Context Is Fuel for Personalization
An effective way to think about personalizing experience is to consider context. Dan Shust, our VP of ResourceLAB, defines context as the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event or situation, such as purchase experience in-store or online. User context gives us insights into how a consumer arrives at the touchpoint, what may be relevant to them, and what their expectations may be. It is the true fuel to personalization.

Context for Mobile
Mobile, being the most intimate and personal device, holds abundant information about consumers, such as geo-location, and hence is the key to contextual experience. With consumers’ increasing acceptance and reliance on mobile for shopping and essentially every aspect of their lives, the amount and variety of user contextual information that can help shed light on the solution to their pain points along their purchase journey continues to expand. Mobile should definitely be your first and central digital platform to deploy personalized experiences.

Context + Mobile Wallet = Loyalty on Steroids and Much More Than “Payment”
The great success Starbucks has been enjoying with their mobile loyalty program has primed the industry for the mobile wallet. We have discussed our POV on mobile payment and the much bigger opportunities with mobile wallet in our previous posts.  The mature APIs from various platform providers now enable us to create a more relevant, feature-rich mobile wallet. By combining membership account information, purchase and browse history, social graph, and geo-location, we can create a truly personalized mobile wallet and mobile loyalty program that specifically caters to an individual consumer’s preferences, use scenario, and lifestyle.

We are able to serve content and offers that are more relevant to each customer and reward beyond purchase by leveraging insights they are willing to share. Imagine an experience when a pharmacist/convenience store customer automatically earns points for going to her gym to exercise, receives a reminder about a 5K event coming to her city, or gets a coupon for sun tan lotion when the temperature in her neighborhood hits 85F and UV level is high. For retailers, it can be leveraged as a platform to streamline all the pre-shopping, online & in-store shopping, and post-shopping experiences; for CPG brands it can be used as a tool to increase product value, strengthen product use regimen, and in turn increase barriers to switching.

As our CEO Kelly Mooney defines personalization in her keynote speech at the Open Brand Summit, personalization is about individualizing for competitive advantage. A mobile wallet and mobile loyalty program that take user-centric contextual information into consideration can be the catalyst that boosts the engagement of your current loyalty program and helps you understand your customer better.

It’s essentially a hosted talk show shot in an actual Denny’s while the restaurant is open for business. Guest stars include A-list comedians and celebs such as Amy Poehler (SNL, Parks and Recreation), Will Forte (SNL), Andy Richter (Conan) and Sara Silverman (comedienne, writer, actress). Just a series of hilarious unscripted booth conversations that happen to be in a Denny’s restaurant. The best part is, I get the brand message without them having to explain it to me: Denny’s is a cool, casual place to eat and relax (oh, and they’re always open—all the time). Brand entertains me; brand makes me laugh. I like the content; therefore, I like the brand. I share the brand with my friends. I eat at Denny’s.

The campaign is produced by DumbDumb, an award-winning comedy enterprise led by two of Hollywood’s best-looking comedians, Arrested Development alums Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. They actually show up in two of the funnier episodes and their dry sense of humor is spread all over the series, in a good way. The campaign exceeded all of Denny’s expectations, doubling brand perception from 16.2 to 32 (measured by brand index). Buzz rating nearly doubled, increasing from 36.1 to 66.1. The first series received over 6 million views. The series continues to be a major success and recently won a Lion from the prestigious Cannes Lion Awards in the Branded Content & Entertainment category. Another great example of being marketed to and liking it. More, please.

On the opposite end of the awesome spectrum, we have yet another attempt by a car company to enter the world of branded episodic content. Date Better with Sentra is a clumsy series from Nissan. The episodes try to convince us that our bumbling, ultra-white-guy protagonist Jeff (who is trying to pick up a lady friend in a bar in Episode I) could have all his problems solved if only he had a Nissan Sentra. Thankfully, a Latino/tan/ethnic narrator swoops in at the end of each episode to punch us in the face with overt product benefits and brand message, like a new smooth CVT transmission (Get it? Smooth.). It plays like an episode from Full House, minus the laugh track. The only saving grace is that the episodes are short, running about 1:00 each. The series was created by Agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, and since November of 2012, episodes are receiving about 30,000 views on YouTube. They should have taken cues from the hilarious Altima spot ‘New Job‘. While it’s a :30 spot and not considered episodic content, the humor is right on.

