos featuring three different South Asian actors delivering the same script, so if the parents identify themselves as Sikh, they will see a young man in a turban. And if they identify their child as a girl, they will see a young woman.
The AI engine then replaces some of the words the actors used in their recorded performances with the words their “parents” submitted via the web form, so it appears like the young man/woman is addressing their parents personally.
“Through AI, we can engage in a real-time, two-way dialogue that delivers highly personalized and relevant communications between an individual and the CST brand,” said Beck. “The messages are designed to elicit the desired emotional response that “warms" new parents up to discover how CST Savings can help them attain the dreams they have for their children’s future.”
CST plans to continue using AI for future marketing communications and campaigns. “We believe this is a cost efficient and effective way to deliver highly personalized and relevant communications that resonate with our customers and prospects,” said Beck.
[videopress D8tDNrpU]
[videopress 3xjHbprG]
