Samsung CMO says AI has hit a “tipping point” for hyper-personalized marketing

Samsung CMO Allison Stransky says artificial intelligence has reached a “tipping point” that’s fundamentally changing how marketers reach consumers, enabling hyper-personalized campaigns that were previously impossible at scale. The shift represents both Samsung’s biggest opportunity and challenge as the tech giant races to leverage its vast first-party data ecosystem while navigating new AI-powered search behaviors that complicate traditional attribution models.

What you should know: Samsung is moving beyond basic personalization toward what Stransky calls “hyper-personalization,” using AI to connect multiple data sources across its ecosystem.

• The company built its first clean room in 2025 and has a pipeline of additional clean rooms planned to enable better marketing partnerships with retailers.
• Samsung’s approach connects data from SmartThings connected home app, customer service interactions, retail partners, and on-device usage patterns.
• “We have a roadmap to be there in about a year or so, in terms of finding the data sources, finding the AI tools, and then, ultimately, hopefully, reaching people way more relevantly,” Stransky explained.

In plain English: Clean rooms are secure digital spaces where companies can combine their customer data with partners’ data without sharing sensitive information directly—like having a neutral meeting room where both sides can analyze combined insights without revealing their individual customer lists.

The marketing challenge: Tech product marketing differs fundamentally from beauty marketing due to product complexity and creator access limitations.

• “Your beauty arsenal is an ecosystem, but everything essentially does one thing. But in tech, with your phone, for example: Is it a phone? A camera? Is it for logging onto the internet? Is it my AI device?” Stransky said.
• Physical tech products are harder to distribute to creators compared to beauty samples, creating content creation bottlenecks.
• Samsung works with both technical experts who analyze product features and creative artists who showcase capabilities.

Reddit emerges as key platform: Samsung is finding unexpected success on Reddit through both paid advertising and community engagement.

• The platform provides a “spiraling benefit” because large language models increasingly pull content from Reddit discussions.
• “If you win on Reddit, you win on Reddit — but then you also influence Gemini and chat,” Stransky noted.
• Samsung employs Reddit-specific creators who manage conversations and create platform-appropriate content.

AI search disruption: The rise of AI-powered search summaries is forcing Samsung to rethink SEO and attribution strategies.

• Traditional attribution breaks down when consumers make decisions based on AI summaries rather than clicking through to websites.
• “If I search ‘best new TV,’ and it comes up in the Gemini summary, and I make a decision off of that, and I go and buy it at Best Buy, I have no idea that that even happened,” Stransky explained.
• Samsung is working with specialists to optimize for AI search platforms, though the companies don’t reveal their ranking algorithms.

Connected home vision: Samsung’s ultimate goal is converting all customers into smart home users through its SmartThings ecosystem.

• The company has partnered with Ashley Furniture to create in-store vignettes demonstrating connected home experiences.
• “The smart home is not a techie hub — it’s a personalized, predictive, private, holistic solution for improving your life,” Stransky said.
• Physical demonstrations are crucial for expensive, large products where “seeing is believing.”

The speed challenge: Stransky identifies keeping pace with rapid technological change as Samsung’s biggest obstacle.

• “The biggest challenge is moving fast enough: Are we going to get ahead of SEO in an LLM world? Are we going to use our data well enough?” she said.
• Samsung’s size creates both advantages in data collection and challenges in testing new approaches quickly.
• The company is focused on “striking the right balance” between innovation and risk management.

By the numbers: Samsung Electronics reported 79.14 trillion won ($56 billion) in consolidated revenue for Q1 2025, marking an all-time quarterly high according to the company.