Creating a successful branded web series is hard. Really hard. For every successful series (Denny’s), there are a bunch of misfires (Nissan). Trying to deliver a branded message while also entertaining is a very delicate balance, but I absolutely do believe there is value in this type of content. For brands, it is an opportunity to experiment with message and formula—you don’t have to and SHOULDN’T try to make web content into :30 broadcast spots. Webisodes can be a steady stream of content for brands and a successful campaign gives consumers a reason to come back. There is less financial risk as compared to the average broadcast spot, as webisodes can be (potentially) produced for a fraction of cost.

On the flip side, as with any advertising, the wrong message can confuse consumers and even turn them off. I absolutely loved the Altima spot mentioned above. Brand message masked in a simple, clever concept that entertained. But then I stepped in the Date Better With Sentra and am still scraping it off my shoe. You almost had me Nissan.

We learned about how consumer data and behaviors are like two sides of the personalization coin.

We learned about some of our clients’ challenges and how they’re handling them in innovative ways.

We learned that the consumer is boss.

And we learned that if you aren’t passionate about your organization’s stance on important issues–do something about it.

Thank you to our speakers and partners and sponsors for a fantastic Open Brand Summit!

He started by talking about what it means to be a marketer. (It’s not always a piece of cake.)

Alex has a collection of homeless signs–cardboard signs used by homeless people to collect money. He offered to buy the signs from the people as a way to start a conversation with them. The first sign simply said, “Homeless and broke. Anything helps.” They use a lot of tactics that we all use, “Does this sign make me look fat?”–a little creativity and connection with the audience. One man used lyrics, “Mama said there’d be days like this…” Alex found that most people had more than one sign–that’s A/B testing at work. Honesty, “Why lie? I need a beer.” Even dynamic messaging with folded signs, flipped up depending on the audience. When in doubt, use a celebrity, “Bailed out Nicholas Cage last week. Need help.”

A friend of Alex’s heard about his collection, and together they made a movie, “Good Karma $1.”

Personalization is a two-way street. If the brand values match what I believe, I feel a personal connection.

Alex shared some of his experiences with Mini, Burger King, Volkswagen and Microsoft. And he said that a lot of the more interesting things were happening with smaller companies. And that tension is a good thing. Disposability vs Sustainability. Competition vs. Collaboration. Secrecy vs. Transparency. Individual vs. Community.

He shared a story…

Imagine a stone dropping into a bucket of water. The ripples fill the bucket. If the bucket is bigger, the ripples continue. That expansion is the energy of how we make things now. But eventually there is an edge to the bucket. And that’s our planet. The ability of the Earth to filter the water and clean the air is taxed. Today, humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 earths to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. That’s a big problem. So why are we all not racing to goals of sustainability? Alex explained that while we’re all marching toward the goal, the progress feels slow. 53 of the 100 largest economies in the world are corporations. What’s the social responsibility that comes with being a corporation the size of some countries? Corporations are incapable of feeling concern for their children or grandchildren. But their employees and consumers can feel that concern. And that’s personal.

Sometimes we don’t have to have the answers, but we do need to ask the questions.

Context is the fuel for personalization. Knowing how to leverage it is crucial for your business and how your consumers interact with your brand.

Context is the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event or situation. An “event” could be a site visit. An in-store visit. What makes it personal? Variables like the weather where I live. My age. My gender. Context is allowing us to stop assuming things, and delivering what borders on magic.

Certain consumer behaviors are enabling context and personalization to play larger roles: We’re increasingly mobile, and we demand experiences on the go. Brand oscillation exponential sharing are other behaviors that are driving the push for personal. We’re seeing a maturing of personal data. And when the consumer puts information out there, it’s like a contract. They’re sharing the information with the understanding that brands will give them something valuable.

Examples of using contextual variables…

Taco Bell runs ads on the Weather Channel app. If it’s lower than 48 degrees, people don’t buy Taco Bell much. So, Taco Bell ads only run in areas where and when the temperature is higher.

Abercrombie & Fitch has a “shop the forecast” feature, where products are served up based on the weather in the consumer’s neighborhood.

Walmart has geofenced all of their locations, and serves up two different versions of their app–an in-store version and an out-of-store version, based on where they detect the consumer is.

Etsy asked consumers for permission to tap into their open graph data. Based on that data, they serve up gift suggestions that their friends are sure to love.

