Written by Amy Franz

Have you ever had a friend or relative gift you a personalized key chain, magnet, or little license plate from their recent travels? Of course you have. (Unless your name is Seraphina, Jaxsyn or DeShawn, then that’s a whole other story.)

Name souvenirs are cute and kitschy, but hardly ever necessary or practical. They maintain their popularity, however, not because of their usefulness, but because they’re personalized.
When companies take this personalized approach with their marketing campaigns, it yields impressive results.

Consider Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, which first launched in Australia in 2011 and was later introduced to the US in 2014. Coke produced bottles with the countries’ most popular names slapped onto the label. The thought behind this was simple: you’ll buy your friend a Coke with their name on it.

Names worked. The company’s sales increased by over 2% as a result of names alone. “Share a Coke” was eventually introduced in more than 80 different countries. Now consumers can even purchase customized bottles.

Ethnic Technologies’ name data provides many companies personal, but non-invasive audience insights. This data can also help you speak to your audience, as a means to include them in your special product, service, or campaign.

Take a note from Coke. Buy some sodas for your next marketing brainstorm meeting and think of fun and innovative ways to address a crowd in one of the most personal ways imaginable like we do – by using their names.