NEW YORK: Marketers have noted the success of Coca-Cola's long-running Share A Coke campaign, with more food and drinks brands exploring how they can exploit packaging to connect with consumers.

The customised cans, with people's names replacing the soft drinks giant's logo, have been available in markets from Morocco to Mexico and have been credited with boosting sales by 2.5% while gaining more than one billion impressions on social media.

Beer brand Bud Light is running a variant on the idea with NFL team-themed cans for football supporters.

"Consumers – and more specifically millennials – love a customized, personalized experience, and leveraging packaging is the best way to tap into [that]", Alex Lambrecht, the brand's vice president, told Advertising Week.

Brian Rafferty, global director of research insights for branding firm Siegel+Gale, agreed that such an approach appealed to this group. "It makes people feel like the brand is more about them than about the brand," he said.

But Bud Light is hardly the first beer brand to go down this particular route. For the past two years Corona Extra has produced limited edition bottles featuring boxers and is now inviting fans to have their say on which fighters will be highlighted next.

Snickers' take on the trend works as an extension of its own long-running You're Not You When You're Hungry campaign. Like Coca-Cola the confectionery brand has swapped its logo on packaging, introducing 21 different moods associated with hunger, such as "cranky" or "sleepy".

"The goal was to take the magic of our [campaign] in-store and allow consumers to interact with it in a way that is truly ownable," explained Allison Miazga-Bedrick, Snickers brand director.

Personalisation is also the theme of the 2106 Admap Prize, announced yesterday. There is a $5,000 cash prize to the best essay addressing the subject "How should marketing adapt to the era of personalisation?"

Full details about the competition, which is free to enter, are available on the Admap Prize website. The closing date for entry is January 31, 2016.

Data sourced from Ad Week; additional content by Warc staff