Not long ago, marketing was largely built around a bandwagon approach: Wear this, drink this, eat this, do this because you know everyone else will, and you don’t want to be left behind, do you? Years later, the message sent by retailers could not be more different. Billions of dollars every year are now spent personalizing brand messaging to make every customer feel as though the advertisements and experiences they receive from their favorite brands are targeted directly to them.
At this week’s National Retail....