CoolerX Expands AI Ad-Targeting Capabilities

In-store digital merchandising platform CoolerX (formerly Cooler Screens) has expanded its contextual targeting capabilities with the addition of 12,000 new micro-audience segments to help brands predict shopper intent. 

These segments will help brands target shoppers across brick-and-mortar stores on video cooler displays from CoolerX. The rollout offers brands and retailers access to more AI-enabled in-store audience insights and targeting capabilities to “dynamically and contextually” engage consumers in their final moments of decision-making, according to a media release.

CoolerX’s One Store One Platform solution includes an AI-intent engine, which analyzes data inputs including customer behavior, contextual signals and point of sale data to create unique audience micro-segments, per the release. 

The company says its platform delves beyond conventional, category-level audience segmentation, reaching the brand level to build on brand development indexes (BDIs) and traditional demographics such as age, income and ethnicity to create more nuanced customer segments. (BDI quantifies how well a brand performs in a market, compared with its average performance across all markets.) This granular insight enables brands to target their campaigns and messaging to specific subsets of consumer segments.

Examples of micro-audience segments include:  

• Generational segments such as Millennials and Gen X.
• Demographic segments such as income level and designated market area.
• Psychographic segments based on values, interests and activities.
• Consumer Product Consumption segments based on products purchased in store.

"Our platform's strength lies in its ability to discern consumer intent at a granular level, translating inputs including browsing behaviors and sales data into actionable audience insights," Artem Lavrinovich, chief data and product officer, CoolerX, said in the release. 

“For instance, identifying consumers with a high propensity for certain categories, such as energy drinks, enables us to target them with unparalleled specificity,” he added. “This approach not only supports omnichannel campaigns but also introduces a new level of targeting precision, particularly for brands looking to connect with consumers demonstrating a clear intent for specific products or categories." 

CoolerX's expansion of its contextual targeting capabilities allow brands to predict intent in ways previously unique to online retailers. Rather than using personal information, CoolerX applies AI-enabled algorithms to demographic, psychographic and contextual data, along with real-time behavioral data, to serve the right content at the right time. This approach also adds another layer to the growing in-store retail media landscape.

“CoolerX's micro-audience segments enable more advanced in-store targeting, enhancing the appeal of in-store retail media,” said Mark Bennett, executive vice president of Mod Op, a digital marketing agency that will test CoolerX’s solution.

CoolerX’s in-store AI software solution is already in operation at retailers including Kroger, Walgreens, Giant Eagle’s GetGo, Chevron and Western Union.