Get This is an iPad application. The app uses the microphone to listen to the sound of the environment. If a TV is on, it can identify a scene from the show that’s on, then serves up products in or related to that program. (Love that outfit from Scandal? Get This will let identify it for you and let you buy it.)

Mind Meld is an app that listens to conference calls. As the group talks, it listens for key words, and serves up content to the group in real time.

Dan shared an example created in the Resource Lab, using facial recognition to detect data about the person–gender, age, relationship to the person next to them. When used in digital signage, the message can change based on who is standing in front of it–a couple, a mother and child, etc.

These are all examples of singular contextual variables to create experiences. When you combine the variables, you get an experience that feels pretty magical.

Commonwealth Bank Australia can detect where the consumer is, show homes the consumer is looking at, how much they are, and if the consumer could afford the mortgage based on banking data.

To win in a context-driven world, remember several things. First, be aware of the importance of advanced context and how it can be used in real-time to create personalized brand experiences. Identify the most important contextual variables for your brand/product based on business needs. What are you giving consumers in return for information? Select the existing or planned experiences that could benefit the most from contextual enhancement. Test the integration of individual contextual variables in the lowest impact method possible before full integration. Finally, have fun and lean forward! It’s going to be an exciting era for marketers.

Personalization manifests itself in different ways, depending on who you are. At the core, personalization is creating a thoughtful, emotional need in every interaction with the consumer. In the environment that we were in before, you could operate with one-off solutions. Today, we need to operate in an ecosystem. In retail, there are so many touch points for the consumer. We need to be able to master the customer profile data that we have. We also need to take the customer from “unknown” by the brand to “known.” Think about what Amazon has done. You can essentially take the Amazon experience with you wherever you wherever you go and it remains your Amazon experience. You have to be able to build world-class algorithms that can create the right connections.

When it comes to silos in organizations, you have to create a participatory environment. The days of feeling that you’re on your own are history. You also want to show greatness. What does success look like? Ensure that everyone knows what the benchmarks are. Deliver fast. And then–go to the bar. Have fun together and form bonds that will ultimately make work stronger.

Trying to create that perfect relationship with the consumer requires some key partnerships. Ed shared that the Kohl’s partnership with Resource has allowed them to innovate. He also brought up the notion of having courage–to try new things, have hard conversations and learn along the way.

Everyone wants to have some stake in the successes. That means there is some inherent energy in the organization, and when you can connect departments and people, that energy level skyrockets.  Get people with different skill sets together and let them create some sparks. Every organization is different, but to create meaningful, personalized experiences everyone has to feel involved.

Breaking down silos doesn’t happen overnight. It involves a lot of one-on-one conversations. Set expectations early and course-correct often.

Executive Client Service Director Terri Spring took the stage with Charlene Patten of Gillette Venus to talk about globalizing personal experiences–a topic that may seem counter-intuitive.

Digital has changed nearly everything over the last twenty years.

Digital used to be treated as just another channel. You had your print channel, your store channel, your digital channel.

We now know that the path to purchase isn’t just impacted by digital at a single moment. We know that digital is impacting purchases throughout the consumer journey.

Charlene shared the new Gillette Venus website–created as a responsive experience, so that the consumer can connect with the brand in a meaningful way on any device.

She shared some sage advice: When it comes to globalized personalization, don’t get lazy. Once you decide on creating a digital experience, understand which platform your consumer is engaging on. Then, find your shared passion–and that doesn’t just mean something you have in common. It’s something that you as a brand can stand for, and consumers crave engagement around. As an example, Charlene spoke about a Venus program for young girls, involving Kendall and Kylie Jenner. It was important to provide something meaningful for girls, but something that wasn’t off-putting to mom–the ultimate purchaser.

The topic then turned to personalization and privacy. Even in a conservative corporation, personalization is as important as trust.  P&G has recently started a new legal team with a focus on creating the right experiences that will deliver great content while maintaining trust. At the end of the day, the best idea wins–that idea that will resonate most with consumers. Decisions should be made with the consumer in mind, based not on risk to the company but risk to the consumer. Old Spice’s “Smell Like A Man, Man” campaign was never tested before it launched, but was created with a firm belief that it was right for both the brand and the consumer.

To drive more personalization, start with the consumer at the core. Then, think about personalization in terms of a shared passion. Respect privacy. And be courageous and creative!

Dawn was actually keen on a few points from Dan Ariely’s presentation. She sees the consumer behavior point of view as the “secret sauce” for what we’re doing as brands.

