flexistuff

I’m a fan of Facebook. The ads - not so much. So when I saw a little ad that read “Dynamic VDP by Fuse. Create a personalized Mad Marketing poster for yourself and experience Fuse's variable data publishing capabilities”, I had to check it out. (You will recall from my last post that VDP means variable data printing or publishing.)

After clicking on the ad, I was lead to a landing page that asked me “What type of marketer are you? The options were:

1. Brains – I’m the one with all the BIG ideas around here.
2. Implementer - Hmph... I'm the one who makes stuff work.
3. Seller - I'm the only one who makes money here!

Next I was asked, which do you find most difficult?

1. Sending trigger-based follow-up campaigns
2. Using multiple channels (web, email, print)
3. Tracking responses in real time

Want to know what type of marketer I am?

Every industry has its own lexicon - words used to describe process, products and procedures. I’ve been an online marketer for 14 years, and now a social media marketer on top of that. When I became the Director of Marketing for a billion dollar North American printing company I found myself being amused and then confounded by the words used in the print industry that although sounded similar, had a much different meaning when applied in the online world. That’s why I thought I’d provide these definitions to explain the difference:

In the internet world, digital describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms of two states: positive and non-positive. But don’t confuse that with digital printing which is the reproduction of images on a physical surface. It is generally used for short print runs, and for the customization of print media.

The World Wide Web, abbreviated as WWW and commonly known as The Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents contained on the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them by using hyperlinks. But when it comes to web printing, it has nothing to do with the World Wide Web. Web printing refers to work produced on large presses that use rolls (webs) of paper, as opposed to paper that's cut into sheets. Web printing is suitable for very large quantities and/or very long runs.

Here is the definition that caused the most problem when I spoke to my colleagues:

I just received the second issue of the My Maybelline New York personalized beauty guide. It’s even better than the first one I got because it has more personalized recommendations, more styling tips, and more coupons.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is by far, the best marketing communications piece I’ve received that combines personalization, taking my preferences into account, in order to generate a truly customized piece that is both relevant and targeted – to one person, me!

Last year, I visited the myMNY site, answered a few questions about my eye colour, skin type, and makeup style. In return I received a 20 page digest sized catalogue provides me with tips on how to create looks that suit my makeup style, product recommendations that match my eye colour and skin type, products chosen for my style and personality, AND best of all coupons, personalized with my name.

That’s what great marketing is all about - determining a customer’s need, and delivering an offer – all to increase customer loyalty. A recent study by the CMO Council also highlights the success factors of a loyalty or reward program…

Imagine a yellow rose that smells like lemon, or a white rose that smells like vanilla. Those are the options that could be available at your local florist shop, according to scientists at the University of Florida in Florida who are developing the flowers.

As reported by Discovery News, this research could lead to custom-designed flower scents and better smelling fruits and vegetables. What gives a flower’s aroma is found in its genes and now that that this gene has been identified, scientists can grow flowers with never-before scents, which include roses that smell like root beer, or petunias that smell like wintergreen. How interesting it would be to be able to purchase roses that smell like your favourite perfume.

But, don’t look for these flowers in your grocery store just yet…

OK guys, this blog post is for you, so listen up. If you want to step up your game and show your sweetie just how special she is, give her a gift for Valentine’s that’s personalized just for her. Here are my Top 5 personalized Valentine’s Day gift picks that will show your darling that she is one of a kind. You’ll actually be surprised when I tell you that two of my suggestions are actually (almost) FREE.

The tried and true Valentine’s Day gifts are roses, chocolate and champagne. Have you thought about considering a personalized version of each? Read on…

“Say it”, Literally - with Roses

Red roses are probably one of the most popular flowers for Valentine’s Day. At the website Speaking Roses, you can have a personalized message, her photo, your photo, or even a corporate logo embossed on rose petals. Unbelievable huh!? Their patented technology process allows for the printing of images, text and just about anything else on rose petals without harming or shortening the life of the flower – making it truly a unique gift. A 3 rose bouquet with “I love you” costs a reasonable $20 while a dozen sells for $75. The set up fee for a unique phrase, photo, logo, or icon costs $25.00 extra.

