Major companies around the world are using marketing technology to supercharge sales. For example, Coca‑Cola’s Latin American ecommerce platform saw revenue jump 36% by building a unified data-and-personalization foundation. By linking ecommerce, CRM and analytics with Adobe’s Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Journey Optimizer, the team recorded an astonishing 89% conversion rate among shoppers who were re-engaged with personalized messages. Meanwhile, Netflix attributes roughly 80% of all viewing to its AI-driven recommendation engine, helping the streamer save about $1 billion per year by reducing subscriber churn. Across industries – from soda to streaming to banking – marketing teams are reaching the same conclusion: combining data, AI and automation turns every customer click into higher engagement and sales.
Coca-Cola’s success is partly thanks to a two-year digital overhaul. The CCETH project (Coca‑Cola en tu Hogar, Latin America) used Adobe Commerce, Commerce Data Sharing, Customer Journey Analytics and a Real-Time CDP to centralize customer data. The results speak for themselves: a 36% revenue boost and an 89% conversion rate on targeted offers. This system now sends cart-abandonment emails and push messages in minutes instead of days. In one test, personalized product recommendations at Coke’s U.S. online store delivered 117% more clicks and 36% more revenue than generic listings. “We’re able to capture every consumer touchpoint and build a true consumer profile,” says Coca-Cola’s Vinay Gopinath, explaining how the data-rich platform informs every message. He adds that at a company like Coca-Cola, “we feel lucky to be part of such a large global brand that encourages innovation” – a culture that he believes helps the team keep pushing boundaries with their marketing.
Hospitality brands are getting in on the action too. Marriott International and its agency M1M teamed with travel-adtech firm Sojern on an intent-driven advertising campaign. By targeting travelers who showed purchase intent (for example, after a flight or hotel search), Marriott saw a 40% higher conversion rate on bookings and a 6% lift in direct bookings, compared to its usual branding tactics. The effort also drove 21% more on-site search queries on Marriott.com, suggesting deeper customer interest. Digitas media director Steven Dow praised the effort: “We enjoy working with Sojern…reaching the audiences most important to us,” noting the strong ROI and the new insights gained from the campaign.
Airlines are experimenting in this space as well. In 2018, Lufthansa launched an IBM Watson–powered conversational ad on The Weather Channel’s mobile videos, inviting viewers to take a travel personality quiz via chatbot. The interactive ad achieved an 8% “conversation rate” (click-through to the chat) with about four exchanges per user on average. The innovation was less about immediate ticket sales and more about engagement: Lufthansa marketing VP Alexander Schlaubitz said they aimed to “engage people in a conversation and allow things to happen naturally”, believing that opted-in users yield far higher-quality interactions. In fact, users spent about 41 seconds on the ad on average – far longer than typical mobile video ads – confirming that participants were genuinely interested. The campaign essentially acted like a virtual focus group, surfacing user preferences (like destination and language preferences) that Lufthansa could use to refine future marketing.
Even automakers are personalizing. BMW Group revamped its global website with advanced analytics and A/B testing. Visitors are bucketed into fine-grained segments and shown content tailored to their interests (for example, a plug-in hybrid owner might see ads for home charging stations). Adobe reports this overhaul has driven “significant increases in online lead generation and requests (test drives, quotes, offers, etc.)” for BMW dealerships. Now BMW can quickly test variants of its site, reroute traffic away from underperforming pages, and instantly personalize banners and offers. One Adobe consultant noted that BMW teams worldwide feel empowered to “constantly test, learn and optimize” every part of the site – essentially bringing startup agility into the auto industry’s marketing.
Even coffee shops are harnessing data. Starbucks has long led in app-driven sales and loyalty. As of late 2024, roughly 31% of U.S. Starbucks transactions occurred via its mobile app (up from 25% just two years earlier), and loyalty members now account for about 60% of in-store revenue. The company is doubling down on personalization: CEO Laxman Narasimhan says Starbucks is adding AI tools and smarter search so the app can auto-suggest products (for example, recommending a dairy-free cold brew on a hot day). Starbucks is essentially running a real-time personalization lab out of its app. These efforts help explain why the brand’s loyalty program has grown so large – roughly 34 million U.S. members today – and why sales and spend per customer keep climbing.
Retailers and consumer brands have been aggressive too. Beauty chain Sephora’s Southeast Asia division ran a Lunar New Year “Ang Pao” campaign on the Braze marketing platform. Customers in Malaysia received virtual red envelopes via the app with prizes ranging from discount vouchers to a Dyson hair dryer. Those who played saw a 132% jump in purchases compared to customers who did not participate. “It only took us a month to ideate and launch this Angpao game,” said Geoffrey Ip, Sephora SEA’s mobile marketing lead, praising Braze’s flexibility. The platform let them update prize logic and customer profiles on the fly. The result was a cultural marketing idea that became a viral sales driver: a short interactive game yielded a huge engagement lift and sales boost.
Banks and financial services are not sitting out either. OCBC Bank in Singapore built an AI engine to analyze each client’s profile and transactions in real time. The system then pushes exactly one tailored offer per customer each day – whether it’s a high-interest savings bond, credit card upgrade or investment tip – aligned to that customer’s needs. Customers see each offer with clear context (for example: “Your fixed deposit matures today — here’s a high-yield savings opportunity”). According to The Asian Banker, OCBC’s engine has “significantly increased customer engagement and conversion rates” on its digital channels. The bank’s success has inspired competitors to invest in similar personalized systems, turning financial marketing into a tech-driven strength rather than a cost center.
As these cases show, personalization works. Tailored marketing is no gimmick; it measurably moves the needle. Surveys indicate that data-driven personalization can boost satisfaction by roughly 20% and lift conversion rates by 10–15%. The tech giants report huge impacts: Netflix says roughly 75–80% of its streaming views come from algorithmic recommendations, and analysts estimate its AI suggestions save over $1 billion a year in customer retention. In practice, even small percentage gains add up to big returns: a 5–10% lift in conversion on millions of visits can mean millions more in revenue. Many studies now show businesses committing to personalization see double-digit revenue growth compared to peers.
The bottom line is clear: companies that integrate CRM, customer data platforms, analytics and AI are seeing outsized results. Marketing at brands like Coca-Cola, Marriott, Netflix and Walmart has become a continuous, one-to-one conversation with each customer. By orchestrating every touchpoint with real-time data and automation, these leaders make “just-for-you” marketing a reality. The MarTech revolution, once a buzzword, is proving to be the new normal in customer engagement – one that translates directly into higher sales, stronger loyalty and growth.
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