“THE THEORY BEHIND PERSONALITY”
So ever since the emergence of the Pandora charm bracelet, there seems to have been a growing trend for personalised consumption and gift giving. Gone are the days where “personalisation” means a gift-card from whatever store you would buy from anyway. The market is all about that personality.
Think of all the personalisation trends that have littered the retail world for the very purpose of gift-giving. Monograming accessories and fashion is huge! The DIY world has blown up thanks to video-tutorials and the retail world has had to catch up. KitKat lab is massive, customisable makeup is making a move and if I see one more hand-written birthday card I think I’ll lose my mind.
So where does the need for personalisation come from?
Well, fashion-historian (yes that is a real title) Margaret Maynard told Vogue Australia that the likes of monogramming initials can be viewed as the modern-day equivalent of family crests; a status symbol for class and sophistication. It fuels our desire to stand out and rise up above all the mass-produced products in the world.
Another factor found in the psychology of personalisation is the desire for control and it also has a moral twist to it. The idea of giving an experience, a moment, that your loved ones will adore.
Now, much like my ethnic-grandparents, I understand a desire for control. However, no matter how much I love my friends and family, I’m also rather time-poor. Which means that creating personalised gifts isn’t exactly within my abilities to truly commit to. Thankfully, there are more and more options to pay someone else to do the work, yet still, maintain a sense of DIY authenticity.
I would love to spend an hour on the couch, designing a label for a bottle of wine and call it a days work. Maybe add a memorable photo of the recipient, maybe a message with an in-joke. Some brands already provide these services, however, they tend to be rather expensive and these brands may not be within the interests of your loved ones.
Enter Spiff, a start-up that not only provides the daydream I just described, but also allows you to add videos to products that are viewable from an app.
