Why Label Personalization Will Not Go Away

In the age of mass production, most products contain “general labels” that advertise a product in a specific manner that appeals to the target audience but don’t contain personalized messages for segments of the audience or a specific audience member. This type of labeling has been used for centuries. However, today, many companies that sell products are resorting to label personalization to help stimulate product sales among key demographics.

Why Label Personalization is Here to Stay
Label personalization, especially when a single unit of a product contains a personal name (e.g. Tom, Mary, Michael, etc.) seems to have both a built-in advantage and an inherent disadvantage. The person whose name appears on the product may be flattered enough to buy it, but what about people with a rare names such as Reese and Gregorio? Would they be quick to buy a bottle of soda that has someone else’s name printed on it?

Probably not; however, as you might guess, the strategy of applying personal labels to individual beverage units and other types of foodstuffs has been fine-tuned from a marketing perspective to feature only the most popular first names in the area of the product’s distribution.

Coca-Cola Provides an Example
Beverage World reports that, in developing its personal drink labels, “Coca-Cola is personalizing the sharing experience by swapping out some of its iconic logos on 20-ounce bottles for 250 of the nation’s most popular names among teens and millennials.”

For background, “The ‘Share a Coke’ program was first introduced in Australia in 2012. Since then, the company has helped people ‘Share a Coke’—and a little happiness—in more than 50 countries around the world, including New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Great Britain, Turkey, Germany, Spain and Chile.”

Moreover, Coca-Cola’s name campaign is a production gimmick that is used to help associate soft drink users — particularly young ones — with one of the oldest, most ubiquitous soft drink brands on the planet. But, in terms of revenue, it an easy means of promoting something that’s quite serious to Coca-Cola: the expansion of its brand to newer, younger customer segments who could become lifetime customers. As long as the name campaign keeps achieving this result, don’t expect it to go away like a clever commercial suddenly disappears from prime time TV.

Following the Lead of Coca-Cola
Almost any consumer product can be emblazoned with a personal touch that appeals to the sense of self of the person. Mondelez, the Oreo cookie producer, launched shop.oreo.com this winter to allow end users to create custom packaging of their famous cookie. In terms of product quality, consumers know that a product bearing a personal touch doesn’t offer anything different than the same product that has standard packaging.

However, when customer demographics are broken down into psychographics, the strategy often shows great potential from a professional marketing standpoint — not just for “Big Boy”  products but for many other brands, as well. At this point, you may be wondering whether labeling personalization would work for some of your company’s products, too.

Marketing Meets Labeling Expertise
To arrive at the most educated answer, two measures are needed: marketing expertise that applies to your products and consultation with an experienced provider of product labeling solutions to identify the best type of personal label to usu. This is where Flexo-Graphics can help. We’ll work with you to use your company’s marketing knowledge to produce personal labels that help stimulate sales.

Personal product labels have proven successful for various companies in different industries. Based on this track record, labeling personalization will not go away — at least not until it becomes an unsustainable trend in terms of sales. To take advantage of the phenomenon while it’s still producing good results for manufacturers, contact Flexo-Graphics at (262) 790-2740, or our contact form.