Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is omnipresent.

You can’t open your phone or walk into a meeting without someone dropping the AI bomb. But while everyone’s busy flirting with AI—tweaking copy with ChatGPT or dabbling in machine learning —few are taking it seriously enough to turn the hype into hard results. We’re beyond the era of just “playing around” with AI. It’s time to get strategic, to move past the experimentation phase, and to get clear on how AI can truly drive meaningful impact.

One of The House of Marketing’s long-standing grocery retail clients reached out to Customer Collective with exactly this question: “We know AI has the power to transform our business, but how and where do we start?”

The Roadmap to AI Success

Our cross-functional AI team from Customer Collective, led by The House of Marketing curated an AI roadmap tailored to their needs. Here’s how we turned AI from a buzzword into a game-changing reality for them.

Step 1: Inspiration Session—Demystifying AI

We kicked things off with an inspiration session aimed at bringing interesting and relevant AI use cases to the table. In just a few hours, we demystified AI for our client, illustrating its potential not as a distant future technology but as a real opportunity for business innovation. We focused on practical examples & trends specifically relevant to the grocery retail sector, ensuring that each use case was rooted in real-world relevance and sparked discussion and inspiration across the different teams.

Step 2: Stakeholder Engagement—Gauging Confidence in AI

Understanding the organization’s readiness for AI was our next priority. The Customer Collective team conducted a series of internal interviews with key stakeholders across various roles and levels within the retailer’s organization. These conversations provided invaluable insights into the beliefs, concerns, and aspirations surrounding AI. This step was crucial in identifying the organizational culture and readiness for AI at our client.

Step 3: Vision Workshop—Crafting an AI Manifesto

Based on the insights from the stakeholder interviews, we hosted a vision workshop to articulate the retailer’s vision for AI. By aligning the vision on AI with the company’s broader business goals, we ensured that the roadmap would not only consist out of innovative, isolated projects but would be a pragmatic, cohesive and sustainable strategy. This workshop was more than just a discussion—it was the birthplace of an AI manifesto that would guide the company’s AI initiatives in the years to come.

Step 4: Value Proposition Design—Bringing ideas to life

Once the vision was clear, it was time to translate it into concrete ideas. Through a Value Proposition Design process, we generated a prioritized list of possible AI use cases, each checked based on its feasibility, viability & desirability. The ideas spanned from supercharging the ad creation process to AI powered basket generation. To make these concepts tangible, we created detailed concepts cards with tangible mockups, providing the client with a clear visual representation of what the use case could achieve within their business.

Step 5: Detailed Roadmap—From ideation to execution

The final step was to create a detailed AI roadmap, complete with milestones, business cases, and implementation plans. We did the strategic homework, ensuring the roadmap was robust and ready to impress the board during the next budget round. This presentation marked the transition from strategy to execution.

The Outcome: A Strategic launch into the AI-driven future

The result? Due to this detailed & pragmatic roadmap, our client was able to secure buy-in and the right budget for their AI initiatives. By strategically embedding AI into their business strategy, they positioned themselves at the forefront of grocery retail innovation. The synergies created across departments have set the stage for a new era of customer-centric innovation in the organization, driven by the power of AI.

Ready to Transform YOUR Business with AI?

So, what about your organization? Is AI still just a buzzword, or are you ready to fully embrace it and discover its true potential for your business? Whether you’re just starting

out or looking to refine your existing AI strategy, our team of experts is here to guide you every step of the way.