Customer segmentation is no longer a background marketing exercise. Instead, it has moved to the centre of how brands build relevance, drive efficiency, and protect long-term value. At the intersection of this shift sit two powerful forces, which are Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Intelligence.

Speaking in separate conversations with MARKETING EDGE, Osato Evbuomwan, Marketing Director at Moët Hennessy Nigeria and Franklin Ozekhome, Chain Reactions Africa’s Executive Vice President and Co-founder of Maskvrade, offered distinct but complementary perspectives on how customer segmentation is evolving.

While their insights emerged from different contexts and experiences, both professionals pointed to the same reality: the era of mass, one-size-fits-all messaging has faded, giving way to precision targeting, cultural context, and community-led engagement as the new drivers of relevance.

AI as a Precision Engine: Osato Evbuomwan on Smarter Segmentation

Osato Evbuomwan framed Artificial Intelligence not as a futuristic buzzword, but as a practical engine reshaping how global brands identify, reach, and retain consumers. According to her, leading multinational companies have moved decisively away from broadcasting messages to everyone at once.

Instead, they now rely on AI to pinpoint specific audience segments and behavioural cohorts, ensuring that each product speaks only to consumers for whom it is truly relevant.

“The idea of blasting communication to all and sundry no longer works,” Evbuomwan explained. “Brands are now able to identify actual cohorts and speak to them with precision.”

Using Unilever as a case study, she described how AI evaluates media performance in real time. That continuous feedback loop allows the brand to optimise spend, refine messaging, and focus resources on segments most likely to convert. As a result, global media investments work harder, waste less, and deliver stronger returns.

Personalisation That Pays: Netflix, Spotify, and Starbucks

Evbuomwan went further to demonstrate how segmentation, when powered by AI, directly translates into measurable business outcomes.

At Netflix, machine learning analyses granular user behaviour such as pause frequency, completion rates, and rewatches. Those insights shape personalised thumbnails, trailers, and recommendations. The impact is commercial, not cosmetic. Over 80 percent of content consumption on the platform now comes from recommendations, strengthening retention and lifetime value while reducing churn.

For Spotify, AI removes friction from choice. By analysing listening patterns and similarities across users, the platform curates its Discover Weekly playlist. Evbuomwan noted that this approach lifted engagement by 40 percent, largely because users no longer feel overwhelmed by options.

At Starbucks, segmentation stretches beyond marketing into operations. Through its Deep Brew platform, the brand combines customer behaviour, store-level data, and seasonal context to recommend pairings. That same intelligence helps predict staffing needs and optimise inventory.

“It’s going beyond retaining the consumer to driving business efficiency,” Evbuomwan said, pointing out that segmentation now influences how many baristas stand behind the counter at peak periods.

AI as a Co-Pilot, Not a Replacement

Crucially, Evbuomwan rejected the idea of AI as a cold automation tool. Instead, she positioned it as an invisible enabler that removes friction from everyday consumer experiences.

Drawing from her own Spotify usage, she described how AI solves real pain points, including decision fatigue. In her view, the real power of AI lies in what it quietly fixes rather than what it loudly replaces.

Still, she urged caution. Evbuomwan warned that poorly trained models can introduce data bias, leading to skewed or discriminatory outcomes. She also raised concerns about over-personalisation.

“At what point does personalisation move from interesting to creepy?” she asked, stressing that transparency and ethics remain essential to sustaining trust.

As campaigns become faster to build, sometimes within hours rather than weeks, Evbuomwan concluded that human judgment, creativity, and storytelling must remain central to marketing.

Culture Over Code: Franklin Ozekhome on the Limits of Data

While Evbuomwan focused on AI-led precision, Franklin Ozekhome, strategist and co-founder of Maskvrade, challenged marketers to rethink segmentation from a cultural standpoint.

For Ozekhome, customer segments are not just data clusters. They are living subcultures shaped by geography, platforms, language, and belief systems.

“Culture is not a one-size-fits-all thing,” he said. “What you see on the streets of Victoria Island is not what you see in Jos. Each space adds its own flavour.”

According to him, many brands fail because they rely on demographic averages while ignoring cultural context. The result is messaging that feels disconnected, forced, or inauthentic.

Why the ‘Average Consumer’ No Longer Exists

Ozekhome argued that the idea of a generic Nigerian consumer has become outdated. Even within the same age group, behaviour changes drastically depending on platform and location.

“It’s not the same way you talk to people on TikTok as you do on LinkedIn or X,” he explained.

He pointed to communities in Ajegunle, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan, where global trends are constantly reinterpreted and localised. According to him, consumers, including children as young as ten, can instantly detect when a brand misreads their culture.

That mismatch, he warned, weakens trust before a campaign even has a chance to land.

From Influencers to Community Gatekeepers

Ozekhome also challenged the industry’s dependence on celebrity endorsements. In his view, brands gain more by working with community gatekeepers rather than high-profile influencers.

These gatekeepers, he explained, are creators who are native to their communities and already shape conversations organically. By aligning with them, brands gain credibility that scripted endorsements cannot replicate.

“I would rather work with an original creator who is actually curating or creating within their space,” he said.

Such micro-communities, Ozekhome argued, offer deeper loyalty and a more enduring foundation for brand movements rather than short-lived campaigns.

The Shift From Trends to Belief Systems

At the core of Ozekhome’s philosophy lies Cultural Intelligence. He urged marketers to look beyond surface trends and interrogate the motivations behind them.

“The trend is the what. Culture is the why,” he explained.

Success, in his view, comes when brands identify segments that share their belief systems. Whether the focus is digital comics for teenagers or wellness for adults, the objective should be to build a cultural operating system that remains active, relevant, and responsive.

Two Paths, One Reality

Although Evbuomwan and Ozekhome approached segmentation from different directions, their insights converge on a shared conclusion. Modern marketing demands both precision and empathy.

AI provides the tools to target, optimise, and scale. Cultural Intelligence supplies the understanding needed to connect, belong, and endure. Brands that balance both stand the best chance of remaining relevant in a market where audiences are no longer passive, predictable, or uniform.

For both professionals, in today’s landscape, segmentation is no longer about slicing audiences. It is about understanding people.