Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard uses Synthesia avatars for marketing training videos and halves production cost
Pernod Ricard used the Synthesia avatar video tool to make a first set of about ten training videos for its digital marketing teams. Its global digital marketing director told Journal du Net that skipping actors cut production cost by half and let the videos run in 13 languages.
Key figures
Copied exactly from the sources. Copy any figure with its citation.
cut by half
Production cost of the training videos after skipping an actor and film shoot (réduire le coût de production de moitié)1
13
Languages the training videos are produced in, against English with subtitles before1
What it took
Cost, team size and timeline were not disclosed in the sources.
The problem
Pernod Ricard wanted to teach its digital marketing teams about new topics such as NFTs and Web3. Until then the group had limited itself to English with subtitles, and a filmed video would have needed an actor.
What they built
The group used Synthesia, a tool that turns a script into a presentation video fronted by an AI avatar (a computer-generated presenter). It produced a first batch of about ten training videos for the digital marketing teams.
How they did it
No actor was needed for filming. A Pernod Ricard employee still designs the content and writes the instructions to the tool. The videos are then produced automatically in several languages. This sat inside a broader generative AI effort that started with tests in May 2023, usage guidelines from that month, and a cross-functional AI task force set up in mid-October 2023 to rank project ideas.
Results
Michael Mendoza, global digital marketing director, said that not using an actor cut production cost by half. The videos could be produced in 13 languages, where before the group stuck to English with subtitles. He said this raised learner engagement but gave no number.
Lessons for your project
Try a contained internal use first. Pernod Ricard applied the avatar tool to a first batch of about ten training videos for its own digital marketing teams.
Keep a person in the loop. Pernod Ricard still has an employee who designs the video content and writes the prompts.
Write usage rules before projects launch. The group issued guidelines on platforms, copyright and confidential data in May 2023.
Set up a cross-functional review group. Pernod Ricard created an AI task force spanning marketing, finance, HR and legal to rank ideas by business or productivity gain.
Caveats
- The only source is a Journal du Net interview with Pernod Ricard's global digital marketing director, Michael Mendoza. The figures are his statements and no independent source confirms them.
- No baseline cost, euro amount or number of viewers is given. The article says engagement was maximised but gives no figure.
- The source is in French. The cost quote is 'réduire le coût de production de moitié'.
- The article gives no go-live date for the videos. It says generative AI tests began in May 2023, so the deployed date shows the year only.
- The article also describes a Midjourney-made Absolut poster campaign in Canada and concept tests with other image tools. No result is reported for those, so they are not part of this case.
- This is a small first batch. The scale beyond about ten videos is not stated.
Sources
- Comment Pernod Ricard ajoute une touche d'IA générative à son cocktail marketing
Journal du Net · 2023-11-14 · Interview · journaldunet.com
Summarized in our own words from the sources above. Spotted an error? See corrections.