According to a research briefed by Marketing Dive, 71% of consumers prefer personalized ads. Consumers were nearly twice as likely to click-through an ad featuring an unknown brand if the ad was tailored to their preferences. Consumers are now increasingly expecting their ad experiences to be relevant and useful.
In 2015, a Gartner statistic predicted that by 2018, companies that have “fully invested in all types of personalization” will outsell companies that have not by 20 percent.
We are almost in 2018 and we can already see that companies are investing in personalization. Amazon and Netflix are famous for placing personalization at the center of their products—programmatically generated “Recommendations for You” are everywhere.
According to a Rapt Media survey, 83 percent of creatives say that creating content that is personalized enough is their biggest challenge in creating content. Also, 94 percent of them say that better content technology is the key to creating content that is both more personalized and more engaging.
The most important element in creating a successful digital campaign with personalized content is to properly understand your audience. While some audiences may respond best to an AR experience, others may respond better to a funny or emotional video. It is important to spend the necessary time researching and studying their social and digital habits, and once you have a good understanding of what they want, the chances of success are higher. Let’s have a look at some amazing digital campaigns that used personalized content to engage their audience.
Ford Racing Mobile Integration: digitally personalized autographs for your fans
Ford Racing wanted to grow and strengthen its fan base by building an affiliation between race fans and Ford, so the brand developed a mobile site to give them access to driver information, photos, and a custom autograph from a Ford Racing NASCAR driver.
The Ford Racing mobile website provided fans with news, updates, photos, videos, downloadable wallpapers, driver bios and stats, events and schedules, and interactive polls.
To drive traffic to the event and create viral content, the team created a personalized autographed photo of 2012 Daytona 500 winner and Ford driver Trevor Bayne. In order to make sure “no device was left behind,” fans could receive their personalized content via SMS, email, or web link. The personalized autograph offer was promoted on-site at the track with printed driver “Hero Cards” featuring QR codes and SMS click-to-actions as well as posts to Ford Racing social media sites.
Sentiment within social content and sharing was all positive (something that Ford had never seen before) and was a significant contributor to the 78 percent growth rate of an already strong Facebook fan base.
The Levi’s Campaign that Levi’s Didn’t Create- personalized content at another level
Levi’s needed to establish true brand recognition amongst China’s younger generation, setting a goal for OMD to connect with and engage millennials to increase sales, particularly in lower-tier cities.
When the brand launched its global ad campaign, “We Are Original”, the agency knew it had to persuade Chinese millennials to feel the power of being original for themselves.
Instead of telling Chinese consumers what it meant to be “original,” the team handed over the reins of ad creation and inspired younger demos to create their own version of the “We Are Original” campaign.
Truly original ads meant making every part of the creative original. From models to copy, and even theme music, Levi’s ads were no longer their ads, but authentic expressions of individuals’ originality.
Since music presented an experience where target audiences felt most reflective and inspired by originality, the agency partnered with top mobile music app Tencent’s QQ music. Harnessing Tencent’s QQ database, OMD selected millennials’ favorite songs that best embodied Levi’s brand spirit, for example, “Having Dreams” or “Flying High.” Once millennials played any of these songs on their app, they could unlock Levi’s “original” images as backdrops to the ad campaign – a media first for China.
The agency gave fans the power to invent their own statements about originality inspired by their favorite songs to pair with their Levi’s image, and invited them to share their experiences digitally. Every message became an individual story told through WeChat with an expressive image, original statement or song sent to friends that inspired them to play along.
The wave of originality spread faster through peer groups than a regular ad campaign, and coming from millennials themselves it also carried a much more trusted and impactful message.
Over 2.6 million Levi’s ads were created by millennials in just two weeks -- plus, the initiative had an additional 2.9 million consumer engagements -- such as likes, forwards, comments and shares.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/193118911
Owner’s Hub- driving customer loyalty and satisfaction through its use of near-field communication technology
Samsung wanted to build brand loyalty by fostering personalized, rewarding relationships with its device owners. The Samsung Owner’s Hub app was designed as a loyalty platform able to offer entertaining content and unique experiences to Samsung customers.
This completely personalized experience would teach Samsung owners how to get the most out of their devices, provide personalized and exclusive content, and turn Samsung devices into keys that could unlock rewards and local offers.
The Samsung Owner’s Hub delivered on business objectives through two key methods:
Knowledge: The hub provided personalized content and tools to assist Samsung owners with getting the most from their devices.
Rewards: Personalized content (music, sports, movies), event access/upgrades, and coupons were made available as rewards for membership.