In the September issue of Marketing magazin, Simon Cetin, founder and head of Retoba Laboratory as well as co-founder and partner at iPROM, reflected in his column on the role of personalized artificial intelligence, which he describes as our “other self.” This concept refers to a digital twin trained on an individual’s “professional DNA” – their decisions, values, language, and knowledge – capable of reasoning, writing, and performing tasks on their behalf.

In today’s digital landscape, user attention has become one of the rarest and most valuable currencies, measured in just seconds. In this brief window, advertisers make a series of micro-decisions: which content to select, when to display it, and through which channel to deliver it. The shift from static, one-way advertising campaigns to dynamic, multi-channel, data-driven campaigns delivered in real time has become an essential part of modern marketing.
The importance of this transformation was also highlighted in an analytical article by consulting company McKinsey Unlocking the next frontier of personalized marketing. In it, the authors emphasize that the success of digital campaigns increasingly depends on a brand’s ability to reach users with the right message at the right moment. Personalized and timely offers are not merely an upgrade of existing practices but are becoming a sustainable competitive advantage.

In the first part of this article, I wrote about how SPAR Slovenia placed the SPAR Plus loyalty program and first-party customer data at the heart of its media strategy, enabling the expansion of personalized offers to more than one million user profiles. In this instalment, I will explain why SPAR Slovenia decided to build its own advertising infrastructure and which technological solutions enable real-time micro-segmentation and personalization.

In the digital world, where user attention is fragmented and competition is only a click away, the most important factor is no longer who advertises louder, but who understands the user better and addresses their needs effectively at the right moment. Data, especially that which companies collect directly from their customers (so-called first-party data), has become the foundation of trust and relevant communication. Particularly valuable are data gathered through loyalty programs, which are now becoming a central pillar of advertising and media strategies.

Since 2018, Marketing magazin has been presenting the award Zlati likalnik at the DIGGIT conference to individuals for their contributions to the Slovenian digital landscape. In seven years, these awards become a significant professional benchmark. In its July–August issue, the Marketing magazin editorial team presented this year’s recipient and looked back and spoke with previous winners, including Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM, who received the award in 2019.

In its July–August issue, Marketing Magazin featured a best practice case study on Ljubljana Airport FLY, an advanced digital advertising platform developed by iPROM in collaboration with Fraport Slovenija. The solution is based on the use of artificial intelligence and first-party data, enabling real-time automated ad optimization. By integrating reinforcement learning and behavioral microsegmentation, the platform increased conversions by over 30% while reducing the cost per conversion by nearly a third. The project was awarded both the Golden and Grand DIGGIT Awards for innovative use of data and advertising effectiveness.

A new chapter is opening in the world of digital advertising. Success is no longer just about running campaigns effectively. While these remain important, the real difference increasingly lies in a company’s ability to understand advertising as a complete system. By 2025, the focus will be on seeing advertising as an integrated structure that combines business objectives, data, communication channels, and technology into a single, coherent platform. While advertising campaigns still hold value, they are most powerful when they are embedded in a broader, strategically designed approach. Fraport Slovenia is already implementing this approach. The company is focusing on building systems that ensure the resilience, scalability, flexibility, and long-term impact of its advertising activities.

Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM and founder and head of the Retoba laboratory, spoke with the Slovenian Marketing Association about the future of marketing in the age of artificial intelligence. In the interview, he emphasized that artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer merely a tool for increasing efficiency, but a strategic interlocutor in thinking, creating, and decision-making. He shared his insights with the Slovenian Marketing Association on how AI will reshape marketing practices and what opportunities and responsibilities this transformation brings for companies and individuals.

Today, the question is no longer whether to advertise on digital channels, but whether to do so as a first and deliberate strategic choice. The focus has shifted from justifying digital advertising to evaluating the maturity and targeting of the digital approach. Businesses that do not yet recognise the importance of digital today risk losing visibility, market presence, and effectiveness tomorrow. Although market conditions are unpredictable and change rapidly, digital advertising remains a rare constant. Its value is not derived from its current popularity, but from its ability to connect data sources, advanced technologies and business objectives in real time. Compared to traditional channels, digital advertising offers faster response times, a higher degree of flexibility and more precise targeting. Today, it is a key tool for resilience and long-term growth.

Display advertising will remain the dominant form of digital advertising in 2025. Today, its role is reinforced by first-party data, artificial intelligence and new technological capabilities. Advertisers are increasingly using enriched data, predictive analytics and AI tools to segment audiences, dynamically adapt creatives and optimise media budgets in real time. This combination allows display advertising to function as a precisely targeted, measurable and effective tactic within the modern digital media ecosystem.