Are we witnessing the death of creativity in the age of personalisation?

More organisations in Hong Kong are embracing the use of customer data platforms (CDPs) as data-driven personalisation moves up marketing teams’ priority lists. But the rise of CDPs and the evolution of precise personalisation as a standard marketing practice beg the question: Is precise personalisation killing creativity? 

When online portals like AOL and Yahoo dominated the internet in the early 2000s, advertising predominantly relied on content and context. AltaVista, Yahoo Search, and Ask Jeeves were the big giants of search engine advertising at that time, and they pioneered data-driven approaches into the advertising landscape. Google Search eventually became the dominant player that served as a poster child for the emerging category of data-driven advertising. 

When the 2008 global financial crisis hit, marketing budgets were cut, and marketers increasingly turned to data to guide their advertising decisions. This period witnessed the rise of ad networks and more applications of behavioural and demographic targeting in display ad buying. Programmatic advertising eventually displaced ad networks, offering superior transparency, flexibility, and audience-based targeting that ad networks struggled to match. 

Doing "personalisation" the right way  

As organisations in Hong Kong continue to grapple with high costs in an uncertain economic environment, streamlining workflows through data-driven marketing will help businesses optimise budgets beyond just tightening their belts. With data-driven personalisation, companies can target specific audiences on a 1:1 basis with precision. This allows product teams to deploy better products that their customers actually want. At the same time, precise personalisation empowers contact centre agents to resolve cases faster while delivering enhanced customer experiences and preserving customer loyalty.  

Done right, personalisation allows companies to target customers with relevant content without compromising their privacy. This is especially critical amid Hong Kong regulations like the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, which obligates businesses to safeguard their customers' data privacy. 

Imagine a scenario where a customer has just opted out of being targeted. Organisations need to immediately exclude this individual from ad retargeting campaigns, remove them from all email distribution lists, and prevent them from seeing social media ads. However, the reality is that not many companies can confidently claim to possess such capabilities today. 

Harnessing "good data" for personalisation at scale produces outstanding outcomes. For example, ZALORA, a prominent direct-to-consumer online fashion retailer in Asia, turned to an innovative solution to standardise its data collection, achieve a complete view of its customer base, and experiment faster. With a customer data infrastructure in place, ZALORA doubled its conversion rates by activating real-time data to enable segmentation and target its highest-value customers in a personalised way. 

Unlocking the synergy of personalisation and creativity 

Putting the threat of punishment aside, it is absolutely clear that the largest and most profitable companies in the world are now data-driven and lead with personalisation. A prime example is Amazon, which uses data to create highly relevant and personalised experiences. Amazon understands that personalisation is key to keeping customers engaged and coming back for more.  

However, there is a fine line between precise personalisation and — simply put — being creepy. Most consumers have experienced a scenario where a product they’ve browsed online persistently trailed them across the internet, lingering long even after they’ve left the website.When personalisation becomes annoying, brands not only risk wasting marketing dollars but also alienating current and prospective customers. 

Personalisation and creativity can certainly coexist. Personalisation can enhance creativity by allowing brand marketers to create more targeted and relevant content. Like clothing retailer ZALORA, brands can use data to understand a customer's preferences and create personalised product recommendations or offers that resonate with them. 

Meanwhile, it’s important to note that some of the most iconic consumer brands were built on brand advocacy and brand love. “Just Do It” and “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good” are slogans from iconic brands that need no introduction. Consumers know exactly who they are, and it isn’t because they use great data for targeting or personalising website experiences. In fact, most of these consumer brands have little customer data.  

That said, these brands also understand the power of data. Today, data clean rooms are empowering brands with little first-party data to gain deeper insight into their audience by data co-sharing with other brands.  

In the face of economic uncertainty, personalisation has emerged as a competitive advantage for businesses looking to balance cost savings, profitability, and privacy compliance. Innovation lies at the intersection of personalisation and creativity: it helps unlock the right synergy for creating magical customer experiences that position brands for long-term success. 

The article was written by Liz Adeniji, regional vice president of segment, Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio.