When Coca-Cola started packaging personification in 2015., many other companies adopted that trend – nobody could dream of how popular this idea will become.
Starting with Coca-Cola’s drinks with name labels, personalized fashion accessories with initials of influencers, to Scottish juices with prints of various clans, became extremely popular in this European country – a trend of a personalized design is one of the top ones, and it seems this will not change.
What do stats say about this topic? They are ready to pay more, wait a bit longer on delivery and pay more attention to brands with personalized products. According to the perception of modern consumers, personalization of products bring the connection with a brand to a completely new level that makes them closer and part of the overall brand narrative.
Numbers speak more than words
- 35% of consumers are ready to pay more in order to get a personalized product.
- Target groups of all ages and both gender appreciate the feeling of having something rare that personalized product provides them.
- 50% of the millennial generation and the younger generation (gen Z) express their wish to possess such products.
- Simplicity, different attitude, and look are what millennials want, so they wish to possess some of the things with their own initials are a logical response to such a need. They want to participate in creating products, tailored according to their wishes. They tend to give a personal stamp to everything they wear.
- 48% of consumers are ready to wait longer on the delivery of personalized products.
- They believe waiting to get a personalized product is something worthy of waiting, and nothing can replace that moment of happiness when it finally arrives.
- 25% of consumers will gladly share their personal data with a brand in exchange for personalized products.
- Email, phone number, name, and surname, or any other personal data the consumers are willing to share with representatives of their favorite brands, are later used in retargeting and promotion. None of it seems like a problem, especially to the young population, if they get a wanted product with their own name, initials, or personalized print.
What conclusions can we make based on these numbers? The last statistics is telling us how important a trend of personalization has become for its users. The appetite of consumers regarding personalized products is increasingly growing and bringing increasing challenges to small and middle businesses.
It seems small brands, as well as big corporations, can both win in this game of numbers, though they address completely different target groups. Small brands, producing luxury products, can benefit from personalization too. On the other hand, big corporations can address a wide target group (just like in the case of Coca-Cola) because they have big capacities for producing personalized products.
Example of good communication with consumers
As marketers, we are aware of the potential the personalization of products has. We pass our knowledge to our colleagues – graphic designers, hoping we can create interesting solutions together, the consumers will gladly buy, share on social media, and brag with them.
To make the personalization successful, it is important to include the consumers in the process because they love it, and this makes each campaign more visible. A great example comes from our region (Croatia), Podravka company. They included the consumers in the personalization process and also looped a few marketing tools and approaches.
Let’s see what they looped in together. 60 years of the famous Vegeta product, was celebrated in a unique way. Namely, the consumers got a chance to create their own labels, using the online platform and available tools. Adding stickers, messages, changing background colors, and other available options, consumers were able to create their own, unique design.
Additional connection with consumers was established via organizing competitions with different design solutions. Loyal fans were additionally motivated to participate and show their design with others, hence increasing the campaign visibility on social media.
Isn’t this an amazing example of creating an integrated campaign solution in digital? Personalization, social media, design, viral marketing. All at one place in the name of a big brand.
All strategy types matter: Targeting on a micro level
The number of small businesses adopting packaging strategies for different target groups or markets has been increasing. We can take the companies producing pillows as an example because they can pack the same product into different packaging, tailored to the generation the consumers belong to. In other words, one color can be used for millennials and the other one for baby boomers. This approach to shaping strategy, and planning the packaging design could be taken to a next level thanks to digital print.
Many brands are already using personalization when they are packing products for their clients, for example, they print consumers’ names directly on a box or make stickers with their names.
QR code – old strategy for new consumers
Someone might say – Hey, nothing new there. And yes, you will be right. How many examples of great QR have you seen? They were placed on the oddest places like billboards. This way they showed they simply don’t understand the way this tool works. But if this code is placed on the product packaging, it may get amazing feedback from consumers.
QR codes should be placed to be visible and handy to consumers so they can read them on their phones. A message about where exactly the code directs consumers should be placed on the packaging itself. For instance, if they will win anything in case they direct the phone camera with a code reader to the packaging.
Various prize games, promotion codes with discounts, and other promotions could be communicated this way. Besides, a QR code can direct the consumer to a certain landing page or to an application.
We liked the example of a popular whiskey company, and the campaign they organized for their consumers in Brazil with a QR code on the packaging and the message to all sons to buy a bottle of “Digea” to their fathers. Sons would have an option of recording a personal message to their fathers and scanning a QR code on their phones they could activate and watch a mini video.
Another great idea!
We have our own ideas. Contact us if you need a packaging design. Share this blog post with those who could find it valuable.
