We learned way more new things that just one, but that doesn't make a good title, does it. :)
But the story is fun, we promise.
Almost a year ago our founder Blaž made a song for a friend; his name in the chorus, a few inside jokes, his quirks woven into the lyrics. It became the hit of the night. Everyone kept asking the same thing: "How did you make this?"
So we thought there have to be other people who'd want to gift a personalised birthday song, right?
Thats why we built My Birthday Song ( mybdsong.com).
It makes a real 2–3 minute song with the brithday boy or girl as the main song character. It generates unique lyrics across 14 genres — pop, rap, punk, metal, narodnozabavna, Balkan, Dalmatian ballad and more — in Slovenian, Croatian and English. Generation takes 1–3 minutes.
Three steps, a couple of minutes, no registration, no music skills needed:
- describe the birthday person
- pick a genre
- gift the song (you get an MP3, the lyrics, and a link)
A few decisions we made on purpose, because each one came from how we think about engagement: no forced sign-up, a free preview before you pay, and always two variants plus a re-generate button, because AI music isn't perfect on the first try and pretending otherwise just frustrates people.
Now the part the title promised.
The real lesson was realising we'd just built a repeatable way to manufacture a personalised moment. And that the exact same engine can sit inside a brand and create those moments for their customers, at scale, automatically.
Most brands talk about personalisation and mean a first name in an email subject line.
What we're describing is different. A customer hands over two or three details, and a few seconds later they get back something made only for them. A song. An image. A keepsake. Something they actually want to keep and show people.
Here's what that looks like in the businesses we work with.
Retail loyalty: The birthday that earns its reward
A loyalty member's birthday is usually a coupon and a generic Happy Birthday card.
Forgettable. Seen. Boring.
Now imagine they open the app and get a short song with their name in it, in a genre they picked, with the discount code sung into the last line. They get an MP3 and a link they'll send to three friends before they redeem anything.
You've turned a transactional touch into earned reach. The customer does the sharing, the brand gets seen, and the reward still does its job.
Telco: The year-in-review, but they can watch it
Telcos sit on the richest behavioural data of any sector. Use that for delight instead. At year-end, generate each customer a personalised recap lyric video: their year on the network, the places they travelled, the people they called most, set to music.
It's the Spotify Wrapped feeling, except it comes from the company that usually only contacts them about an invoice. That contrast is the whole point.
Automotive: The handover nobody forgets
Buying a car is already an emotional, expensive moment, and most dealerships waste it.
The salesperson hands over keys and paperwork. Instead, the dealer enters the model, the buyer's name and one or two personal details, and hands over a celebratory road-trip song with the keys, delivered as a QR code on the welcome card.
The buyer plays it in the showroom and films it on their phone. You didn't just sell a car. You handed them a reason to post about it.
Insurance: Celebrate the moment, not the policy
Insurance is the hardest sector to make people feel anything about, because the product is anxiety.
So don't personalise the product. Personalise the life event behind it.
New home, new baby, new car insured ... these are the moments people actually care about. Send a personalised illustrated keepsake (or a gentle song) that celebrates the milestone and quietly carries the brand.
This one deliberately isn't a song, to make a point: the pattern generalises to any personalised touchpoint.
Songs are one output. Images, cards and short videos are others. The engine is the same.
And it doesn't have to point outward at customers at all. The same engine works inside the company:
- as a team anthem people actually want to play,
- a song for an employee hitting ten years
- a "best AI song wins" internal contest
- a customer thank-you nobody saw coming
In previous newsletter Chapter 10 we talked about Loyalty programs: Loyalty 2.0, that rewards people for more than their purchases.
This is what that looks like in practice. A personalised song or any other content does something a discount never can: it makes someone feel seen.
And being seen is what people remember.
If there's a moment hiding somewhere in your business; an onboarding step, a milestone, a birthday, a thank-you nobody bothers to make special ... that's usually exactly where the engagement you've been missing is sitting.
And now it's something you can actually build.
We can help you brainstorm, align, plan and build modern, AI powered consumer solutions.
