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Here are the recommended reads for this week and why they matter:
This week’s stories show how AI is pushing personalization to new heights. One explores the rise of AI individualization, where marketers move beyond broad segments to treat each shopper as a “segment of one,” aiming for the elusive “perfect send.” The other takes us behind the launch of an AI stylist that brings the feel of an in-store consultation into a mobile app. Together, they highlight how brands are racing to harness AI not just for efficiency, but to deliver experiences that feel tailored, authentic, and personal.
1. Can AI Send the Perfect Ecommerce Promo?
Armando Roggio, Practical Ecommerce, 9/8/2025
This story on PracticalEcommerce explores AI individualization (AI-I) and how artificial intelligence is reshaping ecommerce marketing. By drawing on first-party data such as browsing behavior, purchase history, and engagement, AI-I goes beyond broad segments and treats each shopper as a “segment of one,” tailoring offers, content, and timing so messages feel timely, relevant, and personal.
Making it work requires more than technology alone. Clean data, proper normalization, and continuous feedback loops where every click, purchase, or skip refines customer profiles are essential. With these foundations in place, marketers can move closer to the “perfect send,” a campaign so precise it could achieve the ultimate benchmark: a 100% open rate.
2. Inside Ralph Lauren’s AI partnership with Microsoft and its new chatbot
Asa Hiken, AdAge, 9/9/2025
After a year of daily meetings and data sharing with Microsoft engineers, Ralph Lauren has unveiled Ask Ralph, an AI stylist that greets shoppers when they open the brand’s U.S. app. Built on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI platform and trained on Ralph Lauren’s catalog, archives, and style guides, the chatbot suggests full outfits and answers style questions like “What should I wear to a concert?” or “How can I style my navy-blue men’s blazer?”
The launch shows how big brands are racing to bake AI into shopping. L’Oréal with Nvidia, Mattel with OpenAI, and now Ralph Lauren with Microsoft are all creating custom models powered by their own data. For Ralph Lauren, the goal is to replicate the experience of an in-store stylist while keeping guardrails in place, a test of how fashion can use AI to scale personalization without losing authenticity.
In Summary
These developments underline a bigger truth: AI is shifting personalization from a marketing tactic to a core business strategy. What matters now is not just adopting new tools but embedding them with the data discipline and brand authenticity needed to earn lasting trust. The winners will be the companies that treat personalization as an ongoing commitment, using AI to deliver value in ways that feel natural, consistent, and enduring.
Check back next week for another roundup of Media That Matters.
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Published on
updated
September 11th, 2025
