It is the era where becoming interactive can help brands take a lead. Though marketing tactics have helped us reach the consumer but product packaging is still pretty crucial to enhance the direct interactive experience with the audience.

Personalized product packaging allows for a chance to establish an instantaneous, face-to-face connection with the consumer. Now, the consumer attraction game has elevated a notch higher than the usual competition i.e. grabbing eyeballs through attractive packaging. The audience’s tastes have evolved. Consequently, they have grown smarter and needier than before. Thus, it is high time; brands pull up their socks and get a little more personal to the consumer with strategic packaging solutions.

Coca-Cola forayed into personalized packaging realm with their smart and quirky campaigns refreshing their brand image time-to-time. Previously with their #ShareACoke campaign where consumers were encouraged to seek the bottles with their individual names on it or share a coke with a friend. Their most recent campaign in India #SayItWithCoke featuring Ranbir Kapoor has gained a lot of traction amongst the youth. Connecting people with their united love for music through the charming storyline and innovative use of songs has certainly struck the chord with the target audience and heightened the brand popularity once again. The success of campaigns like ‘Share A Coke’ proves that people are enthusiastic about personalization and are ready to accept brands faster than before. 

Personalization is today’s growing packaging trend which mustn’t be missed by emerging brands. You can get way closer to your consumer and build the trust factor through strategic ways. The most common tactic used among the marketers is ‘Thank You’ cards. On the order of a product from the respective brand, they send you a personalized thank you card with your name on it. Still, names aren’t the only way companies can get emotionally attached or engaged with the consumers. Let’s get into what more a brand can do to establish a personal connection with the consumer.

Bring Out the Individuality

Brands have to brainstorm to bring out the best way to connect their product with the consumer on a much deeper level. Based on the type of product or service you offer, you have to find ways to connect with the consumer. For example, Heinz Ketchup introduced their cream tomato soup package with an added line of ‘Get well soon’ with a communication line stating "send your loved ones a can of Heinz."  Soups are a wide part of culinary in the UK and thus this campaign gained them a lot of traction.

Right Targeting

Another way to strengthen your personalization process is niche targeting. Target different markets through geographical area, interest, and demographics and penetrate deeper into the consumer mind.  Personalizing the product labels will make you do a massive amount of research, strategizing and understanding the psychological and emotional behavior of the consumer. Today, the packaging is not limited to only the forward-thinking big brands that have money to experiment. Latest technologies like Digital Printing have opened doors to others who are seeking substantial growth with decent budgets. 

Consumer Creativity

Personalization isn’t just the realm to be explored by FMCG companies. Other brands with distinctive services can also try personalizing your product strategically. Getting personal requires a lot of experimenting and an equal amount of consumer involvement as well. Interflora, world’s renowned flower delivery network, has intrigued an online service where people can customize and personalize their bouquet by themselves by merely ‘dragging and dropping’ from over 70 flowers and foliage options. Since people will be a part of crafting their end-product, their involvement jumps to a higher rate and you can witness far more engagement.

Thus, the bottom line is about how you can introduce your same product or service innovatively and attract the consumers’ attention. A comprehensive understanding of the target consumer is an important step in doing so.

Before you jump onto the bandwagon, being a progressive brand you must scrutinize the popularity of personalization. Whether it suits your product or service type or not and further understanding of the type of audience you tap.