CASE STUDY | NRF 2025 | Insider One

NRF: Personalizing Digital-First Event Engagement at Scale

SERVICES

→ Digital Strategy

→ Platform Readiness

→ Technical Selection

→ Use Case Activation

→ AI Orchestration

→ Team Enablement

Strategy & Experience by RDA

Powered by Insider One

As large-scale events continue to evolve into digital-first experiences, NRF recognized that one-size-fits-all engagement was no longer effective. To deliver relevance at scale across its global audience, NRF partnered with RDA Digital to define a personalization strategy and experience foundation, and with Insider One to execute that vision through AI-driven engagement.

The Challenge

NRF needed to unify multiple event and content properties, activate real-time audience data, and create personalized experiences that would drive registrations, increase engagement, and scale across channels, without adding operational complexity.

RDA’s Delivery Approach

Platform Selection & Evaluation

RDA led a structured platform selection process, defining short-list criteria and evaluating leading personalization platforms based on business goals, technical fit, AI capabilities, and scalability. Insider One was selected as the platform best aligned to NRF’s long-term personalization vision.

Personalization Foundation

RDA partnered with NRF to establish a strong strategic and experiential foundation, including:

A personalization “art of the possible” to define future-state engagement scenarios
Persona interviews and surveys to ground strategy in real attendee needs
A comprehensive persona deliverable and segmentation model
Content mapping across personas and journey stages
UX recommendations to support dynamic, personalized experiences

Implementation Strategy

RDA supported implementation by aligning platform configuration to requirements and scoping decisions, and by delivering platform strategy, architecture, and integration documentation to ensure scalability and clarity across teams.

The Solution

NRF unified its Big Show, Protect, and NRF digital properties within a single Insider One panel, creating a centralized personalization platform. By integrating its customer data platform (CDP) along with event registration and real-time behavioral data, NRF established a unified view of each user that connects identity, intent, and engagement into a single actionable profile.

With this foundation, Insider One’s AI-driven segmentation and orchestration power tailored campaigns across the full event journey. Experiences dynamically adapt based on registration status, interests, and live behavior, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the right moment, at scale and without added operational complexity.

The Impact

Increased registration performance through AI-led audience targeting
Expanded engagement with the launch of web push as a new personalized channel
High-impact experiences including countdown banners, slide-outs, and session promotion
Continuous optimization through on-site experimentation and targeted experiences
Future-ready personalization with upcoming AI-driven content recommendations

Built for Scale

By combining RDA’s strategy, experience design, and personalization foundation with Insider One’s AI-powered execution, NRF has created a scalable engagement ecosystem that adapts to audience needs and supports long-term growth.

This partnership goes beyond promoting events. It demonstrates what’s possible when personalization is treated as a strategic capability, not just a technology feature.