In the last decade, 3D printing has found application in almost all industries and areas of our lives. Today it is unthinkable not to use adaptive production in medicine, automotive, construction, dentistry, design and even in the food industry.
Despite the growing popularity of this technology, marketers have been slow to adopt it. Fortunately, the success of several successful promotional campaigns using 3d printing has helped brand managers discover that marketing and 3D printing can go hand in hand.
How does 3D printing fit into marketing strategies?
It offers an innovative and economical method of product presentation
Launching a new product can be quite a stressful time for businesses, as as attractive and useful as it may be, consumers may not like it.
Not to mention how much money is needed to bring the product to market. And this is a difficult ordeal for a start-up or limited budget business.
With 3D printing technology, product prototypes can be produced and a smaller-scale promotional and advertising campaign can be launched to establish end-user feedback. Then, based on this feedback, the product can be developed or its production can be moved to a larger scale.
Thus, instead of spending huge sums on production and advertising campaigns, which may not bring the desired result, companies save a lot of money by using 3D printing to create prototypes before investing in large-scale production.
Provides cheap marketing solutions
One of the reasons why experts predict that adaptive manufacturing will be used even more widely in marketing is the ability of technology to create promotional items quickly and at very low prices.
With 3D printing, all kinds of advertisements, scale models and other presentation and advertising materials can be created to attract customers’ interest in a particular product or company.
Offers a new type of interaction with the user
One of the most significant marketing potentials of 3D printing is the ability to customize the product. Through adaptive production, marketing can give customers the opportunity to design their own product or at least have a say in its shape and color.
3d printing is also a great way to encourage user interaction. The very advertising that customers can design their own product through adaptive production attracts many consumers who want to test whether they can handle the task.
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Marketing (both traditional and digital) is increasingly using 3D printing in its promotional and advertising campaigns
More and more companies prefer to give away 3d printed souvenirs, keychains and small mascots with a printed logo on them instead of handing out standard pens, T-shirts and hats to their customers and partners.
Many brand managers use adaptive printing as a way to attract new customers, giving them the opportunity to download free CAD for a phone case, toy model or other product offered by their company that customers can print at home on their home 3D printer .
Large marketing companies encourage their customers to design and customize products using their brand assets. This ensures fast and correct interaction between customers and the respective brand and helps to increase the loyal fans of the brand.
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6 examples of successful application of 3D printing in marketing
Coca – Cola
The Coca-Cola advertising campaign, conducted in 2013, is one of the most successful examples of the interaction between marketing and 3D printing.
During the campaign in Israel, Coca-Cola, in cooperation with the advertising agency Gefem, Tel-Aviv, offered all its customers the opportunity to create digital versions of the brand’s bottles and place their avatars via a mobile application.
By drawing lots in defense, a group of people involved in the game get the opportunity to visit the Coca-Cola factories and print on a 3d printer, the bottle they created digitally.
DVV
DVV is a Belgian insurance company that uses a different marketing strategy than Coca-Cola, which has proved no less successful. The insurer, together with the advertising agency Happiness Brussels, launched a marketing campaign called “Save the Key”.
The insurer is based on the fact that many people nowadays lose their keys and have to get new ones. Thanks to the “Key Save” campaign, every client of the company can scan their keys and save the data in a secure server.
So, if he ever loses his keys, he can easily retrieve the data and print his keys on a home 3D printer.
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eBay
Over the years, eBay has established itself as one of the best e-merchants. Whatever you need, you just have to look on eBay and you will find it.
The company recently released an iPhone app that connects users who don’t own a 3D home printer to organizations like Sculpteo and Hot Pop Factory. In this way, anyone who wants to print something can easily do so, taking advantage of the services of various companies for adaptive production.
Barnardos
The British charity uses 3D printing technology to remind British families that they are lucky to have a roof over their head.
The company prints miniature houses, which they put in glass balls and offer as a souvenir. In this particular case, marketing uses 3D printing to increase people’s empathy for the homeless and increase donations.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen Polo, together with the advertising agency DDB Copenhagen, conducted a great marketing campaign in 2013, in which they turned their customers into designers.
During the Polo Principle campaign, Volkswagen invited people to use 3D printers and create their own version of the Volkswagen Polo.
The German carmaker exhibited the best creations in Copenhagen, and after the exhibition the participants took 3d models at home. And the winner of the race went home with a brand new and brand real Polo.
Nokia
The Finnish mobile phone maker has launched a marketing campaign 3D Printing Community Project. As part of the campaign, Nokia provided customers with the opportunity to create custom panels for the brand’s Lumia 820 smartphone.
A few months later, Nokia expanded the campaign by offering users to create custom cases and other accessories for the Lumia 820 and 520 on a 3D printer.
Successful campaigns also have leading sportswear and footwear companies such as Nike and Levis, which allow all their customers to customize the sneakers and jeans they buy.
Converse, on the other hand, allows shoppers in their company store to design sneakers of their own design, print them on the spot and wear shoes with them within an hour.
The online audio music distribution platform Soundcloud has recently given users the opportunity to turn their favorite lyrics into 3D printed iPhone cases.
Recently, the global supply company UPS confirmed that it offers its customers the opportunity to use 3D printers on site in their stores.
These are just a few examples of successful interaction between marketing and 3D printing. In fact, in recent years, not only large brands have built their marketing strategies in conjunction with adaptive production, but much smaller and emerging companies are choosing 3D printing as a way to establish their brand.
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Conclusion
Although marketing later began to reap the benefits of 3D printing, it has been catching up in recent years.
According to experts, in the next few years 3d printing will find even wider application and we can certainly expect more and more successful marketing campaigns carried out with the technology of adaptive production.