Gamification isn’t “games.” It’s taking principles of social truth to get people to do something. In every step, there is tension we’re trying to create, and what Dan was talking about is the brain behind it. Gamification is the enabler for it. The psychology piece of the puzzle is critical for having tactics be truly engaging.

Dawn shared some work that Autodesk has done taking a complex product and bring it to a larger set of consumers. Trials are critical for Autodesk for the price and complexity of the product. For software trials, the marketing experience has to guide consumers along the way. Once they saw some work Resource had done for Adobe, they thought there was something to leveraging game mechanics to increase conversion and guide trial.

Their first gamification pilot was introduced last year for a special effects software used for the game-creation industry. Dawn pointed out that while they were targeting people who create games for a living, that was a fortuitous target market. They rolled the program out to other products, but did not see an increase in participation in their core audience, which was surprising. That’s when an insight was uncovered: their core audience, unlike the pilot game-industry target, is in a more structured office environment, and wasn’t always comfortable opening a trial program with a game-like feel. (Imagine an architect in a design firm unleashing a Mayan Apocalypse trial program.)

But what the rollout did confirm is that the aspects of game mechanics that were used were validated. Rewarding consumers and helping them “level up” through various behaviors drives conversion. Find what motivates your consumers, and create an experience to take them into a deeper engagement.

He shared some trends in data, and the power of what big data can do for brands.

In 1957 the average of an S&P company was 75 years old–it took that long to hire the people, build a base and amass the data. Today, it takes ten years.

Everything is faster today. Look at crowdsourcing. Start-ups and individuals can raise millions of dollars in a matter of weeks via sites like Kickstarter. 40% of us own a smartphone. We are generating data every second of every day. Imagine where we’re going to be in ten years.

When you think about big data, there are three things that come to mind: Volume, Velocity and Variety.

The volume at which we are creating data is increasing like never before.

The velocity at which we are creating data increases exponentially each year.

And the variety of sources we’re creating data from is on the rise.

Volume: We tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the short term, and we almost always underestimate the impact in the long term. We are no longer teathered to a computer. We are generating data anytime, anywhere.

Velocity: We are activating thousands of Android devices each day. Thousands of people–every day–increasing the data they are producing. We took 500 years to create the first 12 Exabytes of data, and now we can create that in two days.

Variety: YouTube sees 60 hours of video uploaded each month. There are 425 million active Gmail users. That scale is phenomenal.

There are tremendous opportunities. Data is a core business asset. Increasingly, data is out in the Cloud; it’s just more economical, and new things are possible in the Cloud. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Start somewhere.

You can’t use traditional technology to solve your big data problems. Because they weren’t designed to handle the amount of data we have access to now. Newer technologies are the answer.

Shailesh showed us an example using Google’s BigQuery, asking what the most edited entry in Wikipedia is. We had the answer four seconds later. (It turns out the entry for George W. Bush has been edited 43 thousand times.)

The possibilities are limited only by our imaginations.

Personalization is not a switch that you throw. It’s a decision you make as a brand, to take a journey toward community and personalization.

In 2010, the Cat Chow digital footprint largely consisted of a website with little opportunity for connection.

Then we came upon the insight: There are no cat parks. Dog People have a place to go and connect with like-minded pet enthusiasts, but Cat People don’t. So we created a “digital cat park” in a branded Facebook page. We leveraged a consumer and brand ambassador, Jennifer Sutton, as a connected, passionate guide.

Next, we gave consumers a new way to tell their stories–through photos, videos, and narratives. And it’s that connection that became the foundation for a new site. Rich with consumer quotes, social feeds and engaging photography, it became a place of inspiration and education.

But…there was still an issue. And another insight: There is a stigma around being a cat owner. Assumptions are made. Jokes happen (roll “crazy cat people” clip). And something needed to be done about this. For Cat Chow, the virtual inventor of kitty kibble, it was a perfect platform. Let’s celebrate cat people.

The “We Are Cat People” campaign began as a video. It then became a movement. We encouraged consumers to tell us why they’re cat people, with the hashtag #catperson and we displayed those tweets on a billboard in Times Square. We then re-tweeted a photo of each tweet in Times Square back to the author. Instant gratification…and thanks.

This year, Purina turns 50 years old. Resource is working with the brand to create a loyalty program that goes beyond purchase. We can’t wait.