General Information on Pers...

The authors of the book The Narcissism Epidemic define narcissism as an individual “having an inflated or grandiose sense of self” that manifests itself as self-promotion, and the desire for uniqueness. While the phenomenon had its roots in the 80’s, the authors contend that it is a full epidemic in the US and has now reached most groups in society.

We can certainly see examples all around us:

• It used to be that an individual stood for something. But as Tom Peters asserted in his 1997 article titled The Brand Called You, we now need to commoditize ourselves, just like a box of cereal.
• Egosurfing, also known as Googling yourself somehow becomes more palatable and less self-centered when it is referred to as online reputation management!
• With the internet as the platform, we are our own broadcasters, generating content as a means of self expression in a way that we’ve never been able to before.

I could go on and on. But how has narcissism manifested itself in marketing and commerce?

In my last post, I wrote about the tough times for the print industry, and how printers are trying to reposition themselves considering the new realities of the shifting marketplace. With this sector changing, printers can’t hold on to what “used to work”. They have to adapt, or die and perhaps look at opportunities in surprising places.

It may appear odd at first glance to group the topics of mass customization, personalization and one to one marketing. You may be wondering how they figure they all fit together. Here’s the common thread: they all cater to a market of ONE. The end customer, YOU!

As I wrote in a blog post over 2 years ago: "The day of mass marketing may be coming to a close. Instead of marketing to the averages, we will market to the differences – run lengths of one." In other words, mass customized communications will be the norm, rather than the exception that it is now, as the above chart taken from a Canon report shows. The projections show that in about 10 years, about 19% of print runs will be for a length of ONE. Smart printers will begin to make the shift, leaving the mega printers in the dust.

That’s just for print. Since I wrote that blog story, I’ve seen the rise of PURL (personalized URL) marketing, personalized videos, and now the rise of social media that combines elements of personalization too. The opportunities are vast.

Here are two other areas that traditional printers should be looking at:

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:

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…

After decades in development the reality of mass customization is finally in the mainstream. And, to keep track of all of the great new product launches, Milkorsugar.com has launched a customization portal. It is a central site that provides a directory of companies that offer customizable products to consumers. The site is an initiative of ILUMY Amsterdam, which is an agency for designers and entrepreneurs.

In the era of mass customization, buyers are now designers. It’s more than just picking a colour or a print. Consumers have the choice to assemble or create their own shapes, they can choose the sizes and the materials used, and they even have the option to create textures and blends.

As long as a product can be completely ordered, paid for and shipped online it can be found on this site. Everything from customizable sleeping bags, Samurai swords, drums, wallpaper, skateboards, watches and clothing to anything else you can imagine can be found on Milkorsugar.com.

The site is user-friendly and provides information on pricing, shipping destinations, payment options and the number of basic models offered for each vendor. All of the products are divided into categories for easy searching. Another useful feature this site offers is user reviews. Each product has a section where readers can look up posted reviews or post their own experiences with purchasing a particular customized product.

The site also has an interesting rating system to let readers know what they like and what they think is a waste of time. It's a little quirky...

Mass Customization is a niche topic. There are few online resources and events devoted to it, but I have written about a couple in the past, such as the Annual Smart Customization Seminar and the World Conference on Mass Customization and Personalization. However, I have also written about an increasing trend in this direction, with all sorts of products now available for customization and it stands to reason that more education would be provided around the topic as well.

Still, you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I received an email from the International Executive Programs Manager at the IE Business School in Madrid, announcing their “ground-breaking international executive program Mass Customization, to be celebrated the 6, 7 and 8 of May 2009.” The email explained a little about the program and its goal, saying: “Mass Customization is designed to help organizations gain competitive advantage by learning how to turn customer variety into a new source of profits, without having to sacrifice the value proposition of the organization. Throughout this program participants will realize that offering superior fit to their customer needs is not necessarily achieved at the expense of efficiency, most importantly, this program will introduce you to the different issues, tools and approaches that you must adopt to offer better, cheaper and simpler differentiation – to move towards Mass Customization.”

The course is brought to you by the leaders on the area of mass customization…

I’ve written before about the benefits of personalized communication being used as a strategy to retain customers, boost profits, and increase response rates.

So it comes as no surprise that spammers are looking for more effective ways to target their victims and have also become more sophisticated in their efforts. Now they have jumped on the personalization bandwagon.

In their Annual Security Report, Cisco has found an alarming increase in the amount of personalized spam, which identify thieves create using stolen lists of email addresses or other poached data about their victims, such as where they went to school or the bank they use.

Whereas traditional spam is blocked by email filters, personalized spam, which is known as spear phishing usually get through to their intended recipients because they are sent in smaller batches or they come from accounts the criminals have set up at legitimate web based email sites. The latest variant of spam is known whaling which is extremely personalized to target specific top executives.

