On Monday, February 21st I attended Ed Gala’s lecture titled “One Size Fits No One Well: The Power of Customization in a Cluttered World”. Gala is a Newhouse alum and is currently the vice president of marketing at Xerox. His lecture focused on the increasing necessity for customization in marketing and advertising today in order to reach an audience more effectively. I liked his powerpoint presentation, it was organized nicely and featured pictures of the many customized projects Xerox has completed.
Gala made a clear statement in the beginning of his lecture: “You can’t talk to everyone in the same way.” It’s true. With the rise of the Internet, social media and mobile phones, more money is going towards targeting the audiences that use them.
The power of personalization was a focal point of Gala’s lecture. He named examples such as customized M&M candies, ketchup bottles and online photo galleries. Through the personalization of things such as a video or a college acceptance letter, Gala spoke of making a connection with a consumer that can often cost more to carry out but establish a relationship. He played a video customized with a Newhouse professor’s name in multiple parts throughout, and it was pretty cool. Xerox seems to go pretty in depth with their efforts to reach publics. Gala mentioned the company was working with a major bank in Japan to produce ads that are tailored to individual buying patterns.
The lecture emphasized the importance of advertising, marketing and public relations adapting to the growth of technology and social networking. In order to successfully reach potential customers or clients, adaptation and adjustment is key. Gala presented these ideas in a conversational yet concise way.
