Consumers’ attention span is decreasing. As of 2018, the average attention span of humans was 8 seconds, this is shorter than that of a goldfish. As well as creating high quality and innovative products, brands now face the challenge of catching attention, creating disparity and encouraging a purchase, all within 8 seconds.

At foxpak, we believe that packaging is the last but most important touchpoint in the consumer buying journey. Here are some examples of companies across the world that have tied personalised packaging into their marketing campaigns to generate higher rates of purchase, stronger levels of consumer engagement and an abundance of earned media to benefit their brand.

Coca Cola’s Share A Coke Campaign

Probably one of the best-known examples of personalised packaging, Coca Cola’s share a coke campaign launched in 2011 and set the tone for brands to follow. The purpose of the campaign was to create a more personal relationship with consumers and inspire shared moments of happiness. This was done by changing the universal packaging design to include the words “share a coke with” above an assortment of popular names.

Coca Cola executed personalised packaging through the use of variable data, allowing them to print thousands of unique designs within the same run. The use of digital printing allowed the brand to with their consumers on a personal level, addressing them by name. The flexible nature of digital printing presses allowed Coca Cola to scale production producing varying run lengths of each name based on regional demand. By incorporating personalisation through variable data into their packaging strategy, Coca Cola achieved the following;

• One of the most well-known one-to-one marketing campaigns globally
• Higher levels of engagement with their customer base through personalisation
• Increased shelf appeal with digitally printed packaging
• Developed online presence with over 500,000 customers sharing their experience with the brand

Amarula’s Name Them, Save Them Campaign

Amarula ran a marketing campaign in 2017 to raise awareness around the issue of elephant poaching. At the time, there were only 400,000 elephants left in the wild. Amarula appealed to the caring nature of its customer base making the prospect of losing an African elephant personal by encouraging individual participation. Their campaign allowed customers to go to their website and name one of the 400,000 surviving African Elephants. Their customers were guided through an immersive online experience into a digital savannah, where they could choose an elephant, design it with a range of colourful patterns, then name and share it with friends online. Proceeds from each purchase were donated to a cause which protected elephants in the wild.

By utilising personalisation, Amarula was able to print 400,000 unique labels, one for every bottle that was purchased and shared. Each label included an elephant with the customer’s chosen pattern printed on the ears and their given name written down the side. By incorporating mass personalisation into their packaging strategy, Amarula achieved the following;

• Raise awareness for a cause close to the brand
• Created a change in buying behaviour by introducing gift purchases
• Increase levels of engagement with their customer base by encouraging customisation
• Encouraging social engagement by creating a product that is personal to the customer

Danone’s Unleash Your Actimel Instincts Campaign

Actimel created a campaign based on a concept of inner strength and animal instincts. Actimel sold their drinks as multipacks in an outer cardboard sleeve, the fact that consumers couldn’t see the bottle designs at the point of purchase drove the idea to run a competition to find a particular bottle design. Each week Actimel would announce a specific animal design, urging anyone who found it to post to social media and be entered into a draw to win a substantial prize. Not only did this campaign engage with their customer base on a personal level by connecting their pack designs with consumers known consumption patterns, but actimel also created a multi-purchase strategy which had a positive effect on their sales numbers.

Playing off the animal instinct, Actimel used hyper customisation to create individual background patterns while randomising 9 different animal characters with unique bodies, hats and glasses. Although each bottle design was unique, they all maintained the essence of the basic marketing campaign with uniform text which outlined specific times of day, activities and flavours. By incorporating hyper customisation into their packaging strategy, Actimel achieved the following;

• Increase brand loyalty by engaging with their customer base on a personal level
• Created a multi-purchase strategy
• Increase levels of social interaction with customers
• Created favourable online visibility through encouraging social media shares

Foxpaks Digital Design Den

Digital Design Den is a powerful dynamic personalisation resource which enables us to generate thousands of unique SKUs, all from a small number of base patterns and graphic files. This advanced print software means that brands, design agencies, brokers, co-packers or retailers working with us can benefit from the following;

• Thousands of unique flexible packaging designs within a single print run
• Unique packaging that stays true to your original brand story
• No printing plate costs or long approval processes
• Speed to market allowing brands to be more responsive to market changes
• Flexibility to change designs with minimal cost
• Scalable order quantities to reduce the levels of packaging waste
• Expert guidance and advice on the best practice in printed flexible packaging

If you have a project you believe would benefit from the use of our Digital Design Den or simply want some further advice or information, please get in touch. A member of our team would be happy to assist.

Thanks for Reading,