Customize your Chocolate

I’ve never met a woman who doesn’t like chocolate. So you’ll always be safe with this gift. I present 3 options:

• Hershey’s offers customers the ability to personalize their own chocolate bar wrappers not only for Valentine’s Day, but for birthdays, weddings, and a whole host of other occasions.
• At Chocri, you can go one step further and customize your own chocolate bar. Choose a chocolate base (white, dark or milk chocolate), and then add your favorites out of more than 100 toppings, including a Valentine’s Day message. Name your decadent creation, which will be printed on the package.
• At My M&Ms, you can choose the colour of your candy (white, pink, red, and more), add a personal message, and even upload a photo that will be printed on your candy. How very sweet!

There's more...

I’ve written extensively about custom food and drink products for humans and have provided numerous examples that have included customized chocolate, cereal, muesli, protein bars, drinks, and even food packaging.

Now, thanks to RedMoon Custom Pet Food, you can create your own mix of dog or cat food based on their specific nutritional requirements. Not only that, but you can custom fortify their food with supplements such as an immune/antioxidant booster, hip and joint reviver or a natural skin and coat supplement. As a final touch, you can even have each custom-blended bag named after your beloved furry friend, and soon you’ll be able to have your pet’s photo printed on each bag too. Awww, cute!

The site boasts that the natural ingredients used in RedMoon products are the finest available, and include regionally sourced antibiotic and hormone-free meats, whole raw fruits and vegetables and low glycemic carbohydrate sources such as yellow peas, plus all-natural chelated vitamins and minerals. Each base kibble recipe is slow cooked in small batches to preserve essential nutrients, and all products are gluten, gray, soy, wheat rice and corn free.

With processing facilities in Brainerd, Minnesota and Crossfield, Alberta, Canada, the company ensures they use local ingredients, and ships anywhere in North America too. How much does personalized pet food cost?

In my last post, “Does Personalization Really Work?, I provided insights from a webinar on the subject that was presented by What They Think - a site that provides printing industry news, commentary, analysis and research. The webinar was sponsored by MindFireInc a company providing on-demand software that lets marketers create PURLs and landing pages with ease.

A report published by MindFire titled The Response Rates of Personalized Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns, further enhances the view that personalized marketing campaigns have been posting strong and meaningful results compared with traditional, static campaigns.

Citing research from the Print on Demand Initiative (PODi), and Calson, the average response rates by campaign objective as depicted in the chart shows that whether it be for the purpose of direct sales, lead generation or nurturing leads, the response rates for personalized marketing initiatives outperformed static campaigns.

When executives were asked to rate the overall effectiveness and ROI of their personalized communication efforts, here’s how they responded:

That was the subject of a recent webinar hosted by What They Think, a site that provides printing industry news, commentary, analysis and research – a favourite site of mine. The short answer is YES.

Two case studies were presented in addition to research that demonstrated the impact of personalization used in one-to-one marketing campaigns. Direct mail was one of the elements, combined with PURLs (personalized URLs) and images.

According to a Jupiter research cited in the webinar 87% of marketers intend to use digital solutions such as PURLs to link direct mail to other marketing channels, but in my experience, I haven’t really seen much of it, especially here in Canada. Futhermore, the research shows that multi-channel integration, analytics, and data gathering capabilities ultimately drive more targeted, cost-efficient marketing programs.

What were the key takeaways?

In business, my passion is writing about mass customization, personalization and one-to-one marketing. On the personal side, I love chocolate. So what could be better than combining my two passions to get customized chocolate!

I’ve written before about customizable packaging for chocolate, such as Dove and Hershey’s, but I have never before found a place that allows chocolate-lovers to create their own unique chocolate bar!

