How We Used AI to Supercharge a 16-Email Concert Campaign

At CI, we believe AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it. This project shows what’s possible when you pair a strong email strategy and experienced arts marketers with a custom-built, thoughtfully leveraged AI tool.

How Did We Use AI?

1. Starting with Strategy

Before writing a single email, Alison from CI’s email team created a detailed strategy for all 16 emails: audience segments, cadence, key messages, and supporting details.

While the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus was busy rehearsing and promoting Glitter & Gingham, CI took almost the entire email lift off their plate—planning, writing, designing in Mailchimp, and finalizing each send. The client was then able to review, add the list, & schedule deployment.

To get started, we leveraged best practices about email copywriting & arts marketing, Alison’s strategy, and an example email to build a custom ChatGPT. After the tool was built, we continued to optimize its insight into the project, sharing additional resources, like the Glitter & Gingham landing page and BGMC’s brand voice guidelines. We used CI’s secure Team account, ensuring data privacy and that no client inputs trained the broader model.

2. Breaking Creative Blocks

With 16 emails to write, variety was essential. Any time creative friction hit, we used ChatGPT to:

• Draft first-pass versions for upcoming emails
• Generate five alternate angles on a message for fresh inspiration
• Suggest ways to diversify calls-to-action so each email invited a click for a new reason
• Review earlier emails and highlight repetition risks so we could keep the series dynamic
• Propose subject line variations to keep Open Rates strong without losing brand tone
• Offer alternate emotional framings (urgency, humor, community pride) so each send felt unique

3. Adding the Dolly Magic

For a Dolly-sanctioned concert, authenticity mattered. Even with our own extensive institutional Dolly knowledge, ChatGPT helped expand the list of:

• Playful lyric nods
• Famous quotes
• Philanthropic references
• Cultural moments fans would instantly recognize

This ensured Dolly fans felt right at home, while BGMC’s personality still shone through.

Here’s the email from the campaign that had the strongest click rate!

See the full email here.

4. Feedback That Feeds the Process

Once we had a first draft—sometimes sparked by AI ideas, sometimes entirely from scratch—we’d run them back through ChatGPT for feedback on:

• Consistency with previous sends
• CTA clarity and strength
• Opportunities to add variety in tone or framing

Alison also provided a second round of human review, ensuring strategy alignment and flawless Mailchimp execution before sending.

The Big Takeaway

AI didn’t replace human creativity—it extended it. With a strong strategic foundation and a clearly defined brand voice, our team used AI to brainstorm faster, test ideas quicker, and keep content fresh across 16 distinct emails. The tool stayed in the background. The results—and the humans guiding it—took center stage.

Want to see the full results from the Dolly Parton campaign? Read the Glitter & Gingham case study.