Mumbai Indians revolutionizes fan engagement with personalized campaign

Mumbai Indians, one of the largest sports franchises in the world, has taken fan engagement to new heights with its groundbreaking AI-personalized video campaign. In collaboration with newly funded generative AI startup Gan.ai, the franchise utilized Instagram Direct Messages to send real-time automated personalized videos featuring their star cricketer Cameron Green, resulting in an unprecedented connection with their supporters throughout the IPL 2023 season. 

This is the first time ever that a sports team or brand has been able to have fans interact one-on-one on a personal level with their brand ambassador over social media at scale. With over 1.5 lakh fans engaged in real-time, this exercise transforms the possibilities of how brands engage with their audience over social media, with an Indian brand leading the way for this new digital transformation.

Anupreet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer at Gan.ai, says, “This is just the beginning of AI-powered fan and audience engagement. Sports teams and brands will continue to use our state-of-the-art generative AI technology in such innovative ways you’d think it was straight out of a sci-fi movie.”

Recognizing the importance of their loyal fanbase, Mumbai Indians embarked on this innovative campaign to enhance fan engagement and establish a personalized connection. By leveraging the power of personalized videos, the franchise aimed to express gratitude to their fans for their unwavering support.

Here's how Mumbai Indians executed this groundbreaking campaign:

• Personalized Videos: Mumbai Indians collaborated with Gan.ai to create AI-personalized videos featuring Cameron Green. Each video was tailored to address fans by their first name on Instagram, fostering a sense of connection and appreciation. Fans believed that the AI-personalized copy they received from Cameron was personally recorded just for them. 

• Targeted Fan Engagement: Anyone that commented on select Mumbai Indians Instagram posts received their personalized copy of Cameron’s video calling out their first name in their DMs. The Direct Message

The implementation of the personalized video campaign involved the following steps:

• AI-Powered Video Creation: Cameron Green recorded a single templatized video and additional footage for AI model training. Within 15 minutes, the entire shoot was completed and uploaded to Gan.ai's platform for processing.

• Integration with Gan.ai: Gan.ai seamlessly generated personalized copies of the video within seconds of someone commenting on Mumbai Indians' Instagram posts. Gan.ai’s integration with Instagram allowed its AI to efficiently extract the commenter’s first name on Instagram, generate a personalized video using that name and deliver it to every commenter’s DMs in just seconds.

• Social Media Distribution: Mumbai Indians sent the personalized videos from their official account to fans via Instagram Direct Messages. This direct and intimate connection between the cricketer and the fans heightened the impact of the campaign.

The remarkable success of Mumbai Indians' personalized video campaign demonstrates the immense power of fan engagement. By revolutionizing the way sports franchises interact with their supporters, Mumbai Indians has set a new standard in personalized marketing within the sports entertainment industry and for brands in general.

Anupreet adds, “We work with the world’s biggest brands and you won’t believe what we have in store for our future campaign releases. Brands come to us every day with the craziest ideas and we turn them into reality, it’s pretty cool! Soon every brand will use our AI to have their celebrity brand ambassadors and stakeholders personally interact with every single customers”

Mumbai Indians’ campaign success speaks for itself, with remarkable results achieved across various metrics:

1. Unprecedented Fan Engagement: The campaign generated ten times more comments and engagement on Mumbai Indians’ Instagram posts, and over 5000 fans reposted their personalized videos with heartfelt captions, showcasing their unwavering support. 

How fans reacted to the campaign on Instagram

Social Media Influence: The personalized videos sent via Instagram DMs garnered millions of likes, highlighting the extensive reach and influence of this unique approach.

Organic Fan Advocacy: Fans were thrilled to receive personalized videos from their favourite team's star cricketer, resulting in over 150,000 personalized videos sent and more than 5,000 organic reposts.

Enhanced Brand Trust: Mumbai Indians successfully fostered a stronger connection with their fanbase through the personalized approach, resulting in increased trust, loyalty, and continued support.

Mumbai Indians' groundbreaking campaign sets a new standard for fan engagement within the sports entertainment industry. By utilizing personalized videos via Instagram Direct Messages, the franchise has not only revolutionized the way fans connect with their favourite team but also created a lasting impact on their fanbase.