Stevens, PA July 22, 2005 — As the luxury market booms, many companies are investigating ‘personalization’ as a competitive strategy. “The challenge is creating a personalization strategy that can be marketed across a wide range of a company’s customers. Personalized products and experiences that are right for the many, not just the few, are what companies must create,” says Pam Danziger, president Unity Marketing and author Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as well as the Classes, in the July/August issue of Luxury Business.

I recently happened upon two intriguing new personalization concepts that are worthy of your attention, one for personalized products and the other for personalized experiences. Casual dinnerware leader Pfaltzgraff has just launched a new product line called pfz which is a fully customizable line of dinnerware that customers can access through a new website, www.pfz.com. The concept is simple: you can take some 15 different dinnerware items, including five plate designs, two mugs, three bowls and five serving pieces, and customize them by mixing-and-matching colors. Then you can embellish your dinnerware sets further by adding a band of the style and color of your choice. In addition you can select a design pattern to accent the edges and/or center of the plates. Finally, you can add a monogram and your own customized back stamp. Targeting young consumers who are comfortable using the internet, Pfaltzgraff is venturing into unexplored territory with this line, where other dinnerware companies are destined to follow.

Personalized experiences are the focus of a new internet company called Signature Days (www.signaturedays.com). Signature Days offers packages of experiences based upon five different concepts: Action/Adventure, such as kayaking, hang gliding, white water rafting; Body and Soul, such as personal trainer sessions, spa days, makeovers, yoga classes; Wine/Gourmet, including personal chef services, wine tasting classes; Self-Improvement, such as voice and music lessons, dance classes, nutrition programs; and Unique Unusual, including cruises, pet programs, vehicle detailing and more.

Right now Signature Days features experiences for 11 cities across the country — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle and Washington, DC — with second tier cities, such as Detroit, being added to the mix. What’s so intriguing about Signature Days is the ease with which one can select an experiential gift. Up until now experiential gifting was not particularly customer-friendly, but Signature Days makes selecting and presenting a personalized experience as a gift a breeze.

While new personalization concepts arise, others bite the dust. Proctor and Gamble just pulled the plug on their personalized cosmetic venture, reflect.com. After six years and an estimated $60 million investment, the company, a marketer of such mass brands as Cover Girl, Olay, Max Factor and Clairol, announced that the website where customers could customize their cosmetic colors, packaging and delivery no longer fit their strategy. As a satisfied reflect.com customer, I think the consumer package goods giant simply didn’t know how to manage and grow a luxury-leaning personalized cosmetics business. I am hoping someone who understands how to manage a luxury business and can maximize reflect.com’s potential acquires the business soon, since I will run out of my favorite shade of ‘berry red’ lipstick soon.

Latest Issue of Luxury Business Just Published

Also in the July/August issue of Luxury Business are these stories:

• Wealthy GenX Consumers Are Mighty in Luxury Buying Power, according to American Express Platinum Luxury Survey
  
• American Express Publishing Luxury Summit Focused on the Global Market
  
• Build It and They Will Come: Luxury Travel on Upswing
• Plenty Magazine Presents New Take on Luxury Lifestyle — Sustainability

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