The growing cult of personalisation

Why the death of mass production could actually be good news for brands

The age of mobility and digitisation gave us soaring spires and enlightenment, while the industrial age accompanied smoke stacks with mass production. And now with globalisation, we are entering a new era - of mass personalisation of products and services. This has put tremendous power in the hands of the consumer who is now very genuinely the king. This digital age, symbolised by developments such as the wireless internet and mobile applications, has led to an information revolution where consumers are choosing to reject the hitherto universal principle of "one size fits all". This is particularly true for the so-called millennial consumers who desire a personal experience and embrace products or services based on their novelty value often sidestepping standard products.

The examples of mass personalisation are evident in the wake of customised offerings across domains such as travel, computer hardware design for cars, tele-medicine, financial products, m-education, m-health, on-demand content etc. Taking a cue from numerous studies, brands have started integrating consumer engagement in their outreach strategy and initiatives. Examples similar to personalised cans of Coke can be seen across categories in apparels, beauty products, laptops, and even smart phones.

A recent Bain survey found that customers are willing to pay 20 per cent more than standard equivalents for customised products. There are predominantly two schools of thought around brand customisation. Institutional brands such as International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIFA and luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Prada hold a traditional perspective on brand, maintaining control and compliance. At the same time, brands such as RED Bull, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are pushing to create the personal impact on the consumer. However, while pushing the traditional envelope, businesses will have to answer a fundamental question: Will customisation dilute the power of my brand or actually help unlock value from the same?

Essential to the debate around customisation is the availability of demographic information on consumers. Telecom companies stand somewhere in the middle of the value chain with the capability to create magic because of the availability of demographic information, behavioural patterns and preferences. Companies are developing services aimed at liberating customers from the worry of 'unused seconds' basis the insight that consumers will never be able to control the duration of their calls. Such initiatives have been welcomed and accepted by consumers.

With the introduction of mobile devices, there was a sudden spike in use of data services and mobile applications. Taking a cue from that, mobile operators today aim to offer special data plans that charge the consumer strictly on the basis of their usage. Considering that 96 per cent of the mobile market in India is pre-paid, such customisation initiatives are seen in sync with changing trends, dynamic consumer usage and spend patterns.

Adopting such data analysis has helped telecom operators from time to time to create mass personalisation services for its consumers. With the rise of social media, companies are also taking the concept of personalisation to social platforms. In 2014 and 2015, it is anticipated that customer-obsessed companies in verticals such as retail, finance, and insurance will introduce and develop proactive features in their mobile loyalty apps.

Putting customers in control makes business sense. Mass personalisation is an opportunity for brands to not only develop and deepen relationships with each customer, but also to make them active co-producers and partners eventually turning them into loyal brand evangelists.

Personalisation can be a source of massive strength for brands in the future and we believe that there are two clear pillars to back this assertion. First is the increase in unequivocal expectations of today's millennial generation. For a millennial, the attitude of a brand can be as important as the qualities of the product itself. About 56 per cent of mainstream millennial customers believe that brand loyalty is important; this reflects the more personal approach of this generation towards brand relationships and points to what the next generation of consumer will seek from their brands. Second, since people are busy sharing their lives on the web, a vast amount of data is available to collaborate and co-create products that offer a distinctly personalised service.

With this, mobile operators look at personalised insurance plans, shopping deals and machine-to-machine communications among many other possibilities. With the wireless marketplace already cluttered with similar looking options, personalisation will play the role of a catalyst for operators to attract and retain high value (ARPU) customers and maximise wallet share.

Well executed personalisation not only demonstrates brand confidence, but has the power to help drive brand equity and loyalty enhancing all aspects of the business value chain. It drives unprecedented brand loyalty among customers and creates powerful market differentiation for products and services. In short, brand personalisation stands as the single most important brand promise of them all.

Gurinder Singh Sandhu
Head, marketing, Tata Docomo