Hello Personalization; Goodbye Customization?
As part of their “Eat Fresh, Refresh” campaign, Subway announced last week that they would be rolling out a new menu with 12 new sandwich offerings (grouped into four categories: Chicken, Italianos, clubs, and cheesesteaks). In a break from the chain’s established business model, the sandwiches are designed to be ordered ‘as is,’ without the standard customization that the brand was built on. The company claims that the new system will speed up and simplify ordering (especially via mobile). Subway is asking customers to, “trust their culinary expertise, and trust in the sandwich artists to create a sandwich Subway believes customers will enjoy.” Creating and modifying their own sandwich is still possible for customers.
A new concept in QSR is quickly building across the US--soda shops. What Starbuck’s is for coffee, these shops are to soda. Utah-based Swig soda shops leads the pack with hundreds of outlets serving mostly specialty drinks with a few snacks (see also Sodalicious and Fiiz). Swig is home of the ‘dirty soda,’ beverages that mix well known soda brands with Swig’s own combo of flavored syrups and other liquids. These flavors constantly evolve based on customer popularity. Some of the popular mixes include Spring Fling, a combination of Dr. Pepper + Vanilla + Strawberry Puree + Coconut Cream, and Watermelon Sugar is a mix of Mountain Dew + Mango + Watermelon + Coconut Cream + Passion Fruit Popping Pearls. Swig just announced the opening of new shops in Oklahoma and Texas.
Spirit producer Diageo has announced that they have acquired Vivanda, the company behind the technology used in Diageo’s ‘What’s Your Whiskey?’ campaign and Johnnie Walker Princes Street Journey of Flavour experience. Vivanda’s AI analytics technology (called ‘FlavorPrint’) takes a lot of the guesswork out of matching a consumer with a flavor profile that works best for them. Diageo says that they hope to expand this technology through their existing brands as well as through their DTC channel malts.com.
Welch’s (a PIM brand) has announced that they will be offering consumers the opportunity to personalize their own box of fruit snacks for special occasions. Via Amazon, consumers can create boxes with two customizable options: name and birthday. This follows on the heels of a successful launch of the brand’s Valentine's Day and Mother’s Day boxes.
So What? There is a lot of confusion between customization and personalization. So, let me share a quick cheat sheet:
The main point to take from this is that consumers are actively and consciously making choices with customization, whereas with personalization they are not (of course, there is also a gray area). For some of you, this differentiation may seem elementary, but it is amazing how often the two terms are conflated. Ordering an extra shot of vanilla in your morning latte at Starbuck’s is customization, having the Amazon gateway page automatically populated with items that you’ll likely enjoy based on your previous clicks is personalization.
Now that that is clear, let me make a provocative statement: customization is dying. While the whole premise of ‘create your own’ and ‘have it your way’ ushered in a consumer-led renaissance of new business models and brands (e.g., Subway, Chipotle, etc.), in retrospect, it may have only been a stepping-stone toward a future of personalization.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, customization in QSRs and CPG companies was made possible by newly automated supply chains and the growing consumer desire to break free of mass production. The ability to get your sandwich without pickles was a revelation in a time where one size usually fit all. However, today we are on the other side of this spectrum. Today consumers have abundant choice and are often deluged with potential options. So much so that picking flavors and combinations isn’t so much freedom anymore as much as it is friction. It slows down the transaction and makes the choice a chore. Therefore, personalization (where smart choices are made for the consumer based on a deep knowledge of their past actions and needs) is quickly becoming the answer.
However, personalization is experiencing a structural lag. While 62% of consumers say that they will lose loyalty in a brand if it doesn’t deliver a personalized experience (according to a 2022 survey from Twilo) only 35% of businesses feel that they are able to achieve adequate personalization. Brands can’t get the right data, can’t parse it, or can’t implement products/services based on it.
Data wrangling aside, I think there is a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed by all brands before they dive into personalization;—namely what does good personalization looks like? When I’m asked this question (which happens more frequently every year) I’m reminded of the Arthur C. Clarke quote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” For these purposes, I reworded it as:
“Any sufficiency advanced form of personalization is indistinguishable from friendship.”
There are a few concepts buried in that statement.
1. Good personalization is based on listening to a consumer holistically. A real friend sees you as a whole person, not just for their own selfish reasons. This means brands need to see all sides of their consumers—acknowledging their joys and pains beyond just buying their product. This holistic approach will help you identify how and when consumers really need you to ‘show up,’ and how to present your brand in different situations
2. Friends are not manipulative; their motivations are clear and direct. For personalization to work, it must be transparent. The best personalization will be the one that consumers walk into with their eyes open. In a post-cookie world, consumers need to know your intentions
3. Trust is at the heart of friendship, as it should be with personalization. To attain amazing personalization a brand needs access to consumer data. This is the main tension point. Consumers want the experience of personalization but worry about the privacy ramifications. Brands can mitigate this tension through trustworthy actions.
The Power of Wow
Korean designer Younghyun Kim has created a concept to make non-sugar sweeteners more aesthetically pleasing. His ‘cloud grater’ has zero-calorie sweetener shaped into small clouds paired with with a small, magnetic grater. Users grate the ‘clouds’ to ‘rain’ down on drinks, pastries or other foods.
A new brand called Avoid Waste + Season Meaningfully (AWSM) has launched AWSM Sauce, a line of powdered sauces that can be used as-is or hydrated back to their original form. Founded by two “dadtrepreneurs” (dad entrepreneurs), the brand seeks to reduce the excess packaging that exists in the food world while creating amazing flavors. AWSM Sauce is available as a series of sachets of Classic Ketchup, Chesapeake Fire Sauce, and Honey Hickory BBQ. The products are available through the company’s website.
