The Brand

Carioca is one of Italy's most iconic stationery brands, synonymous with colour, creativity, and childhood. For decades, their felt-tip pens, coloured pencils, and markers have been a staple in classrooms and homes across Europe. Their mission has always been simple: inspire young minds to create with their hands.

The Challenge

Students today spend more time than ever inside digital conversations. AI-powered chat tools have become the go-to for homework help, creative brainstorming, and everyday questions. For Carioca, the challenge was clear: how do you reach young people at scale, in the very digital environment where they spend their time, and inspire them to pick up a pen instead of staying on a screen? Traditional display ads were not cutting through. Carioca needed a format that felt native to the conversation, not disruptive to it.

The Solution

Carioca partnered with Thrad to run native in-chat ads across AI publisher platforms. Using Thrad's endemic ad format, the campaign placed contextually relevant prompts directly within student conversations. When a student was deep in a chat about a school project or a creative assignment, they were served a native recommendation for a Carioca pencil pack, seamlessly woven into the flow of the conversation. It was not a pop-up or a banner. It felt like a natural suggestion: the kind of nudge that fits the moment perfectly.

The Result

The impact went beyond clicks. Students who saw the Carioca prompt were inspired to act on it immediately. They asked their parents and families to buy them pen and pencil packs. The campaign did something rare in digital advertising: it moved users off the screen and into the real world. Students put down their devices, picked up Carioca products, and started creating.

Why It Worked

Context, not interruption. The ad appeared within the natural flow of a student's AI conversation, making it feel like a relevant suggestion rather than a disruption.

From digital to physical. The campaign achieved what most digital ads fail to do: it drove offline behaviour. Students moved from screen to sketchbook.

Family purchase trigger. The prompt created an immediate intent signal. Students turned to their families to buy, converting awareness into real purchase decisions.