How to combine a strategy created by people and AI technologies? Case of izi and the SHOTS agency

izi is a youth mobile operator from Kazakhstan, operating throughout the country and in Kyrgyzstan. Today, the app is used by more than 1 million active users every month. But izi is not only about communication and SMS. The app also has games, videos, TV series, music and other features. So once the brand stood out with the positioning of an «entertainment operator» created by the SHOTS agency. But the market was growing, as was izi.

It was time to update the positioning, and do it with both the time and the demands of a young audience.

First: strategy

The SHOTS team started not with ideas, but with in-depth research. A series of qualitative interviews with izi users and competitors, market analysis and analysis of the brand's business mechanics.

The study revealed an unobvious problem: although izi had been communicating about itself as an «entertainment operator» for several years, users did not perceive it that way. For most people, izi was still primarily a mobile operator, and the content in the app was a pleasant bonus, but not the main reason for choosing.

At the same time, the study showed that everyone needs simplification. Everyone is looking for it in their own way: someone wants to save money, someone time, and the rest, their own resource. Or all at the same time.

And there's a reason for that. Life for young people today is not the easiest: experience is needed even before the first job, everyone around them seems to achieve quick results except you, and there is not enough energy for anything. And this is not to mention the global increase in the cost of living. Therefore, young people choose to simplify what is possible, and this is where the request appeared, to which izi already had an answer.

The positioning, which was already true for the brand: izi is a brand that makes customers' lives easier

Thus, the platform «With izi, it's easier» was born, which responds to the audience's request not only through communication, but through the product itself: online SIM card activation, courier delivery, a calculator that calculates your actual expenses, and on top of that, bonuses for games and content inside the app.

The platform is built to work for different audiences and be revealed in different channels — from the app and social media to outdoor advertising and merch.

The first campaign: entirely from SHOTS AI Unit

The characters speak naturally, wear trendy clothes and engage in youth activities. Only this izi city does not exist. The video was created entirely by the AI ​​Unit of the SHOTS agency: actors, locations, the world of izi, everything was generated by AI.

«AI did not replace our work on the project — it gave it a new form. Strategy, positioning, script — everything was born in the same way as any good case is born: from research and understanding of people. We used AI where it is really strong — in production. It made it possible to show the world of izi the way the team imagined it, without compromising between the idea and the budget,» says Petro Storozhenko, creative director and co-founder of SHOTS.