How brands can twist marketing techniques to benefit them.

Over 20% of people are more likely to open an email if their name is included in the subject line. Direct advertising, such as personalised emails, are proven to be more effective. Coca-Cola is a great example of a brand taking this personalisation technique and bringing it to their products. With their recent re-launch of the ‘Have a Coke with friends’ with bottles with names on them, we can only assume it worked really well the first time.

Although Coca-Cola aren’t directly targeting specific people, because they are using names (one of the most personal things to someone), it seems more personal and therefore, attracts more consumers than usual. It also opens up opportunities to buy for friends and family; so even if you’re the odd one with the name that no-one has heard of, or your parents decided that your name should be spelt with an ‘eiy’ instead of a ‘y’, you can still relate and engage with this offer to get involved as well. All round a great marketing tactic.

 

Another example of a brand trying to connect with consumers personally is M&Ms. They brought out MY M&Ms which allowed consumers to personalise what was printed onto the chocolate sweets. Whether you wanted a specific phrase or even a black and white photo, you are now able to buy personalised M&Ms for special occasions. This opened up a whole lot of opportunities for M&Ms; they didn’t need to solely rely on consumers wanting to create their own versions of M&Ms, they also developed themed varieties for generic special occasions for those who wanted an easy personalisation e.g. Valentine’s Day, Christmas etc.

A similar, but simpler brand example is when Smarties included a letter of the alphabet on the lid so as to encourage you to buy packets to get enough letters to create a name or word of your choice. At one time they also included letters on the Smarties themselves.

 

An additional way that Coca-Cola has tried to connect with consumers is through their soon-to-be-launched ‘Coca-Cola Life’. We’re surrounded by pushes to become fitter and live a healthier lifestyle. Coca-Cola took this concept and launched a green Coke bottle which is meant to be a less calorific version of the normal Coke, but not in a Diet Coke kind of way. Coca-Cola Life is Coca-Cola’s “first lower-calorie cola sweetened from natural sources” [Source: Coca-Cola] as it includes stevia leaf extract, which enabled it to contain a third less sugar and less calories than the regular Coke.

These brands have taken what’s important to consumers and developed marketing methods that benefit both the consumer and the brand. Winning all around!