“It’s all smart kitchens and talking bikes these days.”
Personalization has been on everyone’s list of important trends for more than a decade. But in high-volume consumer goods it’s hard to execute in a cost-effective way. Here are two prominent examples I ran into during travels last fall.
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, including printed bottles with first names, debuted in Australia in 2012 and traveled worldwide before coming to the US this summer. (We found these in Hungary.) The consumer can find her own name or share a bottle with a friend of a matching name. This clever implementation allows the personalization to take place (presumably with little added cost) at the point of manufacture. Matching personalized bottles to consumers is somewhat hit-and-miss, but searching for your name becomes part of the fun.
M&M personalization at M&M’s World in Las Vegas.
Personalized M&Ms are printed with a message of the consumer’s choosing; the consumer can also choose the color of the candies. (I chose my granddaughter’s name on various shades of pink, at the M&M experience location in Las Vegas.) In this case the personalization takes place at the point of sale. The price is significantly higher than the price of plain candies with the traditional M&M logo. But the personalized product is embedded in an elaborate experience, and doting grandparents are willing to pay the price and create a memory that includes the brand.
About the author
Related posts