Founded in 2008 in Germany, and launched in the U.S. earlier this month, Chocri, lets customers create their own chocolate bar by choosing a base, adding toppings and then naming it, which will then be printed on the package. Whether you have conservative or curious tastes, there are over 100 toppings on the site so you can find the right flavour combination that’s just right for you! In addition, Chocri chocolates are all organic and fair trade, with 1% of sales donated to a charitable organization that cares for the needs of the children on the Ivory Coast (where cacao is produced).

The starting price for a bar is $7.90 US with toppings ranging from $0.10 for sea salt to $2.10 for real gold flakes, with a 3 bar minimum – either all the same or different. International shipping costs $6 with deliveries being made from Germany, where your personalized chocolate bar is produced. Orders are shipped within 2 weeks.

Curious, I decided to test drive the site…

I’ve written extensively about personalized direct mail, or the lack of it that I’ve received in the three years I have been writing on this topic. To that end, I can literally count on one hand the truly creative personalized print pieces I’ve received and wondered why marketers don’t do more of it especially since relevant , personalized and targeted marketing initiatives yield higher response rates, return on investment, and ultimately customer profitability.

According to a recent research study, titled Customer Analytics: Leveraging Customer Data to Fulfill the One-to-One Marketing Imperative, published by Aberdeen Group, the path to personalization is one that is littered with challenges. The top three challenges with customer data include: an inability to segment and target customers through customer data (50%) and a lack of trust in customer data (34%), and the inability to execute personalized marketing campaigns.

What are marketers’ priorities for 2010?

I was recently at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (my alma mater) to hear the Dean, Roger Martin speak about his latest book “The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the next competitive advantage.”

The main theme of his book is that innovation is about seeing the world not as it is, but as it could be. It’s about exploring really “wicked problems” whose solutions can’t be found in past experience or proven by data. Martin maintains that the problem with business is that most companies obsess over reliance and predictability, which stifles innovation. Instead, he offers a more intuitive approach, adopting the discipline of “design thinking” a process that accelerates the process from mystery (an unexplainable process) to algorithm (a replicable success formula).

This got me thinking about the innovations, or lack thereof, coming from large companies in the mass customization space. Most of the personalized, products, services and innovations that I have written about extensively come not from the major companies, but start-ups, which back-up Martin’s point.

Here is at least one exception from which the larger companies can learn…

With a new year, and also a new decade upon us it’s time to look into my crystal ball to see what the future may hold for personalization for the upcoming year:

1. Marketers will get fired for NOT doing one-to-one marketing

It was back in 2008 that the following statement was made by the president of a California based printing company at a Xerox Graphic Premier Partners program webinar: “No one’s losing their job yet for not doing one-to-one marketing – but they soon will.” Two years later, with custom multi-channel communications being the norm, his statement is truer than ever. Any objections that marketers give one-to-one marketing that include coast barriers, lack of quality data, and execution and campaign management difficulties don’t hold up now. If that’s the message you’re getting from your marketing team, or agency replace them! So what are you waiting for marketers? I definitely want to see more personalized marketing hit my mailbox.

2. More mass customization initiatives launched by major brands

As I had written about back in December, the one class of retailers that thrived despite the recession was those that offered customized and personalized products – growing about 10 times as fast as online retail in general. While such start-up sites such as Zazzle, CafePress, Scrapblog, Spreadshirt and Blurb were examples mentioned, I’ve also seen examples of personalization initiatives from Adidas, Prescriptives, M&Ms, and Hallmark. I predict that we’ll be seeing more mass customization initiatives from the major brands, as they realize they have explore other areas for innovation and growth. They should be thinking of mass customization as a brand extension, just as they do other lines. Yes, there is some risk in being too far ahead of the curve, as I’ve written about both previous mass customization initiatives from Barbie and Proctor & Gamble. I can only hope we’ll be seeing true creativity from the big players who will be forced to become more nimble.

