
A while back, the majorly disruptive travel website Airbnb did something interesting with its branding. It gave more control of its brand to its users, enabling them to play with colours and backgrounds, which would allow them to feel a sense of ownership over the brand.
The marketing community has fallen in love with the concept, but the jury is still out on whether it?s a good thing. Personalisation of a brand is a new concept and only possible because of the way the technology of the internet is allowing people to operate. It?s only natural that internet marketing specialists will adopt this trend and include it in their branding strategy. I?ve recently been working on the creation of our new BrightHR (a HR software solution) brand and one of the key things we wanted to implement in this brand was an element of personalisation, which offers the user the chance to change an element of the logo (and even create their own), change the colours and upload their own images. As a concept, personalisation in the delivery of content isn?t a new thing. We were doing it at Skiddle years ago, delivering content to people based on where they live, or their previous browsing history or their likes on Facebook etc. In personalising the content delivered to the user, there was a definite increase in conversions and stickiness. However, we were still relatively protective of the brand. Customers are now more savvy and cynical than they?ve ever been before, so you?ve got to be thinking about how you can introduce the human touch to your branding. The idea of allowing the user to personalise the brand centres on trying to facilitate the customer to love the brand they?re interacting with because, in essence, they?ve had a hand in the design of that brand; they?ve tailored it to their taste in some capacity.Read more on personalisation:
- Why customisation and personalisation are the ultimate weapons for SMEs
- How personalisation has allowed these businesses to offer unique experiences
We?ve revealed that 2016 will be the year of the challenger brand, so now is the time to ensure consumers are able to recognise your company from the crowd surrounding it ? just look at the examples set by craft brewers, Uber and GoPro.
Simon Dalley is brand manager at BrightHRShare this story