Personalisation has become something of a holy grail for marketers, but it is not only complicated to achieve on a technical level; it requires the permission to get personal with your consumers. Here are WARC’s top personalisation stories of the year.

Spotify offers freedom from choice 

Spotify’s Alex Underwood writes about how the music streaming company personalises each customer’s individual experience. However, Underwood offers more than a compendium of personalisation techniques; at its best, he says, personalisation gives “people freedom from unlimited choice”, but should not necessarily be useful to marketers all of the time. This is part of an Admap series looking at personalisation.

Read the full story: What can brand marketers learn from Spotify's approach to personalisation?

How to win at personalisation

Admap’s November issue focusing on personalisation also included a summary deck containing the key points of the issue for those short on time and in need of evidence.

Read the full deck: Winning at personalisation

Personalisation works best alongside mass media

Big data and advanced computing is making more personalised experiences, but these are opportunities to help the brand feel more human rather than creepy. Good personalised experiences are media specific, and are best deployed alongside mass media for successful long-term effects.

Read the full story: What we know about personalisation

The role of personalisation in retail

“Bricks-and-mortar retailers are having to contend with the focus, agility and sheer investment of pureplay competitors – most notably Amazon,” writes Alan Giles, an associate fellow at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School. In this article, Giles explores the impact that personalisation will have in coming years.

Read the full story: The future of retailing: never mind the quality, feel the personalisation

Handling data in the 'mass personalisation' era

In this piece, industry figures in Australia discuss how mass personalisation is working in that country.

Read the full story: Trend report: Data management in the 'mass personalisation' era

Sourced from WARC