At Loblaw, Marketing & Brands is putting AI to work

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of how Marketing & Brands works at Loblaw. Teams are using AI tools in their everyday work to move faster, improve consistency, drive speed to market, and create more time for the kind of innovative thinking that leads to better customer experiences.

Project Trailblaze brought a team together to put that approach into practice, explore real business challenges, test how AI could support the work, and build the skills and confidence to use emerging technology responsibly.

From everyday work to hands-on experimentation

Project Trailblaze was about more than building AI tools. It was designed to empower teams to tackle real business needs.

Over two days, more than 120 teams across 24 teams in Marketing & Brands worked through 24 practical business challenges using ChatGPT Enterprise. Participants completed training, reviewed their case studies in advance, and arrived ready to build. Teams had clear roles (from Quarterback and Architect to Researcher and Storyteller) to help each group move quickly while staying focused on the challenge to solve.

The result was 24 GPT prototypes developed around practical use cases, including copy creation, content review, meeting notes, vendor information checks, sales updates, competitive scanning, and briefing support. The prototypes provide an opportunity to test where AI can meaningfully support teams, what needs refinement, and where there may be value in broader adoption.

Building capability, not just running a challenge

At the end of the hackathon, judges from Loblaw Digital, Loblaw Technology, and Marketing & Brands selected six winning GPTs. Now, the 24 GPT prototypes are being refined, measured, and prioritized for broader use across Marketing & Brands. That phased approach matters. It reflects a responsible way to scale, by learning from real use, validating what works, improving what needs adjustment, and expanding widely where there is clear value. The same process also creates a foundation for future use cases, helping teams turn promising ideas into practical solutions.

This is how AI capability gets built in practice. Not through one-off experimentation alone, but through a steady combination of enablement, testing, governance, and adoption.

It’s not just Marketing & Brands…

For Loblaw, this hackathon is part of something bigger. Building AI readiness across the organization helps create the conditions for better decisions and stronger collaboration, while preparing for the technologies that will shape retail in the years ahead.

“Through internal enablement, practical experimentation, and collaboration with allies and partners such as OpenAI, we’re building the skills and confidence needed to welcome new technologies responsibly and apply them in ways that create real business value,” said Charu Pujari, Senior Vice President, Engineering and AI at Loblaw. “That is how we strengthen our ability to support colleagues, serve customers, and help Canadians Live Life Well.”