Famed Portland, Oregon-based ice cream company Salt & Straw has launched a limited-edition line of Culinary Perfumes. What makes this different from existing brand merch is that this perfume is not only meant to wear on your person, but can also serve as an ice cream topping. Partnering with perfumery Imaginary Authors, the company will be launching three culinary perfumes that can be spritzed over their ice creams or on a wrist. Flavors will include: A Cloud of Cocoa, A Plume of Blossoms, and A Swoon of Citrus. The product will launch July 17th (National Ice Cream Day) online and as a topping in shops.
Frozen pizza brand DiGiorno recently made a bold move into a new category: pizza crust ice cream cones. The brand announced that to celebrate National Ice Cream Day and their popular croissant crust, they created an ice cream cone with similar characteristics. The brand is holding a sweepstakes to give cone kits to consumers. Each kit includes two signature DiGiorno Croissant Crust cones, one pint of Strawberry Tomato Basil ice cream, one pint of Parmesan Cheese ice cream, and a grocery card for additional toppings.
So What? About a decade ago, the concept of molecular gastronomy made its way to the US from Spain. If you’ve ever had a meal or beverage topped with foam, sprinkled with spheres of liquid or sous vide, you’ve experienced the ripple effects of thise trend.
While dismissed by some critics as an elitist fad, I would contend that many people failed to recognize the insight at the heart of molecular gastronomy: joy.
In a recent article on the topic, Grant Achatz, a pioneer in the field, had this to say:
“The intent was to creatively push food and the dining experience forward and challenge conventions. I like to say that this style of cooking uses emotions as seasoning: intimidation, confusion, intrigue, happiness, magic and nostalgia are layered over delicious food by using newly developed techniques, ideas and equipment to manipulate the food in unexpected ways.”
Each of us eats food every day and, no matter how diverse we try to make it, it gets boring. By shaking up expectations, molecular gastronomy brings delight to classic dishes. Familiar elements like potato chips become glass chips, and a simple olive becomes a concentrated olive sphere.
This delight is often what is missing from today’s packaged foods. We have become blasé at the marvels of food science, nonchalant about the amazing convenience of food products. However, it was this awe and magic that enthralled our grandparents, winning them over to today’s brands. What if we could return just a sliver of that awe? Imagine what that could do for your brand?
Moving Beyond Extremes
KIND (a Mars Wrigley company) set up an interactive display in London’s Kings Cross Street Station. The grab-and-go billboard had over 500 pieces of ‘pickable’ produce and snack bars that commuters could take and enjoy. The brand indicated that they were inspired to create the billboard based on the BDA (Association of UK Dieticians) estimate that just 8% of children (ages 8-11), 27% of adults (19 to 64 years) and 35% of those aged 65 years and over, achieve the 5-A-Day recommendation.
QSR chain Boston Market has announced ‘the future of nuggets,’ with their launch of their new Rotisserie Chicken Nuggets. The marinated, seasoned and rotisserie cooked (not fried) all-white meat nuggets will be available in signature and spicy flavors at the company’s 315 locations starting July 11, 2022.
Goodles, the new mac & cheese brand co-founded by actress Gal Gadot (aka Wonder Woman), has launched their latest SKU, Vegan is Believin’. Goodles’ point of difference is that they contain real cheese, protein, fiber, probiotics, and 21 additional nutrients from plants.
So What? In my career I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing people, people who are passionate about the products and the brands they work on. Nowhere is that more true than with health, wellness and sustainability brands. Very often, these companies attract people who live the lifestyles embodied in the brand’s mission and purpose. This is both good and bad.
On the good side, you want people working on your brand that intuitively understand the reason that the brand exists. They would likely be using the product even if they didn’t work there, so they don’t need consumer data to tell them that a product will work.
However, at the same time, these brands also tend to attract employees that are ‘tip of the spear.’ For example, I once did a project for an athletic supplement company where three people on their five-person leadership team were ultra-marathoners (FYI, only 0.2% of the US population are ultra-marathoners). The problem with this is that ‘tip of the spear’ consumers tend be more willing to forgo emotional and social attributes for the sake of function. In other words, they are willing to sacrifice taste for superior nutrition, to give on pleasing texture for fitness convenience, or put up with a less than ideal package if it means a better carbon footprint.
Of course, when a brand is small and its only consumers are like-minded ‘tip of the spear’ users, it all works out. Growth is steady and adoption of new products is outstanding. However, once this cohort is saturated and future growth must be sourced from mainstream consumers, things can go off the rails quickly. In my experience, at this point, brand longevity is directly correlated with how quickly the brand team diversifies their POV. Sometimes that means hiring less ‘tip of the spear’ teammates and other times it means opening their minds to less radical interpretations of their brand.
I look at the products and ideas above and I see brands trying to find an emotional or social vector to health. More brands—especially those that started niche—should be thinking along the same lines.
Brands I’m Watching
Popular restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory has announced the arrival of a new cheesecake in their line-up: Basque Cheesecake. The classic, densely textured and burnt top Spanish dessert will be available starting July 30th (National Cheesecake Day) either plain or accompanied by fresh strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.
So What? For a restaurant chain that typically sticks with add-ins to enhance their cheesecake line (e.g., Oreo cookies, Reese’s peanut butter cups, etc.), releasing a novel form of cheesecake might seem strange. That is until you realize that Basque Cheesecake has been a favorite on TikTok for the past several years.
Traditionally, the food industry has assumed that food trends start in fine dining and ethnic markets, expanded through specialty restaurants and grocery stores, before making their way into large supermarkets and QSRs. However, social media (and especially TikTok) has disrupted this adoption curve. Today I’m advising my clients to elevate their use of TikTok to serve as a social barometer for new trends and their brand. TikTok is changing the way food trends work.