Mats Persson, CEO of Cavai, sheds light on the power of conversational ads and reveals Cavai’s goals for the year ahead.

Welcome, Mats. Tell us about your journey in the advertising space and how you arrived at Cavai.

I’ve been in the software development industry for most of my life and have been fortunate enough to work with a range of different businesses, from start-ups to venture capital companies. I then spent six years at third-party ad-serving platform, Adform, before I went to IBM.

It’s been four years since I dipped my toe into advertising, so it’s great to be getting back out there again - particularly with such a promising company. Cavai definitely has that entrepreneurial spirit - Steffen, Tommy and the team have a lot of enthusiasm for what they do and there’s this deep desire to innovate and reinvent. This, combined with our extensive knowledge of the industry, has created a solid foundation. Now, we just need to work on achieving all our goals.

Conversational is at the heart of Cavai. What would you say sets it apart from other ad formats?

Programmatic has been the king of the ad industry for a while, and though for many it’s still an integral part of the marketing campaign, I think it’s made a lot of marketers forget about the importance of really effective creative.

There’s been such a big focus on data - and lately, in particular, how to extract data in a cookieless world - that some brands are at risk of becoming complacent when it comes to the content of their ads. And that’s where Cavai comes in: we revitalise and revamp that creative with our conversational solutions.

As well as being creative at the core, conversational sparks engagement and drives attention. It’s essentially based on the instant messaging model. People answer a question in an ad, then click through to another question, and so on - all delivering useful insights to brands about their individual desires, wants and needs. All anonymized, of course. There are no ‘grey’ areas when it comes to measuring attention - with conversational, it’s precise and it’s proven.

Can conversational complement other ad formats?

100%. This is another reason why it’s such a stand-out ad solution - it’s incredibly versatile. Brands can add conversational to existing creative formats - banner, display, social - and instantly amplify it. One format that complements conversational really well is video - both are engaging and eye-catching, so they feed off each other.

A video ad on its own can be quite generic in that the message it’s giving off may not resonate with everyone. By adding conversational to the mix, brands can essentially put people in the driving seat and deliver a message that speaks to that individual.

Take the example of shopping for a laptop. A customer may be looking for a super light laptop they can carry around - that’s their ‘need.’ A plain video format may not hit on that ‘need’ and may focus on a completely different feature, such as ‘superior OLED screen.’

By using conversational, a brand can ask people questions about what they’re looking for in a laptop. After answering a few questions, they will be served a video that’s tailored to them. In this case, they'll discover how thin the chassis is and be able to make a decision straight away.

What is Cavai Cloud and how does it work in practice?

Cavai Cloud is essentially our platform - it’s where you build conversational ads. Once a brand has built a ‘conversation’, they’ll distribute it to consumers via regular channels such as programmatic buying platforms.

Right now, Cavai Cloud is mainly operated by our own conversational specialists and designers, but we are looking to build out the platform to be more self-serve, so that brand clients can create these conversations themselves.

How does Cavai help advertisers in a third-party cookieless world?

It’s important to stress here that we absolutely can work with brands who still want or need to use some level of third-party cookies in their campaigns, as our tech is complementary to traditional methods. But essentially, you can get a lot of insights about customers from conversational without using third-party data. For example: How many people responded to the ad? When did they drop off the conversation? Did they prefer one product element over another? How long did they engage for?

These are all questions Cavai can help answer - without the use of cookies - as we prepare for a cookieless future.

What are Cavai’s goals for the year ahead?

Number one, perhaps unsurprisingly, is expansion. Cavai has built up a great global presence over the past few years in our core conversational advertising space. We’ve expanded our footprint to Asia, Europe, and America , and we aim to expand that footprint into even more markets as we grow.

Another key goal for us is to keep pace with the developments in the industry, such as engagement and attention metrics, while continuing to deliver to our clients’ expectations. In the long run, this kind of consistency will more than pay off, and will ensure that our value proposition continues to resonate with clients. We see ourselves as a ‘market leader’, so it’s naturally important that we keep up with these trends.

Our third objective is to have fun. At the heart of any organisation is its people, so we’ll definitely continue to create as nurturing an environment as possible. Research shows time and time again that it’s those who enjoy their job and understand the value of their role that are the most motivated, so our company culture is always going to be a focus area for us.

I think what gives us a real advantage is that, although we’ve established ourselves, we haven’t become complacent. We continue to strive for innovation and agility. We continue to have that burning fire, that passion, which will drive us on to reach all our goals.

Also published in The Drum