How Mass Personalisation at Scale Can Drive Profitability

Thanks to the development of data technology, first-party data is now a powerful tool for companies looking to fully personalise their offering and grow customer profitability and loyalty. Kristof Neirynck, CMO – Global Brands at Walgreens Boots Alliance, explains why this is and how to best harness the power of modern data.

First-party data and mass personalisation are the ingredients of the newest recipe for success in marketing. In our MAD//Anywhere interview, Kristof actually confided that his marketing budget is now 60% dedicated to addressable media, up from 10% a year ago. But what makes mass personalisation so effective, and how does it work?

In a nutshell, mass personalisation means delivering the right message to the right person in the right place, at the right time. Whilst this is not a new concept at all, it’s the way that data technology has advanced that is allowing brands to scale this sort of activity. Whereas personalising your message for every client would be an extremely time-consuming venture a few years ago, first-party data shared willingly by users has enabled brands to create scalable models for this and offer a lot more than generic adverts. 

According to Kristof, the old adage that “consumers hate ads” no longer rings true. In fact, “Consumers hate ads that are not relevant to them or that pop up at a time or in a place where they don’t actually want them.”

A good example of mass personalisation and good use of first-party data is Netflix. When launching their series Narcos, Netflix created targeted trailers for their customers based on first-party data such as the types of films and series they enjoyed on the platform, and on data shared by users with social media such as Facebook. This resulted in very effective trailers that connected with the viewers in a very personal way.

However, Netflix is not an advertising company, so how come they’ve driven this sort of marketing revolution? Kristof thinks the answer lies in the inherent tension between data-driven marketers and advertising agencies focused on consumer insight and relevance. This, effectively, will remain the question around mass personalisation: how to balance data insights with a relevant message for the customer. Walgreens Boots Alliance is working to upskill their teams to do both.

Finally, mass personalisation works because “if you can create relevance to your customers, it will drive your business.” Just look at Boots: for his brands, Kristof has seen the average order value go up 40% and the NPS increase by 20% after using mass personalisation thanks to first-party data. Welcome to the new recipe for growth by marketing. 

You can see some Automated Creative case studies here.