Introduction
As the marketing landscape evolves and third-party cookies are steadily phased out, brands are facing the challenge of rethinking how to effectively target and engage relevant audiences. The ability to drive measurable results is increasingly tied to innovative solutions that leverage first-party data and AI technologies.
At Semetis, we recently partnered with Kairos, an AI-powered audience solution provider, to deliver impressive results for our client Atol, an optical retailer in France. This case study illustrates how advanced audience segmentation and real-time optimization can transform campaign performance across the funnel.
The Power of Kairos: A Unique Audience Solution
Kairos is a data-driven marketing solution that uses beacon technology to collect precise in-store data, enabling the creation of tailored audience segments and the measurement of drive-to-store impacts for digital campaigns. It has deployed its technology across over 36,000 points of sale, enabling the collection of in-store data that is 20 times more accurate than GPS-based solutions. This precise data collection allows Kairos to match store visitors with digital campaigns, providing reliable measurements of the in-store impact of advertising efforts.
Leveraging this data for Atol’s campaigns, Kairos constructed highly relevant audience segments, including visitors to Atol stores, visitors to competitors' stores, and demographic profiles of individuals likely to visit optical retailers.
The Campaign Experiment: How Kairos’ impact was measured
The campaigns initially ran for two weeks without Kairos’ AI integration to establish a baseline performance. After this reference period, Kairos AI was connected, enabling real-time adjustments to audience segmentation and budget allocation at the ad group levels, where the audiences were defined. This setup allowed us to compare results pre- and post-AI implementation effectively.
Campaign Results: A Data-Driven Success Story
As explained in the previous section, in order to analyse the results, we used the two-week reference period as a basis, to which we compared the results of the eight-week AI-powered period. The evolutions mentioned below in this section therefore always compare the reference versus the AI-powered periods. All-in-all, the integration of Kairos' AI-powered audience solutions led to good results across the campaigns for Atol.
In the Meta full-funnel campaigns, the integration of Kairos’ AI brought noticeable improvements across all phases. For awareness, the cost per ThruPlay dropped significantly by 57%, even with a massive investment increase, while maintaining high audience quality. Traffic campaigns also saw major gains, with a 32% decrease in cost per click and a 43% reduction in cost per exposed visitor, all while scaling the budget significantly as well. On the conversion front, the cost per store appointment taken rose by 32% as the budget increased by 500%. This result, though less efficient at first glance, aligns with the expected trade-off between scaling investment and achieving consistent performance. Together, these results highlight the adaptability and precision of AI-powered targeting across the Meta funnel.
For TikTok awareness, the campaign showcased the AI’s ability to engage relevant audiences despite scaling up. While the cost per 6-second video view increased by 25% with a 4 times higher budget, the campaign achieved an exceptional 97% drop in CPC, indicating that the ads reached a much more engaged and relevant audience. This blend of higher interaction rates and targeted delivery underscores the effectiveness of Kairos’ AI in elevating campaign performance, even at a larger scale.
The results speak to the power of data-based and AI-powered audience solutions. As traditional targeting methods are doomed to vanish, tools like Kairos provide a pathway for brands to adapt. By integrating real-time optimization and leveraging first-party data, marketers can maintain relevance, drive engagement, and maximize ROI—even in the face of larger investments, and doing so without relying on the third party cookies that will eventually fade away.
Conclusion: The Road Ahead for Digital Marketing
As third-party cookies are doomed to become obsolete, finding innovative, privacy-compliant targeting solutions is not just a trend—it’s a necessity. This case study with Atol demonstrates the transformative potential of AI-powered audience tools. Whether for awareness, traffic, or conversion, integrating intelligent data-driven solutions like Kairos can enhance campaign performance across every stage of the funnel. Marketers should act now to future-proof their strategies, embracing tools that unlock the full potential of their campaigns in this rapidly changing digital landscape.
Xander Schepens
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