In today’s climate, brands know that savvy marketing can no longer be churned out en masse. With personalisation now a key aspect of any digital strategy, which brands are getting this right?

Just last week, McDonalds announced that this would soon be a huge part of its digital strategy too, in the hope that personalised content would be an influential factor in boosting lacklustre sales. With the closure of 220 branches throughout the US and China, consumer interest has been lagging. But in an attempt to revive sales, the company announced that it now plans to launch a “mass personalisation” initiative, focusing first on its app, and then to its other digital channels. Of McDonalds’ 3.3 million app users, these often turn to the platform in order to take advantage of the brand’s deals, with over 2.8 million offers redeemed to date- with these figures in mind, personalised promotions and customisation options will certainly continue to entice users. And McDonald’s is certainly ahead of the game when it comes to taking advantage of their app for targeted content- recent research shows that mobile still lags as far as personalised marketing is concerned, with only 24% of marketers currently offering personalised content in-app or on their mobile sites.

McDonald’s concept of mass personalisation is of course not a new idea. What immediately comes to mind when we think of this practice is Coca-Cola’s “Share A Coke” initiative both online and offline, adding a personal touch every time a customer buys a drink with his or her name on the packaging. Likewise, NikeID also exemplifies how this tactic has widespread appeal, by taking a mass-produced product and enabling the consumer to customize with various colours and designs. In this, both brands show how targeting can be successful even when broad as opposed to specific.

The other benefit to casting a wider net, is the ability to create a personal feel without the “creepy” factor. Targeting, especially if based on personal data, can often concern users, with fears over how it was obtained. Burberry’s 4oD ads for instance, are an example of a case in which this tactic perhaps went too far. The brand’s online ads didn’t run as successfully as planned when they displayed viewers’ initials in each, based on their login information. Indeed, recent research reveals that around 91% of consumers are somewhat concerned with how companies have been using their data- however, they still expect to be presented with targeted campaigns. In fact, 44% of those surveyed revealed that they would ignore further outreach from a brand who didn’t target them effectively. And 15% stated that they would stop purchasing products from brands who didn’t include any form of personalisation in their marketing.

With a fine line between the desire for personalisation and data protection, the brands which come out on top are those which give their audience back the control. NikeID and “Share a Coke” exemplify this, as does Nutella, who created online and offline buzz last Christmas and beyond, with their personalized jars available to request and purchase in store. Aside from mass personalization as these brands have demonstrated, another safe route to take is the contextual approach. For instance, many brands have capitalized on the idea of taking a piece of a customer’s data that isn’t too sensitive, yet still sends a personalised message. As is a trend across many brand sites, including an inbuilt weather feature, for example, is one way to display targeted content. Topshop’s homepage for instance, changes based on a customer’s IP address, showing the climate of the visitor’s location, and automatically features relevant products as a result.

How do you feel about marketed content tailored to you, online and via your mobile apps? Which brands do you think are going about this correctly? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.