By introducing a new award category for achievements in the field of artificial intelligence in marketing and marketing processes, Effie Slovenia 2025 has acknowledged the significance of advanced technologies in shaping modern customer experiences and achieving business goals. On the second day of the event, two advanced examples were presented that already demonstrate how AI is transforming marketing approaches today.
Kotányi, together with Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM and founder and head of the Retoba lab, presented the conversational platform Kotányi AI-Chef – the first AI culinary ambassador in Slovenia. Pošta Slovenije introduced Pia, a voice assistant developed to support customers. Both solutions illustrate how artificial intelligence is already enabling more personalized, responsive, and inclusive brand communication, while opening up new opportunities for building relationships and trust.
Katarina Pivk Kreft, General Manager of Kotányi Slovenia, and Simon Cetin, Founder and Partner at iPROM, as well as Founder and Head of the Retoba Lab
“We are confident that 2025 will bring no shortage of best practice examples, which is why we want to give an opportunity to brands that are already successfully integrating artificial intelligence into their business processes. In doing so, we are following current technological trends and user needs, while emphasizing the role of AI in creating added value for users, particularly through improved user experience. As stated in the international Effie definition of this category, awards will go to marketing activities where artificial intelligence has been used as a key tool in achieving specific business and marketing objectives,” the statement concluded.
Kotányi AI-Chef and Pošta Slovenije’s Pia as Examples of Effective AI Use in Marketing and Marketing Processes
The first of the two presented best practice examples was the Kotányi AI-Chef project, which shows how modern technology and conversational interfaces can transform the relationship between a brand and its users. It is the first AI culinary ambassador in Slovenia, offering not only recipes and cooking advice but also establishing a sincere, personal dialogue with users. Over several months, more than 10,000 conversations were recorded, with 38% of interactions containing expressions of kindness, gratitude, and personal connection. This proves that AI, when designed with an emphasis on empathy, can become a trusted companion in the kitchen.
Katarina Pivk Kreft, General Manager of Kotányi Slovenia, emphasized that the project aims to reach younger target groups, increase engagement, and establish a deeper, more personal relationship with users.
Katarina Pivk Kreft, General Manager of Kotányi Slovenia
Simon Cetin explained that AI-Chef utilizes Kotányi brand content enriched with general knowledge from large language models, enabling the communication to be tailored to users’ specific needs – from available ingredients to cooking skill levels.
Siumon Cetin
Conversation analysis revealed that Slovenians most prefer Italian, Mediterranean, and Asian cuisines, with meat, vegetable dishes, and pasta being the most popular meals. In the future, Kotányi plans to integrate AI-Chef directly into its website, develop personalized promotional activities, and expand its use to platforms such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and voice assistants.
The second inspiring example was the interactive AI assistant Pia from Pošta Slovenije. As explained by Vanja Belec, Head of the Customer Care Department, Pia was developed in response to growing demands for optimizing contact center operations, which receives up to 1,300 calls and 1,000 customer emails per day. Since most inquiries involved general and repetitive information, Pošta Slovenije created a platform that combines cutting-edge technological trends, internal knowledge, and cross-sector collaboration supported by artificial intelligence.
Vanja Belec, Head of the Customer Care Department at Pošta Slovenije
Pia has now become a new standard for AI-powered customer support. Remarkably, it understands 12 Slovenian dialects thanks to an advanced language model adapted to the Slovenian language. It responds quickly and accurately to questions about shipments, services, and price lists by relying directly on Pošta’s back-end systems and a prepared knowledge base. Pia can simultaneously communicate with eight users. Furthermore, the 360° communication platform enables automatic recognition of email content and generates replies that are automatically sent to the appropriate operator.
Ivana Vrviščar, Member of the Management Board of Pošta Slovenije, emphasized that such a project is only possible with the full support of top management, which fully believed in its strategic importance.
A few months after implementation, Pia handles over 50% of calls and independently resolves more than 45% of them. Thanks to AI, response times in the contact center have been reduced by approximately 80%.
The Kotányi AI-Chef and Pošta Slovenije’s Pia projects concretely demonstrate the advanced use of artificial intelligence in marketing – far beyond simple automation – particularly in the domains of linguistic adaptation, empathy, and user dialogue. The introduction of the new AI-focused category within Effie Slovenia 2025 reflects the industry’s strategic direction and recognizes the importance of such solutions in shaping modern brand communication.
