KitKat is latest brand to embrace personalisation trend

KitKat is set to give away more than 55,000 printed personalised packs featuring photos and names of competition-winners.

From 1 February, promotional packs featuring a unique code, which can be submitted to the KitKat website to discover whether the person has won a personalised pack, will go on sale. 

Packs will be mailed to the homes of the winners with a photo and their name on the wrapper. Winners will be subject to a full verification process and all personalised content will be moderated by an independent third party.

KitKat owner Nestlé did not reveal where the wrappers are being printed.

The move is part of a growing trend among brand owners, which resulted in a personalised gifting boom for print just before Christmas

Jars of Marmite and Nutella were available as gifts to personalise with customers' names and personalised children’s books, such as Lost My Name and Petlandia, took advantage of the trend, both reporting high sales.

PG Tips, also owned by Marmite-owner Unilever, launched a personalisation promotion project last year that saw more than 500,000 mugs given away to winning customers. 

Coca-Cola was also one of the first to kick off the trend, with its “Share a Coke with…” campaign featuring hundreds of different first names on bottles of Coke. 

Technologies such as HP’s SmartStream Mosaic software and the Heidelberg Omnifire direct-to-shape 4D inkjet printing system allow for in-house personalisation.

Last year, research by YouGov for Photobox predicted that consumers would increase spending on personalised gifts to £1bn, while the global market for non-photo personalised gifts is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11% through to 2020, according to Research & Markets.

A recent Smithers Pira white paper commissioned by Konica Minolta found that personalised marketing delivers 31% greater profits compared to general marketing materials.