In modern-day language personalisation is the appropriation of an electronic or printed medium, or a consumer product produced according to personal data provided by a user, or at the request of the user him or herself. There are three main families of personalisation *:
active personalisation: the user takes a manufactured product and modifies it intuitively or logically in order to adapt it to his/her use.
passive: the supplier, industrial company, service provider adjusts his/her final product according to parameters that characterise his/her consumers.
interactive: content is personalised at high speed thanks to the progress of interactivity and artificial intelligence: a product can be supplied ‘neutral’ then ‘learn’ and self-design or self-reprogramme on contact with the user while being simultaneously both active and passive in the interactive personalisation process. This is clearly the method used by CUSTOPOLIS
On the Web, personalisation implies the automatic creation of web pages that change in accordance with the interests of the people using the Internet. Personalisation is carried out according to implicit pieces of information (ferreters, origins, observed movement through a site, etc) or explicit information (information about preferences provided by the person using the Internet).
The expression ‘made to measure’ is sometimes used when explicit information is involved. In printed media, whether this be magazines or promotional publications, personalisation is carried out using databases and sometimes using direct marketing merge and purge techniques. The printed document is not just addressed directly to the person by name, but (articles or even advertising) is targeted specifically according to the characteristics of the latter.Example of « tuning »**.
« This individualisation trend appeared along with the globalisation of the Internet, commented Martine Clerck, founder of the marketing consultancy Wide. “Its ultimate expression is in blogs, or communities such as MySpace where anyone and everyone can reveal their personality and ideas”. For specialists in consumer trends, individualism and the need for self-affirmation have grown recently, but always as part of a community. By allowing consumers to manifest their difference, a brand valorises them and strengthens the bond that links them. »