Cisco reports that spam is growing quickly, double the volume of 2007 and shockingly, 90% of all email sent worldwide is spam. So that means 200 billion spam messages are sent each day. In September, more than .4 per cent of all spam sent was targeted attacks. And although that may sound insignificant, the actual amount means 800 million messages a day sent globally are attempts at spear phishing.

So what’s the lesson here?

The first annual MIT Smart Customization Seminar 2008 starts today at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which is a forum that allows for thought leaders and business to connect to discuss mass customization and personalization strategies.

Mass customization has emerged from its roots in experimentation to a fully sustainable and scalable business strategy, as is evidenced by the numerous companies that I’ve written about in this blog about mass customization and personalization.

The 2 day event is the only one of its kind in North America that provides deep coverage of this important business trend. The purpose of the meeting, according to the conference brochure is to “take an intensive look on the success factors and how to do it aspects of mass customization by connecting the people that matter in this field.”

The seminar is co-hosted by three leaders in the field:

• Frank Piller, who I’ve written about before, is a chair professor of Management at the Technology Innovation Management Group of RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
• Joseph Pine II, an internationally claimed author, speaker and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups. He is also author of the award-winning book Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition
• William J. Mitchell, the director of the MIT Design Laboratory and director of the Media Lab’s Smart Cities research group.

The speaker list is also quite impressive…

One of the first things you’ll learn in any introductory marketing class is the marketing mix, more commonly known as the 4P’s: product, price, place, and promotion.

Given the fact that this model was popularized in the 1960’s, there are numerous observers who think that it needs an update.

It is impressive then, that in 2004 (pre Web 2.0) that the book High Intensity Marketing suggests that the first generation of marketing took a company-centric and functional approach to the 4P’s. It was tactical - about pushing mass market messages and driving store purchases.

The next generation of marketing however, has a customer-centric view, discovering his/her unmet needs and delivering customer value through customer engagement. The author suggests a new model that includes the 4 elements of: Personalization, Participation, Peer-to-Peer, and Predictive Modeling.

Let’s take a look at personalization, which means the configuration of products and services by the consumer, usually through the internet – essentially mass customization. I absolutely agree that the internet has been an enabler of this business model through my many blog posts. And, combine that with his other "P", Participation, you’ve got a co-creation or crowdsourcing model, again which certainly fits with the mass customization approach.

I would add that you could also extend the definition to promotion, by employing one-to-one marketing tactics to direct personalized communication to consumers.

There is yet another version of the 4Ps that includes personalization…

It was on January 1, 2008 that I resolved to regularly post to this blog called Flexistuff twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays). I can proudly say that I’ve done that – and haven’t even missed a week – even when I was on vacation! Hey, how many of you can say that you’ve stuck to your New Years’ Resolutions?

What’s surprised me about regular writing? It’s this – that inspiration and story ideas undoubtedly come as I need them, even given this niche topic. I write on the subjects of mass customization, personalization and one-to-one marketing – which are truly leading edge topics.

The growth of companies offering customizable products and services have proliferated with the advent of the internet. Why? It’s a smart business strategy that provides green benefits at the same time, both topics that I have previously addressed.

With 99 blog posts under my belt, and this being my 100th story, here’s the lowdown on my favourite blog posts, and yours too:

Without a doubt, my favourite post was made in the very early days of my writing. It explains the reason for writing this blog: Why Barbie is the Inspiration for This Blog. Now, I won’t reveal the punchline, so you’ll have to read it yourself.

Judging by the number of visits received, my story about how I landed on the cover of Wired Magazine is hands down the most popular. Again, not to be the spoiler, you’ll have to read how I did it. And if you liked that story, you can read a similar post about me appearing on the cover of Time Magazine.

And just for fun - here's a link to my "cheekiest" post!

Because I write about mass customized and personalized products, it’s really hard to pick a favourite product or service because I’ve written about so many of them, but here it is…

When doing research on mass customization, personalization, and one-to-one marketing – all topics for this blog, I use RSS feeds, rely on some favourite websites, and also do random surfing.

So, when the website Trendrr launched that allows users to track the popularity of trends across a variety of inputs, ranging from social networks, to blog buzz and video views downloads, all in real time, I was intrigued.

I set up an account and started to track the key words, mass customization, personalization, and one-to-one marketing. I waited for a couple of weeks and what I got was the above result on one of my key searches. While I am told about the number of mentions of a story, unfortunately I’m not able to drill down to see the source of the trend, which is what I was really hoping for.

And, I’m not sure why there was a little spike of stories one day, but a drastic drop off the next day, other than to say that fewer stories were posted on the weekend. I tried to play with the numerous graphs to find some meaning in them. But wasn’t able to do so.

