Personalisation at scale is not a new concept, but achieving it has traditionally been challenging. Most executives agree that delivering timely, tailored experiences is essential for driving customer engagement and sales. However, until recently, large enterprises have faced unique obstacles in aligning global content, campaigns, and marketing strategies to effectively serve millions of customers.
This is why generative AI has gained so much traction among business leaders. The technology accelerates and revolutionizes content and marketing workflows, making teams more efficient while saving valuable time and resources. Moreover, AI enhances human creativity, enabling brands to connect with customers in new and engaging ways that resonate on a personal level.
That said, Adobe recognises that even the most advanced technologies in the world can only take you so far. Having supported some of Europe’s largest companies through their transformation journeys, we understand that real change takes time. It requires business leaders to gain employee buy-in, foster collaboration, and provide guidance throughout the process.
Implementing generative AI successfully requires equipping marketing and IT teams with the skills, reflexes, and confidence to work with the technology. For many businesses, it also means creating new roles that blend sharp marketing acumen with a deep understanding of AI’s potential and limitations—along with a strategic vision for maximizing its value.
Of course, the best way to showcase how Adobe’s customers have cracked the code to personalisation at scale is to share their real-world success stories. Here are three brands harnessing the power of Adobe’s personalisation technologies, including our AI-powered solutions, to drive growth and unlock value for their organisation. Just as importantly, they have empowered their teams to fully embrace the power of these transformational technologies.
Let’s start with Real Madrid F.C., one of the world’s most love sporting organizations with over 600 million fans. Supported by a suite of Adobe Experience Cloud Solutions and AI-driven insights, FIFA’s “Greatest football club of the 20th century” is enhancing its fan experience at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium and across every digital channel it uses to engage with its audience.
By centralizing and accelerating its content workflows with Adobe Experience Manager, Real-Madrid reduced its time to market for fan-focused content and campaigns significantly. Fans at home feel closer to the action than ever thanks to timely, targeted experiences that are tailored to their individual preferences, while fans at the stadium receive personalised offers for food, drinks, and merchandise.
“Having a proper data infrastructure and activation layer for our data has helped us to build a greater sense of community with our fans, who we can now target with the right content and products at the right time.”
Israel Garcia
Director of Digital Strategy, Real Madrid F.C.
Few brand loyalists are more passionate than sports fans, as our next success story also proved. FanCapital, excels at tapping into that devotion by creating revenue streams through unlocking the value of athletes’ digital audiences, such as social media following and orchestrating in-person events where fans can meet and greet athletes, buy branded merchandise, and participate in online games, events, and promotions. Notably, the firm works with Williams Racing, one of the most successful and longest-running Formula One racing teams.
Above all, FanCapital recognises that sporting fans want to feel like they are part of the action. That’s why the company uses Adobe Journey Optimizer, Experience Platform, and Real-Time CDP to create and activate personalised customer experiences using real-time data. For instance, FanCapital revs up excitement among Williams Racing fans with personalised content recommendations and special offers across channels that speak to their favourite F1 teams, interests, and consumption habits.
The personalisation doesn’t stop there. Drawing a deep understanding of fans’ needs and interests, developed with the help of Adobe’s personalisation at scale solutions, FanCapital also allows William’s Racing fans to see how their race-day predictions stack up against others and customise their profiles with the driver cards and badges they earn after each race. For a deeper dive into FanCapital’s story, check out the case study video below:
“Personalisation clearly increases registrations and engagement. We’ve seen visitations jump 517% and commerce grow by 617%.”
Aidan Lyons
CEO, FanCapital
Turning our attention to the world of B2B marketing, METRO is a leading international food wholesaler which specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants, and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent merchants (traders). Customers come to METRO to for its expansive variety of gourmet, seasonal, and everyday foods, as well as a large catalogue of commercial-grade kitchen equipment, tableware, and supplies. To help them spend less time finding and ordering products and more time impressing diners, METRO provides them with seamless, personalised experiences powered by the AI capabilities in Adobe Real-Time CDP.
More specifically, METRO uses AI algorithms to proactively promote relevant products to the right customers, at the right time. For example, it can anticipate the needs of a gourmet restaurant that wants to elevate its fine dining experience by targeting it with personalised offers for premium products like Madagascar vanilla paste, fine wines, and on-trend tableware for its diners.
By contrast, the operators of high-volume, lower-margin food trucks require well-priced items in greater quantities. Knowing that, METRO can provide these customers with tailored offers for bulk cases of paper food trays, compostable cutlery, and high-turnover condiments like ketchup and hot sauce. In both cases, METRO is going above and beyond to meet its customers’, helping it to strengthen its ties and reputation in the food service industry. Discover how Adobe’s technologies are powering METRO’s transformation in this video case study:
“If you want to offer personalised B2B customer experiences in real time, you need AI for speed, accuracy, and scale.”
Roland Maisenhälder
Vice President Business Processes Customer, METRO.digital
https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/3439351
AI transformations are no small task. While every company has unique needs and goals, the success stories of the brands above and the conversations I’ve had with executives across Europe reveal three critical factors that can help make any generative AI implementation a success.
- Align the C-Suite on clear business value: Before jumping into an implementation, project leaders must secure executive alignment and sponsorship for their AI transformation. Beyond allocating resources for AI, this step is about building a coalition of AI champions at the highest level—leaders who will actively support their teams through the significant changes ahead.
- Get your organization change-ready: The next priority for AI project leads is to prepare their organisation for change. Many executives I’ve spoken with emphasize that AI adoption is as much about culture as it is about technology. It requires new roles, training initiatives, and a shift in mindset. Operationally, it often means rethinking content creation and approval processes and establishing responsible AI working practices to ensure long-term success.
- Start small, scale up and act now: Change doesn’t happen overnight. The most successful AI implementations I’ve seen follow an iterative approach—starting with simple use cases to test, learn, and refine before scaling up. This ensures smoother adoption of more complex AI applications and maximizes early returns. One message I keep hearing loud and clear: the status quo is not an option—the time to act is now.
Ready to harnesses the power of AI to achieve personalisation at scale for your business?
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