Hyper Personalisation
Do you export to another country?
How well do you know your customers and what drives them?
How do you currently follow the trends in the markets you supply?
I was fortunate enough this week to attend an NZT&E hosted event looking at building a strategy to do business with China. Any illusions that I have some idea of what it would take to succeed in China very quickly evaporated as the sheer size and complexity of an incredibly advanced market was explained and explored. In New Zealand we have a population of just over 5 million people putting us at about 0.06% of the total world population. China is our diametric opposite and the places we studied had populations in the tens of millions. One of the things that surprised me the most was how incredibly advanced China is technologically - almost making New Zealand look like a ‘try-hard’ backwater. This technology is incredibly evident when you start to take a dive into marketing and sales.
I have been hammering on about personalisation for years - tuning into the frequency of your client through their WIIFM ‘radio-station’. This went to new levels as we explored “Hyper-Personalisation”. My favourite example was ‘Fami-Nav’. As traffic accidents increased in China, Citeron released an APP called ‘Fami-Navi’ which offers safe travel guidance. Through the built-in recording script, parents and children can learn traffic etiquette together, record the voice of driver’s child or spouse, and then automatically import it to replace the existing navigation voice. Then, the driver can enjoy a ride navigated by his or her most important person’s voice. People drive safer when family is in the car. How can you “hyper-personalise” your brand offering?
Keeping it very personal there is also a need to blend in and speak to people from their worldview and cultural perspective. Nike’s award winning “Red-Letter” Ad did this so well I could appreciate the advert enough to laugh at the end, while still knowing I was missing a world worth of depth and meaning. How connected is your brand to the culture you are servicing?
The growing rise of social media influence was also very eye-opening. Online the power of “Key Opinion Leaders” & “Key Opinion Influencers” was touched on with examples that were, frankly, bewildering. L’Oreal sold 30’000 bottles of facial essence in a single hour when it launched a social commerce promotion with popular Chinese pop star XuKun Cai on Weibo. Givenchy was able to sell 1.2 Million RMB worth of products in just 12 minutes by partnering with Chinese KOL. Mr. Bags. on WeChat. Do you have capacity to meet these levels of demand?
Most awe-inspiring award of the day, for me, went to Jack Ma with his new Hema stores. Highly localised, incredibly technologically focused while meeting the need for people to have an experience. There are hundreds of videos online showing what amazing experience is given. The mix of shopping, technology, online and eating needs to be seen to be believed. The depth of product information from clearance certificates to story behind the product shows the importance of growing trend of people buying more than just a product. Do you have a story? Do you share it? Does it connect with the heart? Does it make you unique and special?
We had a focus on China and by the end of the day I realised that this was the tip of the iceberg of a trend that is inevitably going to be the new world order for anybody wanting to do business anywhere. The wave has started but there is still time to get yourself ready to be able to surf it and ride in to some incredible success if you're prepared to do the research learn and take the actions.
Here’s to your success
