Plaid Launches Marketing AI Transformation Support Service

Plaid, Inc. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kenta Kurahashi) announces the launch of its "Marketing AI Transformation Support Service," which provides comprehensive, hands-on support for AI transformation in the marketing field.

This service is provided primarily by "PLAID ALPHA," a professional service that accelerates CX (customer experience) transformation. Focusing on customer context data—such as customer context and intentions—the service supports AI transformation across the entire marketing activity, from AI-first brand experience design to marketing process reconstruction and organizational development. A key feature is the continuous support for building a cycle that generates sustainable improvement, where strategy, implementation, and organizational change rotate in sync.

Background: Shifting to an "AI-first" lifestyle and the two aspects of AI transformation in marketing

With the rapid implementation of AI in society, consumer information contact and purchasing behaviors are in a major transitional period. As "AI-first" lifestyles spread—where AI mediates behind experiences, such as the integration of AI summaries into searches like Google AI Overviews, the replacement of search experiences by AI dialogue like Perplexity and ChatGPT, and decision delegation via personal AI agents—new expectations are emerging.

What this change questions is not individual measure efficiency, but the very essence of marketing. Marketing is fundamentally about deeply understanding customers, delivering valuable experiences, and building lasting relationships. With the AI-first lifestyle, structural change is required in two aspects:

AI Transformation of Customer Touchpoints | Redefining Customer Experience
- Understanding new information exploration behaviors mediated by AI and ensuring the company's brand and information are correctly interpreted by AI.
- Designing and delivering unique, valuable experiences that move customers through the AI filter.

AI Transformation of Organization/Operations | Redesigning Marketing Processes and Organization
- Beyond replacing human tasks with AI, placing data and AI at the core of marketing activities and redefining the process from customer understanding to execution as AI-first.
- Updating the organization to autonomously cycle this new process and continuously create value.

These two transformations cannot be realized by tool introduction based solely on system requirements. Leveraging the track record and expert knowledge accumulated in data utilization and CX design by PLAID ALPHA, this service converts AI into concrete marketing results and business value.

An approach to deliver brand-aligned experiences beyond the homogenization of AI utilization
In an era where AI can instantaneously derive "approximate correct answers," AI utilization aimed solely at efficiency leads to homogenized customer experiences. To remain chosen by consumers, it is essential to design and implement "brand uniqueness" that reflects the company's philosophy and delivers experiences that pleasantly exceed customer expectations, in addition to rational judgments derived from data.

This service realizes marketing AI transformation that leverages brand uniqueness through the following technical foundation and structure:

Utilization Platform for Customer Context Data
Instead of just feeding scattered enterprise data into AI, context such as customer behavior, intentions, and brand value standards is structured as data, linked in a state where AI can understand the background of decisions. This foundation utilizes Plaid's context layer data platform, "Context Lake."

Comprehensive Hands-on Support by PLAID ALPHA Experts
A team of technology and CX specialists leads from upstream processes like strategy formulation and requirement definition to field implementation. Furthermore, through prototyping in specific scenarios, they continuously support changes in business workflows and mindset shifts accompanying AI adoption.

Five Solutions for Marketing AI Transformation
The service captures the overall picture of marketing activities in five areas, providing solutions for each. With customer context data at the axis common to all solutions, it can support both specific issue-based introduction and comprehensive cross-domain transformation.

1. Brand AI | Brand & Customer Strategy Area
Designs and implements strategies to prevent the homogenization of experiences by AI and incorporates "brand identity" into AI judgments and output. It structures brand philosophy and customer understanding into a form handleable by AI, realizing unique brand experiences beyond efficiency tools.