Mass Customization Media Blitz in the German Press

After 15 years in the business, I have see many waves of hype around mass customization. But in the German media, it never has been as strong as recently.

Probably triggered by an article in BrandEins (the most innovative German business publication) and a report about mass customization by dpa, the German Press Agency, many newspapers and weeklies followed with articles in the last weeks. There was a report in the main news show of RTL. And last weekend, even taz - die tageszeitung, a German newspaper on the left side of the spectrum that normally has no reports about hedonistic products, had a long report.

The theme (similar to the article in BrandEins): Mass Customization of food. I have commented on this category in a previous post. 

What do I learn from the sudden media attention about a phenomenon that is 20 years old?

1) Perhaps the time now is ripe? People are more internet savvy, willing not just to shop but also to configure custom goods online. At the same time, there is a growing level of sophistication of the market, more knowledge how to create a great MC website has been distributed ...

2) In economical bad times, people love easy sophistication with a bit of affordable luxury - which a custom chocolate bar or your own tea creation probably offers. So this is a great product for bad times.

3) Some journalists are not too creative, and when one is writing a nice article on a new theme, other copy. The same, by the way, is true for many academics.

4) The idea to customize an item still is big news and a real novelty for most consumers. In my classes for students and executives alike, I am still astonished how many people have never ever heard about the possibility to customize products or services online. We finally have to create a better understanding how to communicate mass customization!

=> Context information: For a collection of press articles covering mass customization, please head here (shameless self promotion as all these articles quote me :-)

Comments

[Frank Piller]

Thanks! Just repaired ...

[[email protected]]

hi frank, the link to the brandeis article seems to be broken. = RT

[David Gardner]

Great observations, Frank. Sometimes innovative ideas precede the marketplace desire and adoption of the idea. This is an excellent example of that. Process innovation can be as transformative as product innovation. Congratulations on your success being one of the most prominent leaders of this campaign.

[Mike Salguero]

What has struck me about the mass customization movement is that it seems to be focused on firms that allow the consumer to customize their own creation, which is left to the firm to manufacture or assemble.

In my humble opinion, this model will not work. The reason why is because the fundamental underpinning of mass customization is that the consumer wants choice. Why then should they be forced to go to one producer in particular? Shouldn't the consumer be able to choose exactly what they want and exactly who makes it?

It is not only the technology around customization that needs to get easier, it is the INFORMATION about the maker that needs to be more readily available for the consumer.

I run a website called CustomMade.com; we are the internet's largest marketplace for anything custom made of wood. While we do not yet have the technology for a woodworker and consumer to collaborate on something online, we have linked thousands of customers with hundreds of woodworkers who have their own customization process. We have found that it is information about a woodworker who can do a custom job that is missing, and at this point the technology for online collaboration is somewhat second priority.

People who buy custom are also buying the story of the person who made it. Therefore, it will not be the big businesses with their fancy technology who will come out on top of the mass customization craze; it will be the small guys, who can collectivize under the umbrella of a company such as CustomMade.com who need access to a global marketplace of consumers who are convinced that the value proposition for buying custom is there.