It’s back to tried and true research because for me, Trendrr didn't cut it.

Morgan Stanley just released Technology Trends 2008, a nice piece of research that is both comprehensive and well illustrated with graphs. Of note is that pretty much all of the report focuses on one big trend – and that is social networking websites and their associated applications. But that’s not really the part that interested me.

After digging a little bit further, on slide 23, it states that Targeting + Personalization Improvements are driving material revenue online. They use the de-facto standard, Amazon as an example of how they expertly leverage their customer data in order to drive their recommendation engine.

In the slide pictured, the 5 elements on a page that are personalized and driven by data are:

•New Kindle formats
•What Amazon recommends
•What other customers are buying
•What other customers are thinking
•What other customers are saying

It’s no doubt that cross selling and up selling are the key to driving revenue and nobody does this better than Amazon. And I do agree with the research that customers now expect personalization - not only on a website itself, but with product configuration options too. If you're interested in exploring the topic further, then be sure to read my post on Why Your Company Needs a Mass Customization Strategy.

Here’s another example of personalization provided in the report…

Although the word pimping has its origins in the early 17th century, a new meaning for the word emerged in the first few years of the 21st century which means to decorate, or personalize. This new definition was popularized by the MTV television show Pimp My Ride where in each episode, a car in poor condition is not only restored but customized and tailored to the personalities and interests of each owner.

This new definition also has a connection to urban street culture and pays homage to the hip-hop movement. It has also crossed over into the pop culture mainstream and is being used commercially too. The prevalence of this term is widespread. Type the search string “pimp my” into Google and you get back over 12 million results!

Here are just a few examples to show how pimping has made its way into the consumer world:

• Pimp My Profile offers a large selection of MySpace layouts, codes, generators, editors and graphics. They also have codes you can use to customize your profiles on Friendster, Blogger and other sites.
  
  
• Pimp My Scoota allows you to order decals guaranteed to turn your humble Vespa scooter "into a funkafied showpony".
  
  
• Pimp My Cubicle asserts you can "put some mojo back into your office". They sell a tongue-in-cheek kit that contains everything you need to pimpify a bland workspace.

To get a more hip and modern, and also have a little fun, I propose that mass customization be changed to mass pimping, and customization to pimpization.

But, you better think twice if you’re considering using the phrase “pimp my….” in order to promote a product or service that needs to be customized.

Why?

The recent celebrations of Earth Day got me thinking about our consumption driven society and the pursuit of acquiring more stuff. So, let me highlight some of the differences between mass production and mass customization:

• Mass production is about producing tons of the same products and hoping to fill customers needs, while mass customization produces products one at a time, catering to consumers tastes and fulfilling needs perfectly, at their request.
  
  
• Mass production is driven by a supply chain, focused on manufacturing output, whereas mass customization instead has a demand chain based on input, where consumers drive what is manufactured.
  
  
• Mass production guesses what consumer demand could be, which may result in overstock or stockouts whereas for mass customization, the exact quantities required are always produced.
  

It’s pretty obvious then, that in a mass customization model, resources are allocated to produce only what is required, therefore minimizing waste. As such, mass customization fits in perfectly with a green strategy and produces no more and no less than what is required in the marketplace. This is what economists call the perfect market equilibrium, where supply equals demand and scare resources are allocated efficiently.

I recently read an interesting report put out by The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) entitled The Right Stuff America’s Move to Mass Customization that asserts businesses are moving towards mass customization not just to produce more stuff, but to produce the right stuff. Meaning, it's more of what we DO want, and less of what we DON'T want.

The green benefits are therefore obvious. When the right products get delivered to the right customers at the right time in the way that they want them, there will be fewer goods headed to landfill. And, with just the right amount of goods getting shipped, that reduces the amount of trucks on the highway wasting gas and contributing to pollution.

The question the report poses is why have we had to wait until the tail end of the 20th century for mass customization?

Some of you may be curious about the name of this blog which is named FlexiStuff. As you know, I write on the topics of mass customization, personalization, and one-to-one variable print marketing – so that’s certainly a clue.

FlexiStuff is not only a sub-brand of the One of a Kind Publishing Inc. group, but is also a buzz word in itself – made up by us! So, what does it mean? Let’s take a look and break it down:

Etymology of flex:
Latin flexus, past participle of flectere to bend.
Date: circa 1521

Etymology of stuff:
Middle English, from Anglo-French estuffes goods, from estuffer to fill in (with rubble), furnish, equip, of Germanic origin.
Date: 14th century

Therefore, take Flexi + stuff = FlexiStuff

And you come up with this definition:

Function: noun
1. A division of One of a Kind Publishing Inc.
2. The term for goods and services that can be configured to the user’s specifications employing the principles of mass customization.
Date: 21st century

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