Creating personalised ads in real-time

SINGAPORE-BASED tech start-up Lumin(ai)re has developed a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically create online advertisements by determining consumer tastes based on regional, cultural and product category variables.

Set up in August last year, the firm is building an ecosystem where each piece of advertising content is generated by AI in real-time to achieve a higher-than-industry average engagement.

Lumin(ai)re's AI solution uses elements such as font types, visuals, colour combinations and keywords to generate an online ad. Clients are encouraged to select a few of the generated ads, which are then pushed out into the digital space with a feedback loop that allows for adjustments to be made.

"We call this data-driven design, which is an entirely new methodology of creating ads; not based on human judgement solely, but with market performance taken into consideration," said Han Phay, Lumin(ai)re's CEO and founder.

"Through this, our core mission is to enable digital and online ads to be more effective on different groups of consumers, solely based upon the understanding that human creative taste is extremely subjective."

The company's vision is to provide AI-powered creative advertising solutions that are effective, low cost and data efficient. This enables SMEs with limited resources to have access to a powerful marketing tool. For its efforts in supporting SMEs in their sales efforts, Lumin(ai)re was an honouree in the Brands for Good 2019 awards under the "Community - Empowering Local Markets" category.

"We seek to increase the profit margins for such companies and enable them to find better success in regional and global consumer markets. It is very important to empower SMEs as they represent the lifeblood of most cities, employing a large number of people and helping to grow the economy. On the other hand, by using market data to drive ad creativity, we want consumers to be less annoyed by digital ads, and instead feel inspired," said Mr Han.

The firm, which was incorporated in August 2018, is currently working with beta customers in Singapore. Beyond its Brands for Good honour, it also recently emerged as champion in the Vikingcubator 2019 pitch competition.

Moving ahead, Lumin(ai)re is currently looking to raise funds for its upcoming Seed Round, and also looking to expand into the Japanese and Chinese markets next year.

Said Mr Han: "We have spoken to key Japanese partners to assist us in penetrating the Japanese market, and are seeking potential synergies in both Shenzhen and Shanghai. The beauty of the tech business is that solutions are highly scalable, and market penetration at a rapid pace is crucial in securing key datasets that will aid in our growth regionally."

https://www.brandsforgood.asia/luminaire