Three more trends...

It comes as no surprise to any of us that one of the top New Years’ resolutions is losing weight. Yet, it’s one of the more difficult goals to achieve. But why wait to see yourself in the after photo. Keep yourself motivated right from the start by actually seeing a slimmed down version of yourself. How? You can visualize yourself thin, at least digitally that is.

At the US based website ThinnerView, you can upload a photo of yourself and you are slimmed down through digital photo manipulation. Each ThinnerView image is hand-altered by a digital artist using specialized software. Your image is custom-made and personalized based on your requirements, bone structure and body shape to render the most realistic results possible. The company does not use simple, generic slimming software that squeezes the image resulting in unrealistic (and non-effective) results. To generate the most realistic results, they suggest that your weight loss goal be between 5 and 105 pounds. Take a look at the sample photos in the ThinnerView gallery – which is quite impressive.

Will visualization help you to lose weight?

In Part I of my post, I provided you with my picks for the best use of personalization in marketing campaigns in the following categories: best use of customer data, best use of technology, best use of social media, best personalized video, and “ahead of the curve”

For Part II of my story, I've listed my choices for the best customized products of the year. This is indeed a difficult task. Over two years ago when I first started writing on the topic, I had to search and scramble to find examples of mass customized products to cover. Now, two years later, I can barely keep up. If there was one category that was dominant for mass customization this past year, it was in home decor followed by fashion and footwear. The customization of food is also a strong category that is an up and coming sector.

Footwear and Fashion: Personalization from Payless. Sometimes you can find examples of personalization in the most unlikely places. On my annual excursion to the southern US, my first stop always includes a visit the mall where I hunt for interesting retail concepts. I was not only delightfully surprised, but downright amazed to find out that Payless Shoes offers custom dyed designer shoes! This footwear line is created by New York-based fashion designer Lela Rose.

You first start off by visiting a Payless store, where you are met with a 4 foot linear display, devoted totally to the Unforgettable Moments shoe collection. There are 13 or so shoe styles displayed, in every size that you can try on to make sure that they fit. Next, you choose from one of 64 colours that are represented by the satin swatch colour selection book. Colours range from the pale – such as taupe shimmer, or apricot - to the downright bold – rich mocha or deep emerald.

The customer’s order is placed and the hand-dyed shoes arrive within 10 business days at the store where you ordered it, or at home, if you ordered online. Here’s the best part - dyeing and shipping are included in the price. And, at $49.99 US or less – it’s well worth it for a custom product, made to your specifications. Apparently Payless is the only nationwide retailer to offer affordable special occasion satin designer shoes that are dyeable.

See my picks for other categories: gifts, home décor, food, and personal care…

Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Being a marketer, I thought I’d start off with this category. In this past year, I’ve seen marketers shift their advertising from mass communication to niche marketing as they realize that it’s more important to reach the right customer, rather than just any customer. Yes, database marketing is more time consuming, requires specialized skills and is more expensive, but the results speak for themselves. According to an article in eMarketer, 41% of US Internet users surveyed said they paid more attention to advertising that was personalized. But personalization in marketing is not just limited to print, as you will see.

Best Use of Customer Data: Without a doubt the most creative personalized initiative I’ve seen is the Maybelline New York launch of My MNY, the first fully personalized beauty guide with content and exclusive offers customized just for you. When you subscribe at their website, you are asked a number of questions about yourself, your skin, make-up and your preferences. Then, you will wait to receive your own personalized 20-page beauty guide packed with information and coupon that are just for you. But don’t take my word for it. This initiative won Best of the Best at NAMMU Awards (National Association of Major Mail Users) in Toronto. It also won a Silver prize at the CMA (Canadian Marketing Awards) in November.

Other Categories: best use of technology, best use of social media, best personalized videos and ahead of the curve…