MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How conversational AI is helping adtech brands maximize advertising ROI
Mumbai: The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in adtech has become pivotal over the years. It started with simple bots that helped customers with basic queries and requests through voice or text & now has evolved into sophisticated conversational AI. It is capable of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for taking voice inputs and formulating a context-specific response in real-time. After all, understanding natural language and providing a meaningful response is the key to creating a seamless experience for customers, and this is where conversational AI comes into play.
Traditional online advertising was not successful in engaging customers
As digitization has exponentially increased in the past years, it has become difficult to cater to customer demands manually, and automation has been widely experimented with in the adtech sector. The drawbacks of conventional chatbots ranged from being disengaged and irrelevant to frustratingly non-conversational. The seemingly robotic nature of digital advertisements led to a lot of digital campaigns going to dust.
The result often used to be a loss in customers rather than a hike due to an uncontrolled and unthoughtful message being conveyed via the use of ineffective chatbots. A general lack of understanding of the customer’s intent and providing them with a specific solution were the topmost issues in the area of customer support. A lot of brands are now trying to implement conversational AI into their existing AdTech stack with varying levels of success. Some are doing it right, while others still have a long way to go.
The modern-day consumer demands more than being sold a product
Personalisation can be boosted from the very inception of a customer journey through predictive analysis. This innovation helps companies in customer personification, giving them access to a lot of structured data throughout the customer journey. The AI can analyse all the data available on a particular customer and predict what they want based on past behaviour. This enhances the prospects of call-to-action, directly impacting the revenues by 21 percent organically.
The customer’s AI-generated avatar helps build a personalised experience in an omnichannel ecosystem for advertisements. The analysis is effective across these channels, and the consistent brand voice communicated to the customer imparts a sense of connection that aligns with the customer’s mindset. This plays a critical role in keeping them engaged as building upon previous impressions becomes easier and cost-effective due to reduced cost per acquisition (CPA). Customers are no longer just numbers on a spreadsheet; they are individuals with unique goals and needs. This is why conversational AI is such an essential technology for advertisers today.
Conversational AI uses intuitive technologies to interact with their customers
Conversational AI is a game-changer for the adtech industry. It is creating new opportunities for brands to maximise their advertising ROI. It offers in-depth customer insights that help adtech companies understand, adapt and respond to customer needs, thereby improving engagement and sales.
It helps businesses create targeted audiences based on data analysis around various factors, including age, gender, location, and more. This helps deliver specific content to different groups of people, boosting engagement and sales. Predictive analysis by AI significantly reduces turnaround time, making it easier for companies to meet deadlines without sacrificing quality or spending more money on additional resources like hiring full-time employees for each department (like marketing).
Conversational AI can analyse conversations between consumers and brands, which allows businesses to predict what their customers want next. This data can then be used to personify a consumer’s identity as part of their journey through the sales funnel so that they feel more connected than ever before.
Summing up
As the industry moves towards conversational commerce, it has become clear that conversational AI will play a fundamental role in driving this change. And because it’s built into an existing CRM system, the existing infrastructure can be used without having to make significant changes or upgrades. AI-powered chatbots are, therefore, the future of customer service, with the industry poised to reach a whopping $14 billion by 2025.
The author is Amitt Sharma, Founder and CEO, VDO.AI
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
